How to Donate an Old Car

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Luz Luis, and I'm here to tell you how to donate your old car to charity. There's probably no better way to get rid of an old car than give it to a charitable organization. It's a socially responsible way of recycling, and also benefiting a local charitable mission in your area with a car that you don't know what to do with. It's really easy to donate a car, but the first step is actually choosing the charity that you'd like to benefit. You're going to need to find that charity, call em' on the phone, and ask em' if they accept old cars. You have to give em' the year, make, and model of the car, and make sure that that old car is acceptable to their organization. Usually, that charity will have a special 1-800 number or a website, but again, you want to get that phone number and the website from the charity itself. In checking out the charity you want to make sure that at least seventy five percent of the sales proceeds of your vehicle go directly to that organization. Never donate to a charity that is accepting less than seventy five percent of the sales proceeds. There's a lot of for profit lookalike charity organizations who will take your car, especially your old car, but they're not really benefiting the charities more than five and ten percent. You want to make sure that the charity's receiving less than, no less than seventy five percent of your car donation. They'll probably want you to find a title. Sometimes, vehicles older than twenty five years old may not have titles in the state where you're wanting to donate your car, so again, contact the charity and ask if the year, make, and model of your vehicle requires a title for donation. But, in most cases you will need to find the title even for an old car that doesn't run. So, call the charity that you'd like to donate your car to, get the phone number and the website from them, ask if they'll accept a car older than whatever the year of your vehicle is, and go through the donation process by submitting your name, address, year, make, and model of the car, and the contact name and address of where the vehicle is located. And then, they'll give you instructions about how to handle the title. But, the most important thing is make sure to sign the title on the back side; excuse me, or on the title to release your ownership of the car, and then make sure that the buyer or the new owner section is filled out with the name of the charity you intend to donate. So again, to donate an old car just make sure that the charity accepts a car of your make, and the the particular year, make, and model you're intending to donate. Make sure that you like that charity, and you believe in their charitable program, and that they're accepting at least seventy five percent of the proceeds of the sale of your vehicle. And then, go through their donation process by submitting your donation information and submitting your title."