Anyone Donate a Car to Charity?

[TAKerry]

So, I have an ML320 that is pretty much just taking up space in my garage that I hope to need soon to park my 79 Trans Am (there, I mentioned an antique car). Car runs great but has electric gremlins that make it unreliable. Has been parked for a year now. I would like to sell, but doubt I will get more than $1000. at the very best. I started to think about donating to a charity for a tax deduction. Although I am not in a high tax bracket every year when it comes time to pay I feel like I am! 

My question, has anyone done so and is it worth it? I know the usual yes because it goes to a good cause, I dont want to debate that. Is it worthwhile to donate over just selling?

[alsancle]

It can be worth it from the perspective of it’s very easy to get rid of something that would otherwise be hard to monetize. As for maximizing the value of the car, probably not the way to go. Also, do you need to look at the charities as most of the 501C‘s seem to be about paying the guys to raise money.

 

In simpler terms, a charitable donation is an easy way to get rid of a junker but what are you get back might not be much.

[TAKerry]

I looked into it a few years ago, honestly cant even remember why, may have been for a friend? but my accountant at the time said that it might be worth something stupid like a $100 deduction. Honestly, not really looking to get rich off of it, but if it can help someone else and I can get a benefit than all the better. I will def ask my new accountant if it makes financial sense.

 

Curious if anyone here has done such a thing and the good and bad.

[John_S_in_Penna]

42 minutes ago, Bills Auto Works said:

...I got an $850.00 tax deduction. Again that was 10 years ago or so, things might be different now....

 

Several years ago, the American tax laws were

made stricter for donating to charities and getting a

deduction.  No longer can a taxpayer simply declare

the value of the donated object;  now, your deduction

is based on what the charity actually RECEIVES when

they sell your donated car.

 

You have to itemize your deductions in order to get

such a deduction.  If you use the standard deduction--

much higher than it used to be--the donation doesn't help.

Now that the standard deduction is much higher, 

fewer people can itemize.

 

And if the charity keeps the car for several years (how many

I don't know--three?), then the rules change.  Others can

tell you more, and your accountant certainly can.

[edinmass]

It’s not too hard to still get the deduction.  You need to have good paperwork, and a two year hold to the charity. 

[36 D2 Coupe]

 This summer I donated a 2009 Mazda 5 mini van with 188000 miles (302000 km) on it to Teen Challenge Farm. Had been offered $1000 CDN for it but needed to move it in a hurry. (Bought a newer one.)  It was clean with minor rust around the back wheels. Their appraiser sent me a charitable tax receipt for $1800 CDN.  I was really surprised  - didn't expect nearly that much for it.  I hope it helps some kid get straight. They teach auto mechanics and bodywork there and sell the refurbished cars when they are done with them.

[Harold]

The way it was explained to me, a tax deduction reduces your taxable income.  The actual value you receive is the amount of deduction times your tax rate.  If you're actual tax rate is 25% and you take a $1,000.00 deduction, you're 'seeing' $250.00.  In other words, you're saving the amount of tax that you'd have to pay on $1,000.00 of income.   What if you sold the car to someone for half of its value ($500.00)?   You're seeing double the cash value of a charitable contribution and the buyer gets a real bargain.  If money outweighs the 'feel-good' of donating the car, you should sell it.

[John Bloom]

I have done it on three occasions and have no regrets. It was a church organization with guys to fix them up and give them to single moms who need a car. What I loved about it was I made one phone call, handed them the title and the keys, and never thought about the car again or worried about a buyer being mad at me if they had mechanical problems soon after the purchase. I did have to wait a few months to get a letter from the charity to set the amount that I used on my tax return.

 

not a way to make the most money, but very clean and minimal time investment.

[TerryB]

Your local PBS broadcaster might be able to help.  I’ve seen ads on PBS about donating cars to them.

[Andy J]

Years ago I donated a 1987 Buick Century to the National Kidney Foundation.I got a $500 tax deduction for it.A few years ago I donated a 1998 Chevrolet Lumina to Blair Batson Children's Hospital in Jackson,MS.I got a $500 tax deduction for it also.My youngest granddaughter was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome,had three major heart surgeries,and spent all total of three months in that hospital.She had the first surgery at nine days old.She is doing great today and she just turned 10 years old.

[Bryan G]

I sometimes get sent to the big salvage auction yards for work; scattered among the insurance total losses you can see some of these donated cars. There was one particular charity, and I can't remember who they were just now, but I would see a lot of their cars. I'm not sure this was the best way to extract a maximum bid but likely the easiest since IAA/Copart handle everything including having someone pick it up from the donor's driveway. 

