Anyone ever donate a vehicle to them?
Good experience?
How do they value the vehicle?
What do they do with the vehicles
Have a 2008 F150 -everything works but a little cosmetically challenged.
Thanks

Just be aware, they take the car and sell it to find their charities. They don't give the cars to the kids.

The old lady across the street was very upset when she learned that the car donated after was sold at an auction and not given to an underprivileged kid.

I don't know anything about them, other than their radio spots.

Why would someone go that route, rather than carmax and then just donate money to the charity of your choosing? It is more of a direct tax savings by doing it this way, like trading a vehicle in on a new purchase? It is just easier? Or something else?

Have not done it, but some friends did and this is the basic setup. They sell the car at auction and a few weeks later you get a statement from them with the value of the donation (value received at the auction/sale). That is the value you can use on your tax return. The charity really just wants the cash, and this is their fundraiser.

Easy way for people to get rid of their car without dealing with other people. I think they assume people with a car that has very little used car dealership value, do not want to sell it to an individual themselves, so they created an outlet for those people.

If you care about the kids/charity, probably better ways to donate, but if you want to get rid of your car, they will take it.

Never donated to them, but I have given a vehicle to someone.

I'm sure if you look around your circle of family/friends, they will know someone with the need you have the ability fulfill. Good luck with whatever route you go.

If you are wanting to get your old car into the hands of those who need it I know of no one better than https://godsgarage.org/

Regardless of whether you are a believer or not. These guys are the real deal. They take donations, or just buy beaters. Fix them up to be mechanically reliable, and then get them into the hands of single Mom's primarily.

If it's a manual trans, they fix it and sell it to fund their mission. I have a couple of friends that have bought manual trucks from them already.

Their radio commercials haunt my dreams. I hate that ****ing jingle so much

Thanks for info.
As some have said, just don't want to go thru the hassle of selling it.

Didn't think they gave the car to kids, that would be a bad idea.

Thought would be an easier way to get some value back with a tax deduction and maybe do dome good. But think the auction value would be less than the sale and donate amount.

Again, thanks for the input.

Mookie recommended peddle.com and I had a decent experience getting rid of a dead old car that way. Super easy.

Otherwise the God's garage thing looks like a solid deal.

A lot of these charities don't actually give what's donated directly to people in need. I recall several years ago folks were upset with a shoe charity that sold donated shoes to third world vendors who then resold them for a profit, much to the horror of anti-capitalist donors.

techno-ag said:

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A lot of these charities don't actually give what's donated directly to people in need. I recall several years ago folks were upset with a shoe charity that sold donated shoes to third world vendors who then resold them for a profit, much to the horror of anti-capitalist donors.

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Capitalist donors can't expect their charitable donations to be used for charity? Weird take.

Jack Cheese said:

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techno-ag said:

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A lot of these charities don't actually give what's donated directly to people in need. I recall several years ago folks were upset with a shoe charity that sold donated shoes to third world vendors who then resold them for a profit, much to the horror of anti-capitalist donors.

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Capitalist donors can't expect their charitable donations to be used for charity? Weird take.

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No, anti-capitalists were more interested in the items going directly to the poor rather than anybody making money off their donations.

techno-ag said:

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Jack Cheese said:

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techno-ag said:

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A lot of these charities don't actually give what's donated directly to people in need. I recall several years ago folks were upset with a shoe charity that sold donated shoes to third world vendors who then resold them for a profit, much to the horror of anti-capitalist donors.

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Capitalist donors can't expect their charitable donations to be used for charity? Weird take.

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No, anti-capitalists were more interested in the items going directly to the poor rather than anybody making money off their donations.

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Ah, sorry, I mis-read your post. My bad. Viva la capitalismo!

Jack Cheese said:

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techno-ag said:

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A lot of these charities don't actually give what's donated directly to people in need. I recall several years ago folks were upset with a shoe charity that sold donated shoes to third world vendors who then resold them for a profit, much to the horror of anti-capitalist donors.

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Capitalist donors can't expect their charitable donations to be used for charity? Weird take.

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And never mind the negative impact these types of charities have on the local economies and industry where these donations end up
Just one example
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/06/second-hand-clothing-donations-kenya

ElephantRider said:

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Their radio commercials haunt my dreams. I hate that ****ing jingle so much

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Thanks. I will be singing it in my head for the rest of the night

Also there was a spot in KBTX where a guy at Christian Brothers who facilitates getting old cars to people in need.

