Sunday, August 10, 2008

Car Donation Programs

By Ray Lam


Let?s face it, when you want to sell your old car it can become a pain in the neck quickly. You make appointments and change your plans and no one shows up. You spend your time home from work on the phone fielding ridiculous requests just to get one good prospect who is the one who never shows up. You can eliminate the stress and problems with trying to sell your old car simply by finding a car donation program.

If you run an Internet search on car donation programs, you will get hundreds of hits from fundraisers who claim that they will let you choose from among a group of charities to which the proceeds of your car's sale, of not the car itself, will go. And they will give you the paperwork you need to claim your car donation as a charitable deduction on your IRS return.

The IRS itself, in recent years, has become alarmed at the proliferation of car donation programs run by fundraisers which end up keeping the bulk of the proceeds they receive for donated cars. The IRS recommends that it you are considering any of the car donation programs, you contact the people running it and get a clear answer as to whether they are charity officials, or private group acting for the charity.

If you find that they are a private group running the car donation programs of several charities, find out exactly what they plan to do with the car you donate. Will the car be repaired and given to the charity to help in its work? Or do the fundraisers intend to auction the car off and if so, how much of the proceeds will go to the fundraisers, and how much to the charity?

If your interest lies with wildlife, you can find a car donation program that caters to reintroducing animals back into the wild. Your car can fund a rehabilitation program for abandoned or abused animals. Think how good that can make you feel.

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