 

I knew this really great guy; he had a grand dream to set up an auto repair school for poor kids. It was all he talked about and while we all patted him on the back we also all realized it would never come to fruition. At one point someone donated a car to him-he drove that thing for years! And then there was the case of the local small town deputy who got an SUV donated to the police department; I donated some work on it myself. The next thing I knew it belonged to him. When I asked the town manager she knew nothing about it.

[mike6024]

Sell the car for the most cash you can get, then donate that sum to charity and deduct it from your taxes. The charity will get more that way.

[JamesR]

21 hours ago, John Bloom said:

I have done it on three occasions and have no regrets. It was a church organization with guys to fix them up and give them to single moms who need a car. What I loved about it was I made one phone call, handed them the title and the keys, and never thought about the car again or worried about a buyer being mad at me if they had mechanical problems soon after the purchase. I did have to wait a few months to get a letter from the charity to set the amount that I used on my tax return.

 

not a way to make the most money, but very clean and minimal time investment.

 

Several years ago my wife gave her old Toyota to our church, which in turn gave it to one of the needy families they serve. It had 200k miles on it, but seemed to run ok generally speaking. I'm not sure we'd do that again, only because the recipients were members of our church, so we had the car looked over by a mechanic first and  had small (but critical) items repaired, so it cost us something to give it away. The organization John Bloom found was much better since it was actually set up to take in old vehicles and deal with repairs themselves.  I think if we ever gave a car away again we would check out St. Jude Children's Hospital.

How can I donate an automobile? - St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

 

 

 

.

[TAKerry]

Thanks for all of the advice. Def dont want to donate to someone to use as a driver. Would cost more to get it running properly than its worth (hence why it is sitting in the barn). IF that is a prerequisite than it will go for scrap.

[m-mman]

In California a car donation is sometimes done to sever your owner's responsibility. 

 

If you SELL a car that is 1975 or newer then you MUST provide a current smog certificate. (like a worn out junker could pass)

If you dont provide the certificate the buyer could sue you for the cost of repairs to get it to pass(!) No limit on the amount of money spent. 

 

However if you donate a car (you didn't sell it) and your responsibilities to pass the smog test are ended. 

You can junk it, but sometimes even the bone yards get picky and a donation is commonly the easiest way to have the trash hauled away and whatever tax deduction you might receive is just a bonus. 

Edited November 15, 2021 by m-mman (see edit history)

[mike6024]

Good point. Selling a car comes with liabilities.

 

Most donated cars in my area, regardless of what charity you call up, end up going to the tow yard, the same one you'd call to have a car hauled off for scarp, and the same one the police use to haul abandoned cars off the streets. Then the charity has an agreement with the tow yard, some cars get auctioned and go to dismantlers or whoever bids, and some go straight to scrap. And the charity gets the proceeds minus the tow company's cut for their costs. So the charity may get very little, but they also have no hassle.

 

https://www.autowreckerssantarosa.com/cash-for-cars/

 

[Frank DuVal]

If the car has value, like a Corvette I know an individual donated, then sell it and give cash to the charity. If you donate a good vehicle, then as stated above, it gets into the same tow yards and is assumed to have issues, therefore it brings a really low bid at auction. The person I know gave away a $5-6K Corvette and the charity got $1K at bid. He was mad as a hornet, but too late!

 

If the vehicle has issues, therefore low value, charity giveaway is probably the best way to dispose of it. 

[TerryB]

If you are looking for the federal tax write off be aware the charitable donations rules changed dramatically in 2017.  It takes an extremely large donation to be enough to affect your tax responsibility.  Same goes for medical deductions, I used to be able to use some medical expenses in my itemized deductions, now the standard deduction is my only option under the new rules.  You can of course still donate to your favorite charities to help them continue the services they provide.

[plymouthcranbrook]

About 20 years ago I donated a car that had such a bad reputation that no one would takebit in trade or buy it. Rawhide Boys Ranch in Wisconsin was the place. This was before the latest set of rules about donation so I got to take fair market value  for the  donation. So 15% of $1400 is?  Not worth the time and/or trouble.

[Trulyvintage]

Find a young person worthy and gift 🎁 

it to them …. 💡

 

I have given away a couple of Model T projects to young folks.

 

 

Jim

[61polara]

I will never do it again unless it is under my conditions.  I donated car to Goodwill Industries a few years ago.  They said that they were a state licensed auto dealer and the title would be assigned to the dealership.  They sold the car at auction, the car was never registered, driven about 100 miles and abandoned.  I got a bill for over $500 for towing and storage from a towing company, because the car was still titled in my name.  Goodwill claimed they had no responsibility as they sold the car through auction.  I finally requested a duplicate title and signed it over to the towing company to clear the towing bill.

