Why Car Donations Are Growing in Popularity

For the average person, donating a few thousand dollars to charity is out of their budget and their consideration, no matter how near and dear the cause may be. But an increasing number of charities are finding a way to let potential donors give large-scale gifts without opening their wallets—by allowing them to give the gift of car donations in lieu of cash.

This trend allows car owners to reap the tax benefits of the donation while also giving the charities involved an important source of revenue at a time when giving or grants from the government are difficult to come by. Charities ranging from heart and kidney health foundations to those serving veterans have come to find that these donations are a great source of revenue and also of publication for their cause.

Car Donations Are A Legitimate Way To Give Without Breaking The Bank

Benefits to Car Owners

An aging car can present a dilemma for many owners. When they have purchased a new car it can often leave the other one sitting idle in the driveway, taking up space and still eating money in the form of insurance payments or gas. Selling the car can be difficult in itself, especially if the model is older or in poor shape, and a trade-in at a car dealership can net far less than an owner would like.

For these owners, car donations offer an easy solution. Instead of spending time advertising and showing the car, negotiating sale price and tax details, car owners can instead make a call to a charity equipped to take car donations and have these details taken care of for them. To help foster more donations, many of these charities offer complete service, picking up the car and helping complete any necessary paperwork. Some even offer added benefits to the owners, like vacation vouchers.

Cars for donation can be in any shape. Most charities will accept cars that no longer run—as long as the charity or the group it uses to collect cars can sell it, they will take it. Donations can be other things than cars, too, with most groups taking boats, motorcycles and RVs .The response is almost immediate, with most charities able to pick up and haul away used cars within a day of the donation.

One of the largest advantages of donating a car versus selling it the ability to double to value of the trade-in. When an owner sells a car they can receive a one-time payment, but a donated car actually gets counted twice—the value of the car to the charity that will sell it for cash, and the tax break the owner receives for donating it. And because the car is donated, car owners are often able to claim the highest price for the vehicle of taxes, much more than a sale or trade-in normally brings. Sometimes a car that brings $50 in sale or scrap can give the owner $2,000 or more as a tax deduction.

Benefit for charities

Groups do not need to be large or have deep revenues to take advantage of these donations. As this form of giving has become more popular, agencies have come up that take car of the administrative end of donation programs. For a fee these groups work with the donors to manage tax forms and also use their knowledge of the used car market to find the best possible sale price.

Some groups found a different advantage to taking donated cars. Instead of selling the cars, these charities instead use the car as the donation, repairing it and giving it to low-income families. This form of charity also gives the charity a chance to spread its mission and its message to a new group of potential donors.

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