There are so many organizations that accept acr donations. One of the ideological problems is that we associate car donations with cars — just cars. We don’t hear much about donating trucks, boats, trailers, motorcycles, recreational vehicles and real estate, but these items can be given to a car donation charity as well. So that boat sitting out in your driveway can still be given to charity.
When you donate a car to a charity, you aren’t really donating it to the charity just yet; you are actually donating it to a coordinator between you and the charity organization. Most coordinators represent a number of different charities. These coordinators facilitate the transaction between you and the charity organization. In most cases, the coordinators or liaisons will actually sell or auction the vehicles or property for the charity organization. After they have sold the property, they give the charity a portion of the proceeds. This does not affect the tax break you receive for donating a car, truck or boat.
When you give to a donation charity, you can receive a tax break for the donation. Your donation must be itemized on your taxes for you to receive credit. If you don’t itemize your taxes, you won’t receive a tax deduction for giving a car donation. The same is true for trucks, boats, trailers and other donations.
So, this is how the tax break works. You have to determine the fair market value of what is being donated. This value typically comes from the Kelly Blue Book or NADA, which are the industry standards. The IRS allows you to determine the fair market value of your car if the market value is below $5,000. If the fair market value is above $5,000, you will need to have the property appraised before you give to charity. In most cases, the charity to which you are donating the property will pay for a certified individual to appraise it.
Now comes the part of actually removing the item from your property. Most car donation organizations will pay for the boat, trailer, car or truck to be removed from your property. Oftentimes, a towing company will contact you for a time to pick up the item to be removed and sent to the charity. At the time of pickup, you need to supply the keys and the title (signed over to the liaison organization). Normally, a receipt will be given to you by the person towing the car away. Don’t lose the receipt; you will need it in order to claim a tax deduction for the item going to the car donation charity.
Once you decide to commit to donate a car to charity, it only takes a few days for someone to remove the item. Typically, it’s between two and four business days.
Finally, you can choose which charity you want to give the money to. The coordinators don’t randomly give your money from the property to charities in need. They will give the money to a charity you specify.
Car donation charity programs are in place to offer you the service of getting rid of some old, or maybe even somewhat new cars. And you offer them a service of providing them with something that will turn into cash so they can use it for their respective organizations.
By John Ivie