Donating your old car

[bellenseb]

Which local charitable organization do y'all recommend I donate my old car to?

[Sir HC]

Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  That is who I donated my car to.  Goes to save the bay.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

Or Goodwill.  Goes to save the humans.

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
  Or Goodwill.  Goes to save the humans.

to save the humans it would be donated to a junkyard and crushed, never to be used again

[chaz]

Not Melwood.  I donated my car to them.  A few months later I got a towing / impound bill from PG county for like $400.  
 
 
 Melwood sold it at auction and never took care of title transfer like they were supposed to.  Whoever got it at the auction stripped it and abandoned it somewhere.  
 
 Melwood took care of the bill for me but it was a total hassle and I'd never donate to them again.

[vansmack]

I gave my Jeep to the American Red Cross.

[ratioci nation]

i gave my car to the american kidney foundation several years ago, just the first one i chose, went smoothly

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

We could use a second car. PM me if you've got a good one you'd like to donate.
 
 Our neighbors (three person family) have 5 vehicles in their driveway. I don't want that many, but sometimes two would be better than one.

[novadancer]

While donating is altruistic. Sometimes it makes more sense to sell... Your net tax break will only be the fmv of the car (most use blue book) x your marginal tax bracket (say 28%).  Just something to think about if you've got a viable vehicle. If it's a piece of crap, however...
 
 Also, just make sure the title gets all straightened out. I've heard more than my fair share of horror stories!
 
 alright my carefully guarded secret is out... ballet doesn't pay the bills, so I'm a nerdy accountant  :p

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by novadancer:
  While donating is altruistic. Sometimes it makes more sense to sell... Your net tax break will only be the fmv of the car (most use blue book) x your marginal tax bracket (say 28%).  Just something to think about if you've got a viable vehicle. If it's a piece of crap, however...
 
 Also, just make sure the title gets all straightened out. I've heard more than my fair share of horror stories!
 
 alright my carefully guarded secret is out... ballet doesn't pay the bills, so I'm a nerdy accountant   :p  

I would have sold mine, but I felt guilty about taking somebodys money for a car that I know would give them nothing but trouble

[RatBastard]

No loner true on the tax deduction.  The rules changed starting this year.  You USED TO be abel to dedudt the full FMV of the car.  Now you can deduct the lesser of the FMV or the amount actually realized by the charity.  They will be watching this VERY carefully for the first few years.  I was aware of the law change and donated a car prior to 12/331/04 just for this reason.

[vansmack]

Yeah, mine needed repairs and I wasn't going to dump a bunch of money into a car just to turn around and sell it.  The ARC took it as is.

[Celeste]

Originally posted by Fine French Chaz:
  Not Melwood.  I donated my car to them.  A few months later I got a towing / impound bill from PG county for like $400.  
 
 
 Melwood sold it at auction and never took care of title transfer like they were supposed to.  Whoever got it at the auction stripped it and abandoned it somewhere.  
 
 Melwood took care of the bill for me but it was a total hassle and I'd never donate to them again.