 

If I ever do it again, I will transfer the title to the charity, so they have to transfer it to their name and thus clear me from ownership.  I have purchased a car that was donated to the AACA Library and the title was in the name of AACA.  That's the way to do it.

[Str8-8-Dave]

I donated 3, maybe 4 to my favorite charity....  my daughter and 2 sons.   

 

Daughter totalled the nice car I gave her in high school one icy winter night when I told her to stay home.  So she wound up walking for awhile.  She tried to pass what she thought was a pokey puppy that was on her left on a crowned road with nice square curbs.  The other car began to drift right so daughter jerked the wheel to the right and lo and behold a telephone pole jumped right out in front of her.  No one was hurt but all the airbags were hanging. I had the poor car towed to my favorite body shop and told my buddy there he could have the car if he paid the towing bill.

 

The oldest boy's transgression was he kept driving the car I gave him through cordoned off construction sites and ripped the sidewalls out of 2 tires which I had paid for road hazard coverage for.  I took the first tire into Belle Tire and they replaced it for $6.  A few days later I was back with the second one and the guy laughed when he saw me there again.

 

The youngest boy found out when following his dad on I-94 through a barreled construction zone he shouldn't snooze.  He hit a plastic barrel at about 65mph and launched it 30 feet into the air.  The electro-drive fan package on the now grill-less Escort was still running, hanging by the wire harness, below the core support on the ground when I got back to him to see what the hey just happened... 

 

That's a different kind of charity than what this thread was built around but I was just trying to point out donating cars to charity is a hazardous duty activity...

Edited November 24, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave
Kerrect gram maticle errs (see edit history)

[TTR]

On 11/14/2021 at 9:49 AM, alsancle said:

…most of the 501C‘s ARE about paying the guys to raise money.

Exactly, and based on my experience and observations, this seems to apply to majority privately operated Car Collections/Museum’s/Organizations and Events or Shows claiming to support whatever “charities”.

All they have to do is show a very small percentage of intake to be donated and rest can be claimed as “operating/organizing costs”.

And the irony is that they often enlist/get so many “volunteers” to do the actual heavy lifting while the main guys are just laughing all the way to …

Edited November 24, 2021 by TTR (see edit history)

[TTR]

Full disclosure: While I've given a fair amount "charitable contributions" (by giving away cars, parts, tools, $$s, work on someone's car for free of charge, etc) from my quite limited means, other than some of my time (as a volunteer), I've never "donated" anything to any "organized" charity and due to aforementioned reasons, likely never will. 

 

All my "charity" has always been (usually a surprise) gifts and offerings directly to individuals I've deemed deserving them, i.e. cutting out the middle men. It has worked for me and I'll continue on that path, which some have called "Paying it forward" or something.

 

And in the vain of the other thread about what happens to my cars (+ tools and shop equipment) after I'm gone, I've already identified and willed them to the individuals* worthy of them, although these individuals do not know it or the fact that I may change my mind or that I'm might give them some or all of it while I'm still around. 

 

P.S. Some of my aforementioned comments and observations are partially related to my lack of interest in participating in Car Shows, etc. I've mentioned in some other discussion.

 

* I/we don't have children and other than my wife, no direct family/heirs (and my wife is fine with my decision about the cars). 

Edited November 24, 2021 by TTR (see edit history)

[trini]

Can you educate me please ?   What is a M L 320  ? Can we see a picture ? 

[TAKerry]

Mercedes Benz ML 320   First generation suv.

[Robert G. Smits]

Donated a non running 81 Mercedes 300SD a couple of years ago.  Not a positive experience.  They lost the title and it took forever to complete the donation.   Next time I will sell it to a junk yard and donate the proceeds to the charity of my choice.

[CChinn]

About 8 years ago I had a Toyota beater as my daily driver when I was stationed in Hawaii. Not a collector car by any means. Literally ran it into the ground. It was destined for the crusher. No monetary value at all so selling it was out of the question. Needed to get rid of it quickly and easily. A friend of ours was the CEO of a local charity. We donated it to his charity which sent a tow truck and the car was gone. Got a tax form from the charity and was able to get a small tax deduction (which was not a goal). The charity then donated the car to a local high school so the students could work on it in their auto shop class. An all around good deal: I got rid of the car quickly at no expense, got a small tax deduction and the younger generation got to learn how to repair a car

[Restorer32]

Consider donating cars to the AACA Library.  Several years ago we arranged the donation of a '41 Cadillac and both the owner and the AACA made out well.

