Donating a car?

[LRAO]

Anyone have suggestions on the most legitimate entities to donate a running car to?

Thanks.

I hope everyone is doing well.

 

[SecondCor521]

Someone somewhere must have done a good marketing job on my brain, because I immediately thought of the kidney folks. Some searching turned up this as the likeliest candidate of what I was thinking:

http://www.kidney.org/support/kidneycars/index.cfm

2Cor521

 

[modhatter]

A word of caution. I once donated a car (or so I thought) to the Boy Scouts of America. I was asked to sign the title and send it to them. A couple of years later, I get a notice sent to my house that the car has been impounded and I was liable for all kinds of charges and wanted for questioning by the police, as the car was involved in the illegal transportion of drugs accross the borders.

My driving record was tarnished and no matter how many letters I sent explaining the circumstances, they just kept coming back after me or over three years.

So, since that experience I have learned that if you ever donate, or sell for that matter a vehicle, make sure that the person who the car is going to has their name and signature on the title, and then photo copy it. Cause it may not get registered that way if you don't. As it happened in my case, the car never came out of my name. You don't want that to happen to you.

 

[lswswein]

npr.org does take used cars and do a good job of transfering title and all that. But they don't take all cars - only cars less than 10yrs old. They have good customer service if you call them

-h

 

[jIMOh]

Anyone have suggestions on the most legitimate entities to donate a running car to?

Thanks.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Volunteers of america worked for us. Car was running.
If car is not running, ask your local fire department- they need cars they can blow up and practice putting the fire out. If someone takes car over border after that, good luck!

 

[donheff]

High school shop class?

 

[flipstress]

Saint Vincent de Paul Society? There might be a location in your city or town.

 

[BUM]

Don't forget that the tax deduction is no longer the "book value". Its the actual amount the car brings at auction. That amount is readily available from the charity, shortly after auction.

 

[more_or_less]

I was surprised to read the story that Modhatter recounts -- as this same type of thing happened to my Mom. It took us years to resolve this. I did not know it was so common. (Just for the record, she did not donote the car the the Boy Scouts, but to another organization. What we found, though, is almost all of them use 3rd party companies which is where the problems and issues arise.)

Caveat venditor

 

[F-One]

To give the most to whatever charity and since car is running, probably best to sell car to Carmax or individual and then give money to charity directly. More of a hassle but also much more money goes to the charity. Most of the car donations use a third party to collect and auction car. Third party takes a pretty good cut depending on value of car to cover expenses.

 

[more_or_less]

I would second F-One's approach.

 

[pfpelican]

A word of caution. I once donated a car (or so I thought) to the Boy Scouts of America. I was asked to sign the title and send it to them. A couple of years later, I get a notice sent to my house that the car has been impounded and I was liable for all kinds of charges and wanted for questioning by the police, as the car was involved in the illegal transportion of drugs accross the borders.

My driving record was tarnished and no matter how many letters I sent explaining the circumstances, they just kept coming back after me or over three years.

So, since that experience I have learned that if you ever donate, or sell for that matter a vehicle, make sure that the person who the car is going to has their name and signature on the title, and then photo copy it. Cause it may not get registered that way if you don't. As it happened in my case, the car never came out of my name. You don't want that to happen to you.

In Texas, there is a form you fill out and send to the DPS (with $5) that tells them you no longer own the car. This gets you off the hook.

Also, if/when the recipient files for a title, the same information is recorded on your behalf.
But filing the form is the safest.

The form is easy to get...it's on the web.
http://www.dmv.org/tx-texas/title-transfers.php#Protecting_Yourself_After_a_Sale
see "Protecting Yourself After a Sale"