Looking to Donate Your Clunker? Best Auto Donation Programs

The best programs and charities to give your car to are the ones that are going to actually use it, not just turn around and sell it at an auction. That's because the IRS will only allow you to deduct full "fair market value" of your car if it is actually used by a person or a charity after it is donated (or if they make significant improvements to the car, and then use it or sell it). There are exceptions, and you need to discuss them with your tax preparer, but "fair market value" is typically the Kelly Blue Book value of a vehicle. If the charity you donate to only sells the car at auction, you can usually only deduct 0.

Unfortunately, most charities will sell your car at an auction. And the charity will not even be directly selling the car at auction -- they will hire an auction manager (who frequently is the auction house itself) to handle the sale. The auctioneer takes a big cut of the sale price for themselves, leaving usually only a few hundreds dollars for the charity to collect.

CAR DONATION

In the case of a charity selling a car at auction like this, you will typically be able to claim no more than a 0 tax deduction for your donated car. While that's not a huge amount of money, it is still a good call to donate your car, provided you itemize deductions on your tax return and that your car is not worth much more than 0 or so anyway.

But if you actually do the math on how much of a benefit the charity gets from such a car donation, you'd do better to sell your car yourself, and then donate the full proceeds of that sale to the charity. But that's only if you look at the dollars side of the transaction. Selling a car takes time -- a lot of time -- so if you want to help out a charity, but you aren't willing to spend the next few weekends selling your car, then it is a perfectly reasonable compromise to just call up the charity, arrange a pickup, and let the charity handle everything from there.

This is one major benefit to the big auto donation programs, even if they do sell donated cars at auctions -- they know exactly what they are doing. They have created a car donation machine, and it runs very smoothly, so you can trust that the entire pick up and sale of your vehicle will go smoothly, and that you'll get all your tax documents on time and in order, and that the title transfer for your old car will be handled correctly. As someone has said before, "That's not nothin'."

But the better option, both financially for you and in terms of the good you can do, is to find a charity that will use your car themselves or give it to a needy person. There are fewer charities like this, but there are still hundreds of them across the US. They just tend to be smaller and advertise less.

Finding a charity that will either use your car themselves, give the car to a needy person, or make significant improvements to a car before they give the car to a needy person is harder, but it will probably only take an extra hour or two of research. Two major, national charitable programs that do give cars to people (not auctions) are Habitat for Humanity's "Cars for Homes" program and 1-800 Charity Cars.

Looking to Donate Your Clunker? Best Auto Donation Programs

Pamella Neely writes about how to donate a car to charity and how to donate a car for a tax deduction. Her website lists hundreds of charities across the US that accept donated vehicles.

CAR DONATION

Looking For The Best Charity Car Donation Program?

You might have an old car or vehicle, which you don't use very often, just sitting on your property or on the street. A car donation that is made to a most charities greatly benefits both the charity and the car donor. To answer a common question, in most cases a donated car or vehicle doesn't have to run but it should be towable. And your vehicle must have all four tires inflated for them to accept it.

If the charity you're considering doesn't appear to welcome your questions and doesn't provide good answers about where the proceeds from donations will go then you may want to think about making your car donation to a different charity.

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You want to locate your title to the car before you call in your donation. Once you have the forms from the charity just fill them out and have them handy for the driver when he comes to tow the car or vehicle. In the new tax law, regarding the fair market value section, there are some exceptions, for example, you can base your deduction on the fair market value of the car or vehicle if the charity sells it to someone in need at a discounted price or if the charity uses the car as part of its charitable plan instead of selling it.

And if you itemize your income tax return then a vehicle donation is allowed. Also, if your car is running, think about dropping it off yourself with the charity to save them from paying for towing costs.

Cars are usually donated to the needy recipients directly or they are sold and the money is given away as part of the charities function. Vehicles that are not being used make very good donations, allowing people in great need to have a dependable means of transportation. In wear and tear, minor repairs and breakdowns, a vehicle owner could spend at least 00 a year.

There are similar charitable donation laws in all other countries. Charities will usually provide you with a release of liability when they pick up your vehicle or you take it in, and after the car is sold, they provide you with a tax-deduction form that explains exactly much they received for it. Vehicles that need repair can be accepted provided the vehicle is fixable for less than what it would sell for.

One of the good exceptions to the new IRS tax regulations allows donors to still deduct the fair market value of their vehicle, provided the charity does improve the vehicle materially. The "blue book" guides are used to show the average resale prices based on the model and year of your car or vehicle. The charitable organization uses any profit they receive from your vehicle to help fund their specific causes.

Regardless of the tax laws, it's a good idea to protect yourself by having good insurance coverage on your vehicle right up until it is donated. Donating will eliminate the need of paying for advertising for you vehicle, there's no loss of privacy and possible security risk from potential buyers who answer your ads and no need to pay for vehicle registration, insurance, and minor or major repairs to keep your car in running condition while you look for a buyer. Some charities that run their own donation program instead of hiring a car donation program broker or middleman are discriminating about which vehicles they will accept, repair and materially improve. They generally sell most of the vehicles at retail prices.

For the states that require getting smog or safety inspection certificates, you can donate your vehicle without any of these documents. In some cases charitable car donors can still claim the fair market value for their vehicle. Typically the vehicle is marketed by the charity and sold to a buyer in who is in need of a good used vehicle.

In the past you could deduct the fair market value of the car at the time of the deduction - but not any more. Charities look at car donations from both the point of view of the donor of the car, and themselves as the charity receiving it.

Picking the best charity for your car donation can be very overwhelming and you want to make sure your choice is the best choice for you. Major charity car donation programs include: the Salvation Army, the Purple Heart Car Donation Program and the Jewish Car Donation Program. So go ahead and donate your car, truck, boat, RV, motorcycle or even your aircraft today and enjoy a nice vehicle donation tax deduction on your next income tax return.

Looking For The Best Charity Car Donation Program?

For more info on choosing the best charity car donation, car donation program, used car donation or charitable car donation online and offline go to http://www.Car-Donation-Info.com for charity and tax deduction tips, help, facts, reviews, including information on all types of car donation

CAR DONATION