Car Donation Scams: 5 Ways to Avoid

Are you thinking about donating a car or truck to charity for a tax deduction unfortunately some of the so-called charities that dominate the airwaves internet and billboards are nothing more than wolves and sheep's clothing they operate very profitable businesses by taking in car donations and selling them at used car auctions or a scrap-metal sure they donate a portion of their profits to charity they have to in order to keep their charity status with the IRS but the percentage they donate to charity can be surprisingly low sometimes as low as 1% .



Here are 5 steps to take to make sure your tax-deductible vehicle donation goes to a worthy charity and not a scammer and if at the end you decide that worthy charity is Volunteers of America who are we to argue number one cut out the middleman make sure you're donating your car directly to a charity and not to a middleman questionable charity car donation programs are almost always middlemen who take your donated car sell it donate a fraction to a charity and pocket the rest your donation goes farther when you give a car or truck to a charity that accepts vehicle donations directly like Volunteers of America for instance an average of eighty eight percent of donations made to Volunteers of America go to local programs all over the country that serve nearly two million people a year number two do a charity checkup finding the best charity doesn't have to be a stab in the dark start online the Better Business Bureau online and Charity Navigator org are both great resources with detailed charity reviews and ratings on the Volunteers of America pages we display the Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau logos click on them to read their review of Volunteers of America number three more is better the higher percentage of your donation that goes into programs that help people the better the IRS doesn't have any standards for the percentage a charity car donation program has to contribute to charity some actually give less than 10% when you're thinking about donating a car look into what percentage of donations are used for programs that help people reputable charities will offer that information on their website or you can find it through the Better Business Bureau or Charity Navigator Volunteers of America puts an average of 88% of all donations to use in local programs that provide emergency shelter and food for homeless men women and children permanent senior housing shelter and job training for homeless veterans and more number four look for a local connection if a charity is vague about the programs they offer and where they offer them it can be a red flag look for a charity that does good work in your area or state donating to a charity with local programs also allows you to look in on their programs and see how your donation is changing lives Volunteers of America helps nearly 2 million people a year through locally based programs to learn how we're helping people in your area enter your zip code in the field below number 5 double-check that the charity is an official IRS designated 501 C 3 charity if the charity card donation program you're looking into doesn't have a 501 C 3 designation your deduction could be disallowed and you could end up writing the IRS a check for taxes interest and penalties to be sure of your tax deduction the first step is to make sure you're donating to an official 501 C 3 charity donate directly to the charity do a background check of the charity check the percentage of your donation that helps people find local programs and make sure the charity is an official 501 C 3 charity follow these 5 steps to make sure your car donation does the good you want it to if you want to find out more about donating a car to Volunteers of America or how we're helping people in your area go to cars helping people org and enter your zip code or click on your state at the bottom of the page.