Car Donation Tips

Series Summary

Donating a used car to a charity is a great way to help out a good cause, get rid of old cars and get a tax deduction. Many charities will take old cars as donations in order to use the car for the organization or sell it for funding. After donating the car, a tax receipt will be filled out and the donor can claim the car donation as a tax deduction on their taxes. In this free video series on car donation, an employee of the National Kidney Foundation explains the basics of donating a car to a charity. Get information on how to donate a car in Iowa, California, the New York City area and Michigan. Learn how to find a charitable organization in the local area that takes cars for donations and get all sorts of tips on getting rid of non-working and old cars.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Luz Ruiz. I work for the National Kidney Foundation here of Utah and Idaho. I'm here to give you some tips about how to donate your car to a charity. The first most important step is to choose the charity you'd like to benefit from your car donation and call that charity directly. Usually you can find your charity on the Internet or in a phone book but make sure that the address matches the phone book over the phone. Make sure that you verify the location of that charity. Also ask what percent of the proceeds from the sale or the recycling of your vehicle benefit that charity. You should not donate to a charity that accepts less than 75% of the proceeds from the sale of your vehicle. Also ask the charity how much of their own money they use to benefit their charitable mission. Again you should not donate to any charity that does not allocate at least 75% of their funding to their charitable mission. Once you have determined that the charity is a legitimate charity in your area and that the funding allocations are over 75% then get out your title to the car that you'd like to donate. It's really really important that you have a title, that way you can convey ownership directly to that charitable organization. Never leave the title blank. Once you've decide which charity to donate your vehicle to, sign the title to release your ownership of the car and then make sure that the buyer section or that the next owner section is filled out with the correct legal name of the organization that you'd like to benefit. Once you have the title in your hand, make sure to call the charity that or sometimes charities will use car processing centers, experts in the field of car donation so that the charity themselves don't spend the time to process the vehicle donation. Make sure that the phone number and the website where you've contacted to donate your vehicle are again; that those references are given to by the charity itself. Once you've called that car processing center make sure to have the title in your hand, answer their questions. Usually they're questions like who, who's name will go on the tax receipt. Where is the location of the car, if it's different from the mailing address they'll want the title number and the VIN number. And then once they have your information whether you have submitted it directly to the charity over their donation website or whether you have mailed it directly to the charity, once they have your information they'll come out and get the vehicle. If you itemize in your taxes, you can use the charitable donation as a, as a tax deduction. So you will get a receipt for your charitable gift. Any question that you have through out the donation process should probably be directed directly to the charity so that you can be sure that you're in direct contact with the charity at the time of your donation."