Everyone wants to help someone in need. With so many charities and options it can often be difficult making up your mind who to help. I myself have been solicited by many charities seeking cash donations however unless you know who you are dealing with, how do you know if the money will be distributed properly? The answer is, you won’t.
Many charities are filled with fluff. This means, even though they are not for profit, someone is making money. To be a regsitered charity, only a small portion of the donation actually has to go to its intended cause. In some cases 15% or less.
Car donations are often the biggest scams. You call the car donation charity and they send a tow to pick up the car. Years ago, you were allowed to write off the Kelly Blue Book suggested retail price of your car. People would go out and purchase junk boxes for as little as $200 and then donate the car and get a $2500 write off. The internal revenue service became alerted to this. Now when you donate your car, you can only write off what the charity sold your car for. In other words, if your donated car sells for $1000, then your write off is $1,000. After you use this as a write off, you most likely will save only about $300 in taxes. You might be asking, what about the free vacation they offered. Lets be realistic, nothing in life is for free. In many cases you will be offered a time share offer or a hotel room that can be used on off peak times with restrictions, something you may never use. Most of the money the donated car generates goes to off shoots of the created charity where the dealers, tow companies and salvage yards make out over the charity.
RCO Cash for Cars has often been asked if we accept donations however we explain to our customers why we don’t. If you are looking to donate your car, we recommend you just sell your car for cash and take the proceeds and donate it to your favorite charity of choice. This way most of the money will go directly to people that need it.
