Donate A Car To Your Favorite Charity

By: Aron Russell

Many people purchase a new car each year.  For some of these people selling the old car is just more of a burden than they want to carry.  

When you sell a car privately you need to purchase an advertisement, answer endless questions via the telephone, and wait for potential buyers to show up to look at the car.

Another route to freeing yourself of your old vehicle is to consider one of the programs where you can donate a car to charity.  When you donate a car to charity it’s really a win-win situation for both yourself and the charitable organization.

Many charities now recognize that there are several different fundraising options available to them.  When they utilize a program where people can donate a car they can greatly increase their contributions and at the same time still have the ability to issue tax receipts.

The first thing you’ll want to do when you decide to donate a car to charity is to contact your favorite charity to see if they elicit donations in this manner.  If they do, they will explain the steps in the process.  Usually this involves you either delivering the car to a specific location or they arrange pick-up.  They’ll also explain how they issue a tax receipt when you donate a car to their specific organization.

If your favorite charity doesn’t take car donations you’ll need to consider an alternative approach.  You might decide to donate a car to a charity that does accept vehicle donations.  You can usually call a few charities and ask if you can donate a car and receive a tax receipt in return.

Another idea is to contact one of the companies that handle car donations for charities.  How these organizations work is that you donate a car to them with the understanding that the proceeds when the car is sold at auction will be donated to a specific charity.  These companies generally work with several different charities.  

When you donate a car to them, they will sell it to the highest bidder at an auction.  The amount that it was sold for will then be directly donated to your preferred charity minus a small administration fee.  The charity will then issue you a tax receipt for your contribution.

If you do happen to have a used car that’s just sitting consider donating it to charity.  When you do donate a car to a good cause you’ll feel good knowing that the money raised from the sale of the car is helping those who truly need it.