Vehicle Donations

[myfavvac]

Has anyone ever donated an older vehicle for a tax deduction. If you did how did it work out for you and how did you find a legitimate charity to give it too?

 

[driftwood]

Last year, we donated a minivan (1992) to Goodwill. They came to the house and we signed over the title to them, we took off the plates, then they took the vehicle on a flatbed truck because of no plates, no registration, no insurance to drive it. Easy as pie after the runaround I got at Salvation Army. When we turned over the title, they gave us a temporary deduction statement, then sent the real tax form through the mail about 3 weeks later after it was auctioned off. Goodwill is extremely happy about receiving auto donations.

 

[akcire]

Depending on what type of a car you are donating, the charity may receive nothing. Most charities out source their car donation programs, if the car does not yield a high enough auction price, the charity can get nothing and in extreme cases get a bill.

My husband used to run a large national healthcare non for profit, and they stopped taking cars. The work involved, and the return they received were very small (most donations to the charity were less than $200 for a running automobile).

A better solution would be to sell the car yourself, and then send the charity a check. Trust me, anything you sell if for will be more than what the charity will receive.

 

[goldcupmom]

Here in NM, there is a local charity for cancer patients that accepts any vehicle running or not. They have a tow company that donates pick up, and a handful of repair places that do the work for free, if needed, & they then sell at auction. They make a large amount off donated cars. Look around & ask. You might be surprised at the help you can give. Some of these cars are even donated for use by families coming to the area from out of town for treatment.

 

[pilgrimage]

In Raleigh,NC there is a great organization called Wheels for Hope which accepts donated
cars. Mechanics volunteer their time, and people who are working
hard but have a low income are allowed to buy them for $500.
Some groups are hurting because the "clunkers" were crushed
rather than donated. The donor gets the fair market value, and
it goes into very good hands.

 

[Mickeyorbust]

Five years ago we donated a 1991 Mazda to the National Kidney Foundation. It was a very pleasant experience for us. They came to get it with a flat bed truck, we signed over the title and took the plates off. They gave us a temporary receipt and later mailed a receipt with the vehicle assesment. It was worth more then I thought it would be. I was very happy with how easy it was.

 

[myfavvac]

Thanks to all of you for the good ideas and for sharing your experiences with this. It's good to know that it can be worthwhile and not to difficult to accomplish. There are many donation websites that state they accept vehicles but they seem shady. I really wanted to donate it to a charity set up to reap the full benefit. I will definitely look into the ones mentioned above.

 

[mommyrants]

We donated through our local public television station. Couldn't have been easier.