First of all I want to state that I am not an attorney or a CPA or anything like that. What follows is not legal or tax advice.

Let’s talk about the Donate you car scams.

First I want to say that not all appear as it is. When you donate your vehicle to one of these website charities you are more then likely giving your vehicle to a 3rd party company whom is paying the charity for the use of their name. Yes it is perfectly legal for them to do this. But I personally don’t think that it is right.

Example;

A few years back I knew a guy that was in the junk car buying business he was not doing very good. He partnered with a local charity. Within six months this junk car buyer was making big money. I sat down to eat with him and asked him how he was doing it. He told me to get a charity and pay them $25.00 for each car you get under their name. I was shocked at this. I didn’t know what to think.

Now I know some of you are thinking “As long as I get my tax deduction who cares.” Well lets look at the tax deduction scam that they do. What happens is they get or have your vehicle picked up and give you a donation letter. They don’t tell you that the average person only get $500.00 taken off of their taxes. Sum don’t even get that.

My suggestion to you is to go to the IRS website and read up on the charity donation laws, you might be surprised at what you find. If you are going to donate your vehicle to a charity make sure that you are giving it to the charity not a 3rd person acting on behalf of that charity.

If you have any question or comments please feel free to call us at 713-592-2576