...”I want a clear title after the donation”...
Do what now?
Sell it and Donate the money.
All of the car donation operations are scams.
Why not ask if a freeper in your area needs this?
They can do the title transfer in your presence.
I sold a car a few days ago, there is no way it would have gone down outside of the vehicle license agency.
https://www.dav.org/vehicle-donation
Donate Your Car to Disabled American Veterans
Having a "clear title" means you own it. You can't donate something and have clear title to it after you donate it. Maybe you mean something else.
Javco?
Wildwood?
Fleetwood?
Any charity that accepts vehicles just sells them at auction for a fraction of what you could sell it for. Sure, it’s out of your hands and you feel good about your contribution, but it won’t do as much good as you think. On the other hand, if it’s just going to sit there and rot, at least your donation will do some good, rather than none.
Call one. It will happen quickly and easily. You’ve already done all the steering you can do.
We donated a popup trailer to the Salvation Army years ago and signed over the title. The said they strip everything down to replace the plywood and wiring. Always wondered what happened to it.
I had a van a year or so ago that I looked into doing that.
They wanted me to sign the title over without filling in who it was going to...so I asked what would prevent the guy picking it up from just putting their name on it?
They couldn’t answer me.
So I didn’t donate it.
Used travel trailer prices are up right now. Check NADA for the going price in you area. We paid $10,000 for a used one of a couple of years ago. NADA says this particular year/model is now going for $13-$15,000. It’s crazy out there.
I donated my very old Altima to Union Gospel Mission. They have an excellent used car lot in my city, probably the best, When I went in with the title, the Sales Manager said, “Hi, I’m Jack. I’m an alcoholic and the sales manager.:”
Terrific young man, born to be the sales manager of a car lot..If my present old but wonderful Infinity 30 dies, I’ll donate it to them too.
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.
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.
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.
most of those donation sites like kars 4 kids are scams and money making ventures for the people that run them.
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.
Release online:
Form to print out and mail in if you would rather:
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/uploads/2020/03/reg138.pdf