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Automotive Guide Wondering What To Do With That Old Car, Why Not Donate It?

By: Gregg Hall
Automotive Guide

How many cars do you have in the driveway? One, two, maybe more? Do you use them all? Are they all really necessary? While it may seem that you need each car, it may be that having more than one is actually costing you more than you think.

Consider how much the insurance is costing you on that second car. Couldn't that money be better spent elsewhere? Do you have children? Will they be going to college? The money that you are spending on insurance could be saved for a college education. College isn't getting any cheaper; in fact, the prices are climbing more every year.

Here is a crazy idea, why not donate a car to a charitable organization?

Are you too busy to try to sell the car?
Is there any use for the old car?
There are organizations that would be willing to tow it away for you for the donation.

What are the incentives to donating a car?

Helping people in need (obviously).
An excellent chance that you could write off the resale value of the car as a tax deduction.
The organization would more than likely be very willing to let you know what price they received for the car when they sold it.
You in turn, would supply this information to the person who does your taxes so it could be put in your tax return.
In other words, this helps you as well as the organization.

A car donation works basically the same as any other donation with the exception that the organization will sell the car and then use the money that they receive for the car for something good. The organizations can be for anything. They can be cancer organizations, homeless organizations, Make a Wish type organizations, etc.

When you donate the car it is considered a donation for what the current Kelley Blue Book value is. The mileage is also considered in the value of the car. When you donate the car the organization will give you a receipt for the car with the current Blue Book value on the receipt. This helps in showing that the donation was a legitimate donation especially if the name and address of the organization is on the receipt. Another situation where a couple of bad apples have spoiled the whole bunch, some people have made up deductions so it is always a good idea to have proof.

If the person would sell the car and get more than the Blue Book value for the car they would have to report that as a gain and then report that on their taxes and actually have to pay taxes on that gain. But, if the person would get less than the Blue Book value the person would not be able to report that as a loss unless of course they were in the business of selling cars. In other words, a car salesman could report that as a loss but a grocery store owner could not.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well other Auto Parts and Accessories at http://www.shop4autoparts.com

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