Facebook Marketplace “Mechanics Special” or scrap it?

My niece has a 2008 Ford Fusion with 136k miles on it that has had a transmission failure. It is a 2.3l four  cylinder with the five speed automatic. I drove it last night to confirm and sure enough it runs fine, drives off normally in first gear, revs higher then expected, and then shifts to 3rd gear (seeming to skip second). when it tries to shift to fourth, the party is over - nothing there. I can put it in low and it drives fine in first but that roughly 30 mph at 6000 rpm doesn't make for a great highway car . 

She has already moved on and purchased another vehicle. I am not interested in repairing this one as I have plenty of unfinished projects in front of me. 

Any thoughts on the best way to move it on? FB marketplace "mechanics special", runs and drives but transmission needs replaced - $500(?)  Full disclosure is it also has a front end vibration that I assume is from a curb strike at some point which would also be noted in any advertisement.

Local salvage yards are 25 miles away which means either a trip with a trailer to one and maybe getting $200-$300 (?) or having them pick up and getting much less.

She does have the title so it should be relatively easy to salvage if that is the best route. 

Located in NW Ohio in case anyone is looking for a project.

Dealing with FB tire kickers is its own special chore.  At the same time, if that is all that is wrong with it maybe someone can figure it out and get their kid off to college or some other scenario.

I prefer to keep vehicles on the road if possible.  I'd go Mechanic Special

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Same.

Price it aggressively so it sells quickly and you avoid the hassle of scrapping it.

Anything you get over, or even equal to, what the wrecker is  going to offer is a bonus.

If you're planning to be home most of a weekend, I'd put it up on FB on a Thursday night for $1k.  

On Friday there should be some messages coming your way.  Set up appointments for Saturday morning before noon.  I choose that time because you'll need the title notarized in Ohio.  This can be done at any bank.  But, you'll need to do it during bank hours.  

Ohio will charge the buy sales tax based on the price on the title.  If you want, you can be flexible there if you want but I highly recommend getting the buyers name on the actual title.  Also, once the buyers name is on the title, and it is notorized, take a picture of the signed title for your records.  

Buyers will try to get you to leave the title open telling you they know some who will handle the notorizing.

Caution.  That buyer wants to keep the car out of their name.  If this less reputable person sells the car as "working just fine" that duped buyer might come back to you since it's still your name on the title and they likely never got the name of the person actually selling them the car.  

I just ran your car through Peddle.com with the little information you have listed, and they quoted $445, picked up.  Unfortunately, I used my local zip code, and guessed on a few things, as I simply didn't have the information to give them.    I would at the very least try to see what they offer you for a baseline, as it has been a great way to get rid of broken cars for me when I got tired of FB shenanigans.  

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Was not aware of Peddle.com. Came back at $265 which may be good enough after a few days on FB 

I just went through selling my worn-out, rusted-out Yaris a month ago on Marketplace, and by the end I wished I had just scrapped it and saved the hassle. Dozens of people thinking that a $500 car in CNY should be absolutely perfect, even though the ad said that it had severe structural rust that would need addressing if wanting to use it as anymore than a parts car, people making appointments and never showing up, people showing up and then going "Oh, I can't drive stick" even though the ad description said it was a manual and the information section said it was a manual and there was a photo of the gearshift, people wanting me to trailer that car 1.5-3.5 hours for them, etc. The people who ended up buying it even irked me after they paid for it, took the title, and then went incommunicado for three weeks while it sat in my driveway, in the way (ended up part of the reason was that the husband bought it for his wife, and didn't tell her it was manual and she couldn't drive manual)

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE!  That's a $2000 car.  

Seriously, though... I would mechanics special it for $500.  Your target market will be college students who are handy and are willing to swap a junkyard transmission into it this summer so they have wheels.  You might also get some GRMers who might want to do the same for the challenge.  Try to find someone who will take the whole thing off your hands with a signature. 

I would not part it out, personally.  That's a ton of time on your part for something kinda bland.  If it were a wasted corvette or miata, maybe.

Taking it to a salvage yard is an option if no one bites on buying it, but if you take it to a recycler/crusher, you have to drain all fluids which can be a pain, especially if the block drains are crusty.  Then you have to find resources to dispose of all of it.

In reply to fusion66 :

I was hoping it would be a little higher, but there might not be much competition in your area for junk cars.

In my experience, there's just about nothing worse than selling a cheap car on Marketplace. I have never once gotten the enterprising college kid willing to do some work. If I did, I'd probably give the car to him/her. I get no-shows, crackheads, poor life choicers, mechanically clueless buyers expecting perfection, etc. I have a pile of stuff that I'd like to move and I just can't bring myself to deal with the FB Marketplace crowd. 

Are there any trade schools nearby that would appreciate the donation? 

I would post here with details & pics, give it a couple of weeks, and then call Peddle or the local salvage yard. In my area, there are always a couple of scrappers posting that they are looking for cars. I last used one a year or so ago for a non-running '93ish Civic, and a year before that for a '06 Malibu. They gave me ~$450 for each car. They picked up and did not require that I drain fluids or anything like that. 

Before any of that, I'd take it to a local RallyCross and run it in first gear bouncing off of the rev limiter until it gave up. Running or not doesn't change the scrap value. 

In reply to Motojunky :

As an added bonus someone at said rallycross might agree to take it off your hands for free99.