Brer Buick — The Newest Addition to the Wren’s Nest Team
Written on November 4, 2008 at 11:49 am, by Lain
On Sunday I drove down to Redbone, GA. Why, you ask?
Why, to pick up Brer Buick, a gift from a donor and the latest member of the Wren’s Nest Team.
Brer Buick is a gold 2000 Regal LS with 131,000 miles and a little dent near the rear wheel on the passenger side. It looks a little something like this–
Now, I did not ask for a car. In fact, I didn’t really do anything other than wear a “Protect the Nest” shirt, which is certainly open to interpretation. And I guess someone thought that they could help by giving us a car. Sure, why not!
But what do we do with it?
- Keep the car for the Wren’s Nest staff and (maybe) storytellers.
- Sell the car and pocket the cash for the Wren’s Nest.
- Auction the car to the highest bidder (and somehow inspire the competition to overpay instead of hunt for a bargain, as Seth Godin suggests).
- Decorate the car like one of those crazy art cars.
- Put a “Brer Rabbit for Atlanta’s Mascot” bumper sticker on it and let it rot in the driveway.
#5 would be the easiest, but probably the least helpful. Any other bright ideas?
Further, how do I enter this into my donor database? Using the Blue Book Value?
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Amber Suitt
Program Director
Lain Shakespeare
Executive Director
10 Comments to Brer Buick — The Newest Addition to the Wren’s Nest Team
It’s all coming together. You take Brer Buick across the country on your trip west to author’s homes. Add stickers from each one so you look like a NASCAR mobile by the time that you get out there. This will only aid in your pending book deal. Do you need representation?
I was going to say one of the sales routes would be best, but Tim’s idea is genius as well; if you do the road trip and then sell it, I’d advise using magnetic bumper stickers to avoid eroding the worth of the car (although who doesn’t like author’s home museums?) And yes, the private party Blue Book value would be what I use, although you might check with NPR. They have car donorship drives, and I’m sure they have a standard way of determining the vehicles’ worth.
Wait a second, if you drove down to Redbone to acquire a car, what did you do with the car you drove down there? Did you drive two cars at once? Did you strap one car to the top of the other car? Where were you wearing the Protect the Nest shirt, that got you this incredible offer. Lots of holes in this story.
A car has many costs associated with it, such as fuel, maintenance, air fresheners, and insurance. It might be very difficult and expensive to insure it if you want to have multiple drivers covered. An 8 year old Buick with 131,000 miles might not be worth the effort and expense. I suggest you sell it as quick as you can, and buy go carts.
I would use the Blue Book, or whatever proceeds you receive from the sale for the donor database. My guess is you could probably get $3,000 to $3,500 for it. Another option is to sell people the right to hit it with a sledgehammer. $10 a whack, if you sell 300 whacks that’s $3,000. You could auction off the first swing to the highest bidder. I’m sure there are people out there who would pay good money to break a windshield with a sledgehammer.
Kirk, thanks for keeping me honest. I drove down with my dad, and then drove back illegally (without insurance, that is) and parked it at the Wren’s Nest.
And yeah, a little old lady just felt like giving me a car that she had in Redbone. It’s in real good shape, but nobody was using it. Unsolicited, she was just like, “Take this car!”
David, I’ll look into how other places do car donorship drives. Good call.
Tim, that sounds like a great idea, but I’ve got to get my sister’s car–a 2000 Toyota Avalon–up to Salt Lake too. I know gas is relatively cheap these days, but it ain’t that cheap.
Wow. People amaze me. Even though we are out of our element with this donation I’m glad she thought of the Wrens Nest. The kidney foundation also accepts car donorships, you may want to look into how they handle it. Granted I think they in turn give it to someone in need but they probably know what the best way for us to proceed is.
I agree with Kirk, keeping it for WN use is probably not the best since the upkeep will probably cost us more. Do we have any car broker friends? Perhaps they could sell for us pro bono…
Jodi
I really like the sledgehammer idea. I would almost fly down there to see that.
You could also have different weapons for different prices – Sledgehammer, bat, etc.
I dunno though, that’s kind of wasteful for a functioning car.
I actually took part in a car smashing earlier this year with my good friends over at the Duck and Herring Company.
Here are the pictures: http://tinyurl.com/6mag49
And yeah we smashed a real junker. It was great fun, though it wouldn’t feel right to wail on this perfectly good car that someone could put to good use.
Lain, I can ask some of the folks at my place how we handle such things. We even have a “Cars for Habitat” department. Is the donor looking to take the deduction on her taxes? That will make a BIG difference on what you do with it, as she can’t claim it until you sell it. The IRS changed the rules on this a few years ago. Another suggestion is to raffle it off. Tickets are like a buck or two a piece. Then have a drawing. Maybe build an event around the drawing.
Deb, that would be great, thanks! I doubt this particular donor is concerned about a tax deduction.
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