Car Donation to a Charity?

[Handbag Lady]

Hi,

Have you ever donated a car to charity? If so, what are your experiences?

My husband did it a year ago and we didn't have a great time finding a time that worked for the tow-truck company to collect the car. We waited a whole Saturday; they never showed up. The next Saturday; they showed up at the last minute of the 9-5pm window given. We were happy to donate the vehicle to the children's charity, but not happy about having to sacrifice two Saturdays to do so.

The tax write-off just just minimal but that wasn't the point. We did want to do a good deed, so to speak.

Now, I am in need of donating my car. Have you had better experiences than ours?

Will I be better off selling my car to CarMax (if they take it!) and then donating that money to my favorite charity?

Thanks in advance!

HL

 

[Aimeedyan]

According to my accountant, the laws have changed and you can only deduct what the car was sold for at auction - which is what most charities do with their car donations (auction and then keep proceeds). He said at most, that would be about $500.

However, I found a local ministry that actually fixes up cars and gives them to families in need. When my POS Volvo was not worth repairing any longer, I opted to donate it to them. They did the work on it and sold it for a nice price. I am able to claim the trade in value of my car, since that was the condition the car was in when I gave it to them, and they were in turn able to use the $ received from the sale to purchase 3 "clunkers" to give to those in need.

If you opt to donate to a charity that is not going to auction your car off, like I did, be aware that if your car value is over $5k you will have to get a certified appraisal of it for your taxes.

In short - talk to your accountant. Mine told me to never donate a car that could be sold for more than $500 unless I knew without a doubt the car would not be taken to auction.

 

[akcire]

My husband has run a couple of non-profits. Most charities make little money, and some even lose money with donated cars.

If you have the opportunity to donate to a charity where the car will be used by the charity--such as a community college shop class--go for it. If you want to donate to a large national charity, you would be doing a better deed by selling the car and donating the cash.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Thank you.

With my husband's car, we got $450 at the auction and that's what our tax guy used for the deduction.

My car is probably going to get $500 IF the stars all line up. It is a clunker now and barely runs. The windows stopped going up and down, the A/C heater is shot, and you can't drive it more than a mile without it over-heating.

I don't expect to set the world on fire, but I know that a lot of charities might like that $400-500 if it doesn't cost them more in the long run.

I don't know of any ministries around here like the one that Aimeedyan found, but I shall google forth.

 

[scrapquitler]

I donated a car last year to the American Diabetes Association. I called them up, gave them the info and they arranged the towtruck...and we didn't have to be here to wait for them...they told us what day they were coming, we left the keys and the title under the floormat and the car unlocked and they came to pick it up and left our receipt in our front door. No problem at all.