What to Consider When Making a Car Donation Texas
Even though the economy is in a downward spiral, car donations continue to rise at record paces. It’s become very expensive to repair and maintain older vehicles. Parts are hard to come by, gas mileage on older vehicles is typically poor, and insurance premiums can be higher due to the lack of safety features. Older cars do not have antilock brake systems or airbags!
If you have an older vehicle and cannot afford to fix it, you may want to consider donating it to charity. Many times with a non-running older vehicle the parts or labor required to repair them, could cost more than the vehicle is worth. When presented with this situation many people choose to donate their unwanted vehicle to a worthy charity.
Donating your vehicle to charity speaks volumes about your character. When you donate something to someone less fortunate than yourself, you show that you are selfless and care about other people. During your current economic crisis many people have noticed that there are a lot of other people that are in need and are doing something about it. They are donating to good causes to help their fellow Americans.
In Texas there are a few organizations that will gladly accept your used vehicle donation. Keep in mind that this is in no way a comprehensive list, if you have worked with charities in the past you may want to consider contacting them. They may be able to assist you with your vehicle donation needs.
- Action donation services is a listing service that shows which nonprofit organizations are active in the Texas region. Some of the listings include YMCA, education for life outdoors, the Ronald McDonald House, the boat US foundation.
- Charity motors is active in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. If you donate your vehicle to them you are guaranteed the full fair market value at the time you donate it. Charity motors will then sell your vehicle at a considerable discount to someone in need.
- Make a wish foundation the make a wish foundation was founded in 1980 when a young seven-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia had a dream about becoming a policeman. Since the inception of Make-A-Wish, over 140,000 wishes have been granted.
- Habitat for humanity the habitat for humanity Texas, was established in 2005 as a recognized nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization. This is a collaborative effort that coordinates efforts with state leaders in support organizations. Habitat for Humanity in Texas is based in Austin the state capital of Texas.
There are many more organizations besides those mentioned here we encourage you to investigate thoroughly before committing to donating vehicle for someone. IRS rule number one for car donations, state that all donations must be made to legitimate nonprofit organizations.
Consider the number of people donating vehicles; over 1 million people donated cars last year. This has attracted con artists and scam scenarios. There are several operations that are optimized for search engine traffic. The recent Kars4Kids scam should be of interest to anyone looking to donate a vehicle.
When you donate a vehicle chances are a legitimate charity will not provide you with a free vacation. These type of operations scream scam and hello will my vehicle actually benefit a charity if I use them? No. That’s highly unlikely. There are many gray area car donation operations. Some do work with legitimate charities but only donate a portion of the vehicles proceeds to the charity while pocketing the rest of the profits for themselves. These are the sneaky ones to watch out for. They will often show up first in search results with page titles that match the keywords you are searching for. It’s pretty obvious.
Stick with charities you either recognize or can investigate thoroughly before donating your vehicle. The last thing you want to do is get stuck holding the ball with a worthless air game donation receipt.
