Donate Your Car to Charity

Instead of selling your trading in your old car, why not donate your car to charity instead?

By giving your car away to charity you receive minimum a tax benefit of $500. According to Wikipedia, in 2000 alone, over 730 thousand American donated their cars to charity for total tax savings of over $645 million.

Most charities will accept cars, RVs, trailers or boats and they do not need to be in running condition.

Certainly one of the reason to donate your car is for tax purposes.

If your car is worth less then $500, you can claim a tax deduction of your own estimate of the car´s value, up to $500. The charity than proceeds to sell your car at auction.

If your car is worth more than $500, you can claim a tax deduction for the amount your car sold for at auction.  If you have a for profit organization handling your donation, you should get a form 1098-c from the company with the value the car sold for at auction.

By donation your car, you get the tax shelter and your favorite charity gets a much needed donation to support its causes. You can donate your car to some of America´s most popular charities, including the American Red Cross, the United Way and the American Diabetes Association.

Donating your car is a very simple, hassle free process. Aside from the tax benefits, it is also a rewarding gesture.

There are numerous companies you can find online specializing in car donations to charities. To get the process started, you can usually fill out an online request form or call the company´s toll free number. The car donation companies than arranges for the car to be picked up by a bonded towing company at no expense to you.

To donate the car you don´t need the title or need to be home. At the time of pick-up you should ask for a temporary receipt from the company containing your information as well as the car´s.

The company handles the whole process from start to finish and takes care of all necessary paperwork for you to get the maximum donation possible.

If you wish, you can also find a charity that accepts car donations directly, without the "middleman" for profit company. Remember that these companies keep a portion of the proceeds, usually about 50%. While most charities are qualified to accept car donations that provide you the tax benefit, you can still confirm this by asking if the charity has 501 (c) (3) public charity status.

If after reading this you don´t feel that donating a car to charity is the right option, you can sell your car to junk car buyers, or consider selling the parts on eBay.