Donate a car...

Has anyone had an experience with donating a car to "charity" using one of those companies (I think there's a billboard on Flatbush for www.donateacar.com)?

Any tips for me and my 179K-miles-and-finally-done Honda? And places to stay away from? Or do they all pretty much do the same thing?

Be careful who you donate it to. Research the company first to make sure they are reputable. Channel 11 once had a piece on the charity "Heritage for the Blind" which showed they kept more than 80% of the donations to pay for salaries. That's a real scam! I am sure there are reputable charities out there. Just make sure you research them well. Just because they are nice, will pick up your car fast, have a cute name, does not mean they are not a scam.

Daniel

There used to be an ad on NY1 for a scrap metal place that would come to you, weigh your car and give you cash for it, but I haven't seen that ad again in a while. Might be a good option - then you can donate the cash to any organization you like (or keep it).

Does anyone have experience getting rid of a car this way?

we tried to donate two separate cars at different times throughout the years. Both times, the agencies said that it wasn't worth their while, that they couldn't get enough at auction for our cars for them to want them.

We would up going the scrap metal route. Guy gave us $50 and he came and got the car. I warn though that this route is not for the sentimental.

Subject: Re: Donate a car...

bicicleta wrote: Has anyone had an experience with donating a car to "charity" using one of those companies (I think there's a billboard on Flatbush for www.donateacar.com)?

Any tips for me and my 179K-miles-and-finally-done Honda? And places to stay away from? Or do they all pretty much do the same thing?

We donated one car but the other car they said wasn't worth it. We wound up giving it to Automotive High School here in Brooklyn.

I donated a car that was "totaled" according to the insurance company. Depending on how you figure the estimated value of the car, the tax write off for the donation can exceed what you'd get for the scrap metal.

Carnivore wrote: I donated a car that was "totaled" according to the insurance company. Depending on how you figure the estimated value of the car, the tax write off for the donation can exceed what you'd get for the scrap metal.

...as long as the donor pays enough state/local taxes, mortgage interest, etc to qualify for itemized deductions. May be of lesser (or no) value if they use standardized deduction.

Also, there's some cutoff point where the IRS doesn't take your word for the donated property value, and requires a third party documented valuation. Think it's fairly high though...maybe >$5k. Probably not an issue for a car with 180k miles on it though.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=131660,00.html

Thanks, daver. I donated the car in 1998, and hadn't kept up with the rules since (I haven't had a car since either).