Here’s The Fastest Route to Successfully Donating Your Car

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Donating a car is a great way to help a charity while also scoring a tax break. If you’re in a hurry to get it done, this is how. 

If you’re looking to donate a car but need to get it done by the end of the year, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ll describe the steps involved in car donation and let you know how to speed the process along.

Step No. 1: Do your research

Donating your car is a good way to support a charity you care about and receive a sweet tax deduction. However, due to current high vehicle prices, more car donation scams are at play than usual. Car Donation Wizard offers these steps to protect yourself from being scammed:

Do not select the first charity that shows up on a Google search. It pays to be suspicious, as search pages are chock full of fake charities. Scroll through the advertisements and look for charities you recognize.Choose a charity you know and trust. Be sure a charity isn’t adopting part of another charity’s name to confuse you. For example, be wary of an organization calling itself the “National Cancer Society” rather than the “American Cancer Society.” According to Car Donation Wizard, scammers will go a long way to convince you that they’re legitimate.Ask how much the charity will receive. Typically, donated cars are sold, and the money goes back to the charity — at least a portion of it. Ask about the percentage of gross proceeds that are returned to the charity. If it’s less than 70%, hang up the phone.Find out who else will make money. Very few charities have the time or resources to handle a vehicle donation on their own. What you want to know is who handles the charity’s vehicle donation program and what percentage of the sale the third party will receive.Sign your title directly to the charity or their agent. If the person (or people) who pick up your car ask you to leave the title blank, do not do it. If you intend for the charity to own the car, make sure its name is on the title.

Car donation scammers may not steal directly from anyone’s bank account, but what they’re doing is still theft.

Step No. 2: Choose a charity you respect

There are many great charities that can benefit from a car donation. For example, Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society, Special Olympics, PetSmart Charities, and UNICEF USA are all legitimate organizations that have been helping people (and pets) for decades.

Charity Navigator can help you pinpoint a legitimate nonprofit organization that shares your vision.

Step No. 3: Check out charity websites

Charities that routinely accept donated vehicles are likely to provide an online donation form. If not, give the charity a call. Since you need this done quickly, ask the person you speak with to either email the form or fill it out for you.

To complete the form, you’ll need to provide the VIN (vehicle identification number), year, make, model, mileage, and condition of the vehicle.

Step No. 4: Schedule a pick up

The charity is likely to hand your information off to a third party that will pick the vehicle up. That third party will give you a call to schedule a date and time. Since you’re under a time crunch, ask how quickly you can get on the schedule.

Step No. 5: Make sure to receive a tax receipt

If you’re not given a receipt at the time of pick up, it may be because the organization emails them. Before they leave, ask the person who picked the car up how and when you can expect your receipt. A tax receipt is the easiest way to prove that you’re eligible for the tax deduction.

Finally, once the car is out of your name, don’t forget to cancel the auto insurance policy associated with the vehicle. Inflation may be cooling, but it still pays to save every possible dollar, and there’s no sense in paying to insure a car that you no longer have ownership of.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Dana George has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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