[Shamshoo]

I belive that donating a car to charity can be a great way to make use of a vehicle that's just collecting dust, especially if it has issues. The potential tax deduction is definitely a plus, even if you're not in a high tax bracket. I'm actually in a similar boat. I recently got my dream car and have been thinking about donating my old one, which is still in pretty good shape. I even stumbled upon this program called donate car Minnesota. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems like a straightforward way to give back and potentially get some tax benefits. Ultimately, it comes down to your personal situation and how much you value the convenience of donating over selling.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Shamshoo (see edit history)

[Andy J]

I donated a car to the National Kidney Foundation and one to Blair Batson Children's hospital. I have a granddaughter that was born with a very serious heart defect,hypoplastic left heart syndrome(HLHS),and she spent many months in Blair Batson hospital.After four heart surgeries,she is doing great.She will be twelve on September 20.

[Marty Roth]

On 11/14/2021 at 1:03 PM, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

Several years ago, the American tax laws were

made stricter for donating to charities and getting a

deduction.  No longer can a taxpayer simply declare

the value of the donated object;  now, your deduction

is based on what the charity actually RECEIVES when

they sell your donated car.

 

You have to itemize your deductions in order to get

such a deduction.  If you use the standard deduction--

much higher than it used to be--the donation doesn't help.

Now that the standard deduction is much higher, 

fewer people can itemize.

 

And if the charity keeps the car for several years (how many

I don't know--three?), then the rules change.  Others can

tell you more, and your accountant certainly can.

I recently was reminded of this from my CPA

[Marty Roth]

2 hours ago, Jack Bennett said:

I donated a boat to St Vincent DePaul several years ago. Since that time I have not had a vehicle or boat to donate, but that will change in the future.

I have included in my final instructions that my cars, tractor, motor home and any other such acquisitions after the document is initiated, will be auctioned off by a firm appointed by my executor, and the proceeds from their sale will be donated to Saint Jude for use in the research of childhood cancer.

My home will be donated to the Wounded Warrior program and personal items of value will be auctioned off to pay for modifications to the home to accommodate the disabilities of its new owner.

Wow !!

Two exceptional charities, and among my favorites.

Our annual (and some more frequent) donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital started long before we had a personal connection, and they have since saved the life of my sister's infant granddaughter.

[Buffalowed Bill]

There seems to be a majority of responders who have donated a car and were happy with the results. This is not one of those stories.

 

About ten years ago an old friend donated his well used early 90's Ford Crown Victoria to a veteran's group. Although the car had about 300,000 miles on it it was still rust free, running fine, and legally licensed. Clyde was in his mid 80's and a retired auto mechanic. Originally a Kansas farm boy with a third grade education, but overall quite savvy, crusty and a Korean War Vet. He could have sold the car or given it away but he wanted to give something back.

 

Almost immediately after he gave up the car he began to have problems. There were multiple parking tickets, a small fender bender, an impound, towing and storage fee. The situation went on for more then 6 months-the duration of the license tabs and the registration. At first he tried to fight back, but wasn't getting anywhere. He finally paid the tickets and fines out of his own pocket, just to be able to get on with his life. 

 

Someone within the process had seen an opportunity, intercepted the car and was using it himself. Clyde and all of his friend know that what he should have done was pull the plates before handing the car over. It was an oversite, and a costly one. Clyde is a 1929 model and still kicking it at 94.

[JFranklin]

In Oregon it is up to the seller/giver to notify the dmv of the sale within a short period of time to thwart this kind of abuse.

[RetroPetro]

Consider donating an unwanted vehicle to a local volunteer fire department that they can use for an extrication drill. It is great training for members, the vehicle will be undrivable when done, and you can still get a donation letter if so desired.

 

I would not recommend "K for K" at all.

[Trulyvintage]

If you donate your vehicle to a

non-profit organization be sure

the appraisal you receive is for

the actual fair market value of

the vehicle.

 

If you knowingly and willingly 

accept a valuation that is above

fair market valuation - both you

and the non- profit organization 

face potential civil and criminal 

penalties from the IRS.

 

 

Jim

[Frank DuVal]

25 minutes ago, Bills Auto Works said:

why you would not recommend Kars for Kids if someone wants to donate one.

Because maybe if donations drop off I could stop hearing that song worm in my head!😡 Wait, if donations drop off they would advertise more, nevermind!😨

🤣🤣🤣

Edited September 16, 2023 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)