Donating a car to charity is a surefire way to get your feel-good factors flowing. That said, there are some obstacles to donating a car to charity that can keep the good times from rolling, one of them being damage to the car.
Let’s take a look at how you can have a damaged car and still make a donation to the charity of your choice.
Can You Donate A Damaged Car To Charity?
Absolutely. There’s no law explicitly stating that you can’t donate a damaged car to charity.
However, consider the purpose of your donation: is it to improve someone’s life for the better or just to get an unwanted car off your hands. If it is the former, then too much damage to the vehicle may make it undriveable to the next owner.
Charities, for the most part, aren’t equipped to take on and repair heavily damaged vehicles.
They are non-profits and just don’t have the manpower, facilities, or finances to take a vehicle with severe frame damage or shot electronics and repair it back to a drivable condition. Those resources can be better spent towards the other programs within the organization.
So then what do charities do with a damaged car donation?
They auction them! Most cars that aren’t in the best condition — i.e. no longer driveable — get auctioned off. The organization then takes the profit from the auction and feeds it back into their programs.
While they might be able to fetch a pretty penny if they were in tip-top shape, these vehicles can go for extremely low prices.
Well There’s Still The Tax Benefit
Sure, you might not be able to give someone a working roadster, but you might still be able to get that sweet tax break, right?
Well…not exactly. The tax deduction is wholly dependent on how much the charity sells the car for. Since they auction them off, some cars may sell for as little as $50.
Unless the charity decides to utilize the vehicle for their own purposes, you likely won’t get the full tax deduction for that donation.
Highly Efficient Charities
Furthermore, when donating to a charity, you want to ensure that a satisfactory percentage of the proceeds go back into their programs.
Organizations with a reputation for giving 75% or more of their net proceeds back into the charity.
Here are a few charities that fit the 'Highly Efficient' bill:
- Riteway Charity Services
- Charity Motors
- V-DAC (Vehicle Donations to Any Charity)
- The Arc Vehicle Donation
Now, when you donate to any of these charities, there is no guarantee as to how much of an impact your contribution will make.
You can’t predict whether the charity will keep your car or auction it off, nor can you predict how much it will make at auction. That’s plenty of important factors that get left up in the air.
If you’d like a concrete way to make an impact on your favorite charity, then DamagedCars presents the perfect option!
DamagedCars Helps You Donate Your Damaged Car!
If you’ve got a damaged car you want to let go to charity, but are unsure how much of an impact you’re going to make, let DamagedCars take care of it.
Instead of donating the car and having it auctioned off because it’s “less than perfect,” have one of our customer service representatives give you a quote for how much we’ll buy your car for.
Once you’ve accepted our offer, our local service providers handle the retrieval and title transfers completely free of charge. They’ll give you the quoted amount at the time of pick up, so you’ll know exactly how much you can donate to the charity of your choice right then and there.
You’ll get a definite amount to donate as well as a definite amount to enter into your taxes. That deduction is no longer a mystery once you go through DamagedCars!
Contact us today and help us help you make a difference!