Vehicle Donation

I donated a 1996 Ford Bronco the Boy Scouts a couple years ago.
It was a good vehicle. A little rusty in the rear wheel wells but fully drivable and everything worked. No rips or tears in the interior. No dents, good paint. 150K miles.

As all car donation places do it, the Boy Scouts took it to a wholesale salvage auction in the city.

The vehicle sold, for $900. Then BSA sent me a gift receipt for $900 for my taxes. Broncos are popular cars and I could have probably gotten $3500-4500 had I sold it outright.

And that is the problem. You only get to deduct what it is sold for, not its value. And the charity doesn’t care what it sells for. They just want the easy money. That’s why people, rightly, call all vehicle donations scams.

If you want a legitimate value, sell it yourself.
If you just want it gone, donate it.

Be careful out there.

An elderly friend of mine wanted to donate a motorhome which had several issues. He offered it to a outfit in L.A. He ended up in discussions with them regarding fixing the issues. The phone calls were not documented.

He tired of dealing with the issues so he donated it to a different local outfit. Last I heard the L.A. outfit filed suit against him for breach of contract.

Get the title changed yourself.

I donated a nonworking car (an old Ford Taurus). The nonprofits subcontract to low bit operations that take the cars, do a quick attempt at fixing, it they get them working wholesale the cars, give the non-profit their take, or send it off to a scrap yard.

I was happy, they picked it up and all seemed fine. Until I got a bill for several hundred dollars from a tow truck company and another bill from a local city for a damaged street sign.

I investigated. the car was fixed and then somehow, it was involved in a “joy ride” by some drunk people who ran it off the road into a city street barricade. I got a copy of the police report and found that there were witnesses to described the people who ran from the car after the accident, that there was liquor in the care and that it had destroyed a rather large street barricade.

Luckily I had my receipt from the tow truck operator that picked the car up. However, under state law the tow truck that removed the car from the accident scene, gets to collect “storage fees” from the legal owner and even though I had proof I donated it to a charity, that said it would process the title, the tow truck company pointed to the law, gave me a print out of the state vehicle license ownership records, a copy of the bill and said if I don't pay it quickly they would turn it over to a collection agency and ruin my credit report.

A bunch of phone calls to the nonprofit, their subcontractor did nothing. I had to get the Secretary of State involved which regulates charities. The charity paid the tow truck operator, I got a letter from the City that I was not responsible for paying for the repair of the sign and it all turned out OK. I will never do that again.

Now with a travel trailer, in this day and age you need to be concerned about it becoming a homeless shelter or a meth lab. If it become a meth lab, you could be faced with the decontamination costs should the title not be changed.

Good luck, I hope you don't face what I did.

In Ca insurance is not mandatory for trailers. It is optional and would only be needed to protect your own investment from damage Etc if you choose. So you can drop that anytime you like. As for registration, the crooks in Ca make you pay registration on a trailer until you send a “Release of interest” form to them. And be sure to also sign and date the “release of interest” on the title when you hand it over. With motorized vehicles they will let you pay a small fee and put it on “Non-operation” status where you do not have to pay yearly registration, but not with a trailer. Just keep in mind once you release interest it no longer belongs to you, you have no recourse if someone steals it. It will fully belong to whoever is in possession of it.

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