<p>We donated our car to the local PBS radio station. At pickup they gave us a receipt for $500 deduction - everybody get this, regardless of whether the car is running (our was not - it had a dead battery). They auctioned the car and got $900 and sent us a letter asking for social security number if we wanted the full tax write-off. We did, and they sent a 1098-C form, which Turbo Tax instructed us to mail to the government.</p>
<p>Years ago we donated a truck to Salvation Army. Last year H’s beloved BMW went to KJAzz through cars 4 causes. Cars 4 causes took care of paper work and sold for more than H thought. Still ran but had >170k miles and was an 2002. Was v simple and quick.</p>
<p>This is great information and I really appreciate it. Told my H what we were going to do and he thought it was such a great idea. The last car we got rid of we took to the junk yard. I know they made money on it but this was years ago. That car was not running and was dangerous so we did not want to sell it. But I’m so glad to have the option of donating a car.</p>
<p>We donated a car that wouldn’t run to the American Lung Association. They told us where to put the keys and someone came and picked it up. We weren’t even home.</p>
<p>The IRS has clamped down a lot on charitable car deductions. </p>
<p>If they sell the car, you can’t use Blue Book if it is worth more than $500, you can only use what they actually get for the car if they sell it. They should send you something after they sell it.</p>
<p>If they use the car or give it to someone to use, you can deduct “fair market value” but you better have rock-solid documentation as to the value. And you need paperwork from the charity saying they are going to use it or give it to someone to use.</p>
<p>We donated our car (abt 5 yrs ago) and it went very smoothly. Of course I cant find the org name now. But we contacted them on the internet, set up paperwork, they came to the house and picked the car up. After it was acutioned off, they emailed paperwork for the auction value and what was donated to the charity (minus their cut)</p>
<p>You can google auction cars, and get a variety. At the time we wanted to donate to specific charity, so we searched for donate car breast cancer.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>what notrichenough said in post #25 is very true. Document well. Try to find an organization that will USE the car…then you can use FMV. We did this and had a full, official appraisal.<br>
If you donate a car and they sell it, that will be the amount you use, rather than FMV. And IIRC, the organization has to use the car for a length of time…</p>
<p>Heard another ad on the radio today for the Salvation Army’s car donation program.</p>
<p>No catchy jingle, though. :D</p>
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<p>Well, “fair market value” is defined by what the car would sell for, so the sale price defines “fair market value” in that case.</p>
<p>But there are many markets… wholesale, retail from a dealer, trade-in, between third-parties, etc.</p>
<p>People used to find the most optimistic value they could for what the vehicle is worth (or just make one up), and use that, regardless of what it sold for.</p>
<p>For example, Kelly Blue Book could say $5000 for outstanding grade, when in reality the car is in poor condition and sold for $800 at a wholesale auction.</p>
<p>So the IRS made a new rule which said you can only take a deduction for what it actually sold for, wherever it was sold. No more making up your own number.</p>
<p>Is that number FMV? Sure, for that market. Is it the best that could have been obtained by a private sale, for example? Probably not.</p>
<p>Not a car but we once donated a boat to Goodwill. They take cars too.</p>
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<p>If you think that the car is worth more, you can always try to sell it for more and then donate the money in question to your favorite charity. If you succeed, you will have a higher deduction, and the charity will get the full amount of the money donated, instead of having some of it go to the costs of selling the car.</p>
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Well, sure, but that’s a lot of work.</p>
<p>It’s a lot easier to give your car a value that will save you an amount of taxes that is equal to or higher to what you can really sell the car for, and then make a phone call to get rid of it. These guys will haul away anything, the car doesn’t even have to work. This is what the IRS cracked down on.</p>
<p>I’m sure any charity would love it if you did the work of selling the car and then donated the money to them, because they would get a lot more money. I have a feeling though, that for most people, once they are holding the cash in their hand the donation goes right out the window.</p>
<p>“If you think that the car is worth more, you can always try to sell it for more and then donate the money in question to your favorite charity.” - In our case, we would have had to deal with a dead battery (and some tbd problem that drained battery if not driven often). And there were cracked windshield and mirror that were possible safety issues. We did not want to do a private sale. The PBS donation worked great - they picked up the minivan with a tow truck and gave us $900 tax write-off.</p>
<p>We donated our car to the Red Cross. They sold it at auction for far more than we would have asked for it (because it was kind of a lemon and we wouldn’t be able to look anyone in the eye and accept much money for it). We disclosed all the problems to the person who picked it up, then it became their problem. The deduction we got put us ahead of the game.</p>
<p>Moral of the story: don’t buy a car at auction.</p>
<p>The junkier cars (which is probably what most donated cars are) get sold at salvage auctions where salvage yards buy cars to part out.</p>
<p>That makes me feel better, ucbalumnus.</p>