It only makes sense if you already exceed the standard deduction. Then it's still just a deduction instead of a credit so if you make $500k per year, you can max out with 37% of the car's value. If you make $170k or less you can claim 24% etc…

As for being a do-gooder, 1/3 of the kars4kids donation goes to pay for radio jingles and other fundraising costs. Then another 10% go to employee salaries. So ~57% of your contribution goes to their charity.

I did this with my mom's explorer after she passed. It was a '93 and trashed out. Set up a time, left keys in the visor, left for work one day and they came and got it. Got a statement in the mail a month or more later and sold for $1000 or so. Surprised me it got that much.

Don't think I'd got that on the private market and I'm glad the charity got $570 otherwise they wouldn't have gotten.

Did it a few years ago. They make it very easy. Set it up over the phone, and they schedule a tow truck to come out.

Tim Weaver said:

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If you are wanting to get your old car into the hands of those who need it I know of no one better than https://godsgarage.org/

Regardless of whether you are a believer or not. These guys are the real deal. They take donations, or just buy beaters. Fix them up to be mechanically reliable, and then get them into the hands of single Mom's primarily.

If it's a manual trans, they fix it and sell it to fund their mission. I have a couple of friends that have bought manual trucks from them already.

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Gods Garage is wonderful. My retirement plan is to volunteer up there.

Not getting a tax deduction unless you itemize, which almost no one does after trump doubled the standard deduction.

Most of these charities sell the cars at auctions and many if not most end up at the Pick and Pull. Unfortunately, a LOT of actually good and useable cars end up wasted this way.

I my car hobbies, i frequent these yards (which is a cultural experience in itself) and see LOTs of granny/gramps cars that were perfectly good being ripped apart before going into the crusher. Crown Vics, 90s Buicks/Oldmobiles, etc. Cars that would be great for a single mom needing transportation.

You can sell a good car that runs and drives quickly for $2000-3000 with just a sign on the street. It'll be gone in hours, but used, and you have more money.

Post pics and price of the truck? I'm loosely in the market for a home depot runner

hoo boy she's been rode hard. Rust above the windshield is concerning.

Might indeed be a good donation candidate.

What would you take for it?

I have. It was a 15yo 2000 Dodge Caravan LE sport, not a bad car in retrospect. Kind of sporty handling when empty. A year or two before, we were driving home to NoVA from Richmond from a T'giving dinner, everybody complaining there was no heat! Checked the next day and no coolant in the system, V6 never skipped a beat for the 130 miles! Replaced the radiator, good to go for its life.

It's a Jewish organization for the benefit of Jewish kids...Not the there is anything wrong with that! No, I'm Catholic.

And they don't care what kind of shape they are, they'll tow it for the salvage value.

My "good old truck" picked up by Gods Garage today. Two nice guys came-easy, simple to do. Said truck will definitely go to someone who needs it. Seems like a good, small organization that will do what they say will do.

I, irrationally, grew attached to that truck over the years-hope it still has a little while to go.

So am I trading a car for a child?

Or are children to be driving the donated cars?

I'm in if it's the first

tandy miller said:

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So am I trading a car for a child?

Or are children to be driving the donated cars?

I'm in if it's the first

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Can tell you don't have kids. Have a few and after a couple years you will trade the kid for a car. Some days a nice car. Some days an old POS on blocks.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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tandy miller said:

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So am I trading a car for a child?

Or are children to be driving the donated cars?

I'm in if it's the first

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Can tell you don't have kids. Have a few and after a couple years you will trade the kid for a car. Some days a nice car. Some days an old POS on blocks.

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Duncan Idaho said:

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Just be aware, they take the car and sell it to find their charities. They don't give the cars to the kids.

The old lady across the street was very upset when she learned that the car donated after was sold at an auction and not given to an underprivileged kid.

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The principle behind this is a little silly: in theory, the donation went to help the kids even if the vehicle itself didn't do so directly. If she wanted to donate a car directly to an individual, she should have done so or made sure of it happen the way she wanted before donating to the charity. If she made an assumption, I'm sorry, but that's on her.

As far as the charity itself, well, it has a sketchy reputation. But that brings up another issue. One of their problems is money spent on advertising that is not put back into charitable items. As someone who's pretty heavily involved with non-profits, this is a problem for all such organizations. How do manage it? Spend the money to be known and raise funds or don't do so, be relatively unknown and not receive donations?

Essentially, those are your only 2 choices. Volunteer fund raising works in the short run but not in the long run. The organization will die. I've seen several that I set up that were good charities but no sound long term fund-raising plan. Sorry for the semi off topic rant.