I know how much this car means to you. Here's a fair offer, laid out plainly — no pressure and no fine print.
The offer
The $300 alone is already more than any salvage offer I could get for it.
The evidence
Since the car doesn't run, its market value is basically salvage. These are the real offers I gathered:
Range: $185 – $255. My $400 is well above all of them.
You mentioned you might be able to get around $600 for the car as salvage. I looked hard and couldn't find an offer anywhere near that for a non-running '98 with these miles — the four above are what I could actually get, and the local yard went by scrap weight. If you do have a written offer at $600, I'd honestly be glad to see it. Either way, my $400 is well above the salvage numbers, and it comes with none of the hassle of towing and paperwork on your end.
The process
Simple plan: I buy the car right away so I can start restoring it, while you take care of the title on your own time.
We sign a simple bill of sale, I pay you the $400 in full, and I move the car to my driveway right away. That gets it off your hands immediately and lets me finally begin the project I've been itching to start.
In parallel, at your own pace, you update the title from your maiden name to your current name and sign it over to me. I've written a step-by-step guide with exactly what you need — it's a routine DMV step, usually about 10–15 business days.
If you'd rather not deal with the DMV yourself, you can sign a limited power of attorney — good only for this one car — and hand me a couple of supporting documents, and I'll take care of the correction and transfer for you. It's completely your call. Either way, the power of attorney is returned to you or destroyed once the title is in my name.
The paperwork
Every document is written out plainly so there are no surprises — the bill of sale, the title guide, and the optional power of attorney are all in one folder for you to read whenever you like. Whenever you're ready, just come out front and we'll walk through it together.