I’m donating my broken car to the Homeless Animals Rescue Team. Has anyone done this before? What do they do with the cars? The engine is blown, so it can’t be driven… also, I know it is a tax deduction, but how do you figure the value of a broken car?
Opal - We donated a car to the Salvation Army. They came and towed it and gave us a receipt (for the Bluebook Value). You just use that amount on your taxes.
I think they fix them up and sell them.
Hey, I’ve done this twice. Both cars were over 10 years old, but still drivable. The first one I donated to my church, which runs a program for providing cars for families in need. The other one I donated to Children’s Home Society, which I think refurbishes the cars and sells them.
You are not suppose to use the blue book value of a broken car as your tax write off. You are suppose to use the actual value of the car which can be quite less then the book value if it is undrivable.
This site has a couple of ideas.
http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/taxtips/yearend/tax_yearend1220.html
You’re right, In Conceivable. Our car ran fine, so we were instructed to use the Bluebook Value. They only towed it because it didn’t have tags.
Opal,
1: Be sure that you get the title documents taken care of. I am still getting tax bills for a car that I gave away seven years ago. The title transfer has to go through DMV.
2: The value of the car is whatever the “Fair market value” is. If it doesn’t run, it still has some value, but less than blue book, by an amount proportional to the amount it would take to put it on the road.
3: . . . Naah. I can’t do it.
Tris
I think that they handle the title transfer… I mean I probably sign some stuff and they go do it. It’s a big car donation service type thing that collects cars for various charities, apparently.
At least I hope so. I hate the DMV.
I wish I could thank everyone for donating vehicles. Our family was able to go on a make-a-wish trip before my daughter passed away. They take vehicle donations.
Also, a car was donated to our family by a cancer research group that accepts cars.
It’s a great way to get rid of an old car, no matter what nop-profit org you give it to.
They don’t always fix the car: for a lot of cars, the value of the parts added up is more than the value of the (intact) car. So, depending on what kind of shape the car is in, it may be cleaned up. tuned up, and put to use. Or, it will be taken apart to fix up other donated cars or bits and pieces sold off to raise money for other things.
When my parents donated the BigBlueRustBucket ™ and my sister’s DirtMobile to the National Kidney Foundation, the paperwork included the legal stuff so that they could obtain the title, so we never had to go to the DMV.
However, if there’s any problems with the title to the car, you may have to show up at the DMV to clear things up: I don’t know if the service/charity can do the leg work for you or not in that case.
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