Car Donation Benefits

Lately car donations have really taken off, and the charities associated with them are getting a lot of positive publicity and feedback. But what about the donors? Other than the satisfaction that you get from knowing that you've done something truly selfless and good, what kind of car donation benefits can you expect if you choose to give your car to a charity?

Save Time

The obvious alternative to donating your car is selling it yourself, but in this scenario saved time is one if the major car donation benefits. If you don't follow on that statement, then let's break down the typical time investment required to sell a car. Money aside (we'll cover that next), there's the time it takes to clean, detail, and tune your car. Each of these tasks requires a different appointment and likely a different day. You'll either be taking time off work or time away from other important errands to do this. Once your car is ready to be viewed, you'll want to take some good pictures. Then you've got to write some good ads. Then you've got to place those ads. Sure, you could just stick a ?For Sale? sign on your car and park it on your lawn, but with that kind of low profile promoting it could take months for you to find a qualified buyer.

Donating the car on the other hand could take an hour or less. You'll have the original phone call where you confirm that you want to give your car away, and once the decision has been made you'll just have to sign the title and surrender the keys. Selling a car can take months, whereas donating a car can take less than a week.

Save Money

Your ability to save money ranks high on the list of car donation benefits. If your car needs work, then you know leaving problems unfixed can greatly impair your ability to find a buyer or get a decent price. That means you either have to choose between selling your car for less or investing in maintenance so you can ask more. And in neither situation are you guaranteed to get your asking price.

On top of potential maintenance costs, you're likely already paying for ongoing insurance. After all, potential buyers can't safely drive the car if it's uninsured. Insurance premiums gradually chip away at potential profits.

Another necessary expense of selling a car is ad fees. If you want to get the word out then you're going to have to pay for the publicity. Local ads, online ads, and even your sale signs are going to cost money, and there's no guarantee you'll have a taker.

Twice the Reward

Car donation benefits come with two kinds of rewards. The first reward is the gratifying feeling you get from doing something good. For many people, this alone makes donating their car worthwhile. The second kind of reward is a tax deduction. Remember the section above on money and how hard it is to get your asking price for a car? Well when you donate a car to qualified non-profit organizations, you can use its full market value as a tax deduction. In other words, these days giving your car away may be the only way to get what it's worth.