From the article: Car Donation to Charity - Know the Road Rules
Donating a car to charity might be a great thing to do, or it could be a donor's worst nightmare. What has been your experience? What tips do you have for others? (Guest posting permitted; no account necessary to share your story.) Share Your Story
What's done with your Car Donation?
- To answer your question, most often the vehicle is resold, and the proceeds are used to help fund the charity's various missions. In some cases, the charity may choose to actually keep the vehicle for its own purposes, but it's far more likely that it will be resold. Some of these charities even recondition the vehicle, so that it will draw a higher resale value. This truly is a great way to make a huge difference for a charity of your choosing. You can find more info about this at http://www.howtodonatemycar.org , or at one of many other locations around the web. There are dozens of charities which accept this type of donation; starting with smaller charities, and working up to the worldwide organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the National Kidney Foundation, and many others. I understand your concern about reselling vehicles that may not be very fuel/pollution efficient... but if you do decide to return the vehicle to market, this is a great way to make a difference.
- —Guest Johnnie R
What's done with vehicles?
- There are a lot of organizations that are pushing us to give them our old vehicles. There's must be good money to be made from this, even after all this time. But I can't find out what's done with them. Are they re-tooled and let loose on the public again, or are they used for parts, or are they melted down for the metals? A vehicle that's just sitting on someone's front lawn is creating less pollution than one that's been re-tooled and then driven on the highway. The charity I was going to give mine to is one who has the standards of lowered pollution; are they going against their principles? If possible, I'd rather get a good turn-in bonus to buy an electric car. No point in putting those old clunkers back on the road to destroy people's lungs.
- —Guest Mike Varady
