The Cars 4 Causes Blog. Car Donation Program Nationwide.

Car donations that come in during December can still make the 2009 tax deduction deadline. Call right away for details and to see how the IRS timeline fits with your personal tax write-off situation for donations.

The year 2009 has been a wild year for car donations and for the auto industry in general. Much of the news swirled around the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program. The program itself was quite controversial politically and amongst economics scholars. But for the car donation arena, the program’s impact has been decidedly negative.

We’ve seen that many of the used cars that went into the Cash for Clunkers program might have been destined for charity; they were rerouted instead into the scrap and salvage markets, thus both reducing donations to charities and, also, their flooding of the recycle auction markets reduced revenues charities could get from recycling old cars donated to them. We’ll be talking more about this next year.

HR571 – Legislation with Big Potential for Car Donors and Charities

As one of the foremost leaders in the car donation arena, Cars 4 Causes® is always on top of auto industry, auto recycling, and philanthropy trends. For example, one of the little-discussed news items of the year was HR 571, a legislation introduced in January and referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means (where it has languished all the long year). This bill could undo some of the damage done by the limitations on deductions for charitable car donations imposed by Congress in 2004. HR 571 would allow donors to deduct the fair market value of car donations up to $2500, and the appraised value on donations over $2500. This would help charities; higher value car donations have dropped since limitations were imposed, and charities have been on the losing end.

Cars 4 Causes® is following this legislation on behalf of car donors and – even more – on behalf of the charities that depend on vehicle donations to fund their causes. We’ll keep you updated.

But now, at this time of year, we know most of us are focused on the hustle-bustle of the moment. We’re receiving a rush of year-end vehicle donations, with donors concerned about meeting 2009 tax write-off deadlines. And that’s where our focus is, too.

Call us at 800-766-2273 or chat with us online if you have any questions about your donation. We’re here to help. And we thank you for your generous donations; so many of your charities depend on them.

Tags: Car Donation, car donations, Cars 4 Causes®, donated cars, HR 571, IRS, Tax deduction, Tax writeoff, vehicle donation

Donating a car is a big step for most car donors, especially if you have not donated any vehicle previously. So, we do our best to answer lots of questions right here on our Website and to give you lots of information about Cars 4 Causes®, The Charity That Gives To Charities (R).

Regardless of how much we can tell you on a website, though, we know that often you’ll feel better informed if you can talk to someone who knows the vehicle donation process and who can guide you through it.

We have a knowledgeable staff on hand for just that purpose. You can call them at 800-766-2273 with your questions.  You can also initiate the process via our website, and then we’ll have someone call you to complete the process.

Overview of the Car Donation Process

Step One:  Submit a Vehicle Donation Form
Submit a vehicle donation form via our Website or contact us at 800-766-CARE (2273). At this point, you provide general information on the vehicle you wish to donate and select the charity organization you wish to benefit. (We accept most intact vehicles, whether they are running or not. No smog certificate is required.)

Step Two: Schedule a no-cost to the donor pick-up
Once you donate your car and it is accepted, one of our tow companies will pick up the vehicle at no cost to you (the donor), or you may drop off the vehicle at one of our car donation center lot locations.

Step Three: Cars 4 Causes® Sells your donated vehicle
The donated vehicle will be sold once we have a clear transferable title. A written acknowledgment will then be sent to you (the donor) for your contribution. You’ll keep this paperwork for your taxes. You’ll find more information on tax write-offs on our FAQ page.

Your Donation Makes a Difference

Whether your car donation is an old clunker or a newer vehicle, a boat, RV or other vehicle, donating it to charity helps those in need. So, please browse our website and get to know us, see our FAQs for answers to common questions, and call us at 800-766-2273.  We’re here to answer your questions.

Tags: Car Donation, car donations, Cars 4 Causes®, choosing a vehicle donation program, donated cars, donating a car, Tax deduction, Tax writeoff

We love cars, from classic cars to new hybrid cars, and even more, we love how those cars, when donated to charity, can help those in need. As part of today’s national Blog Action Day on climate change, too, we’ve been pondering the role that car donations can play in cleaning up the environment.

We think car donations can play a big role and a multi-dimensional one in helping to clean up the planet.

When a car donor calls Cars 4 Causes® wanting to donate an old car that’s spewing and sputtering fumes into the air – one that cannot pass a smog test, one that is a high polluter – then a whole chain of events is set in motion. We pick up the car, which gets it off the road; we feel good about that because we’ve removed a source of pollution.

The car donor chooses a charity to benefit from the donation. And maybe she chooses one of the many environmental organizations on our supported charities list. Maybe not. There are many ways to help the environment, and some of these are by bringing relief to people threatened by climate-related disasters such as famine, flooding, and drought.

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse

We scrap and recycle the old donated car. Some of its parts get salvaged and reused. The bulk of it gets recycled, turning up later in faucets, doorknobs, refrigerators, washing machines, bicycles, and of course, in new (more environmentally friendly) vehicles. The process of recycling a vehicle is another link in the chain that does its part in reducing the human impact on our environment.

Charities Doing Their Part to Clean Up the Environment

Most of the car donations (and other vehicle donations too) that come to Cars 4 Causes® are still viable transportation. But we realized early in our life as “The Charity That Gives To Charities(R)” that part of our work would be dealing with cars that were simply not roadworthy. We set up our Clean Air Program® to take care of this segment of car donations.

We’ve recycled thousands of cars off the roads over the years, and as we ponder this day when bloggers throughout the world are thinking about climate change and humanity’s role in it, we know our efforts are just a small piece of a larger global consciousness. We’re delighted that so many people around the world are pondering our planet along with us today.

Our small, individual efforts add up; together, we can make a huge difference.

Tags: Car Donation, Cars 4 Causes®, Day of Action, donated cars, Recycled Car Parts, Recycling Cars

When donors give to Cars 4 Causes®, they support another aspect of our mission and work; meeting the need for affordable transportation all over our nation. Cars 4 Causes® repairs and sells thousands of vehicles through retail and wholesale networks.

The vehicles that are donated to Cars 4 Causes® vary in mechanical condition from beautiful,mechanically sound cars needing little or no repair; to those needing extensive mechanical and cosmetic repair. The largest percentage are the cars that we are able to fix and sell.

Donated cars that we repair get a new life as affordable transportation for people in need. We re-condition the donated cars with recycled parts, clean and detail them. We are able to give these cars new lives with new owners.

We offer many services behind the scenes that benefit our donors and increase the bottom lines of the charities that partner with Cars 4 Causes®. We handle DMV paperwork and advise our donors in all states about title paperwork issues. Our mechanics inspect, repair, and refurbish the donated cars to make them ready for sale. We use a dedicated network of tow companies that pick up cars and assist our donors. They represent us throughout your neighborhoods and pick up cars by the thousands. Cars 4 Causes® markets and advertises the donated cars, we sell them at our own retail locations, eBay® car auctions, and through other industry auto sellers.

In this way, the vehicles are re-conditioned, re-sold, re-born really, as new(used) cars to new owners. Recycling these donated cars gives them another life and enhances the lives of the new owners as well.

Tags: affordable transportation, donated cars