I don’t really have a Charity Du Jour, and since my car needs to visit the Big Scrapyard in the sky, I’m looking for a quick, easy, worthwhile vehicle (rim-shot) by which to donate it.
Any suggestions? I live in No.California, if that matters.
High school auto shop if it’s still offered.
We donated ours to the local public radio station. (I’m in San Diego.) It was very quick and easy.
My town has a nonprofit that takes junkers and lets kids from the local Job Corps program (and other programs that work with at-risk youth) work on them as part of their training for their auto mechanic vocational programs. I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar exists in your area.
go to the website of your local public radio station to see if they have a donation program.
If it still works well enough to be transportation for somebody, ask around your neighborhood and give it to somebody who really needs it. Disclose, in every detail, exactly what is wrong with it, so the recipient will not receive any surprises from unrealistic expectations.
I’ll add that in my town, there’s a charity where an auto mechanic will fix the old car and then turn it over to someone in need (and if it’s unfixable, the mechanic knows how and where to scrap it.) It’s an ideal way to donate a car with serious problems but still have a clear conscience.
Seconding your local high school’s auto shop. Ours makes hot rods out of donated cars, and the kids learn so much.
For safety’s sake, I’d recommend you find a Big Scrapyard on the ground.
If you’re in the Sacramento area…we’ve donated a couple of cars to Stanford Home for Children. It was very easy and very fast.