I have a 1996 jeep Cherokee 4x4 with 185,000+ miles. It has rust in the floorboards that will likely fail my state inspection at the end of this month. It also has some mechanical issues i.e. rust on the brake lines, possible rear main seal leak, and rust on the 2nd half of the exhaust system. It may be time for me to look for a new vehicle (I’ve had this one since it was new, 304 miles).
My question is will Car Talk still take a vehicle for donation that will not pass a state inspection and is possibly unsafe to drive?
Thanks.
Hello Forklift Gal,
My name is Beth, and I work with the Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program.
We do not require that the vehicle be in running condition. However, we do ask that the tires and wheels move freely. This will allow our towing companies to easily pick up your donation.
When a vehicle is donated, the wholesale auction markets and salvage and recycling markets are reviewed. We then choose the market that will result in the highest sale value for the vehicle.In the case of your Jeep, we will most likely sell to a recycling/salvage yard in your area.
From the sale price of the vehicle, we subtract direct expenses such as towing, auction, DMV and title transfer costs. From this net amount, we return 70% to 75% directly to your local NPR station. For comparison, this remains one of the highest percentages in the industry.
The donation process is simple. Just go to our web site at http://www.cartalkvdp.com, and start by clicking the «Donate Now» button. We’ll walk you through the process, which usually takes less than five minutes. The website also contains answers to common questions about donating your car to support public broadcasting.
If you prefer to donate by phone, call us, toll free, between the hours of 8:30 A.M. and 8:30 P.M. EST weekdays and 8:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. EST Saturdays, at 866-789-8627.
If you have further questions, feel free to e-mail me anytime!
Beth
Thanks you Beth for your detailed response. It is very helpful. I am still a few months off from a final decision but I wanted to have a little info on how to start the process.
Or you can donate it to a local technical program, or the DAV (disabled Vets) but be careful with the tax deduction. You can only take what the car actually sells for now. So if you value it at $1100 and they give you a slip that says $1100, but it sells to the junk yard for $175, that’s all you get, plus the IRS loves to look at stuff like that, like home office deductions.
The other option is just forget the tax issue, and give it to someone who may need a car (check with your church or Salvation Army), trade it, or call the local junk yard yourself and have them pick it up. Then you can take the money and spend it or give it away to whoever you want.
I second what Bing states. The vehicle has so little value the tax hassle is not worth it.
Taxes are not a hassle. You donate the vehicle, the charity sells it and then sends you a receipt for the sales value. The receipt is what you use to justify your deduction if the IRS asks for it. And some people donate just because they feel good about it. That’s why we donate old vehicles.
Regardless of its value, why NOT donate it? It will do NPR and Car Talk some good, more than the donor might give to NPR on a semi-annual basis. That’s why the Vehicle Donation Program exists. Go for it FORKLIFT GAL. It’s the thing to do.
Most people cannot itemize on their income taxes anyway so the tax deduction becomes meaningless for them. I don’t blame the IRS for cracking down, too many people wanted the Bluebook retail value deduction for a car that was being towed to the scrapyard.
The vehicle has so little value the tax hassle is not worth it.
Most people cannot itemize on their income taxes anyway so the tax deduction becomes meaningless for them
What tax hassle? Just keep the receipt with the rest of your deductibles?
Who cannot itemize? It seems like every year I find more things that I can add to my itemized deductions. I’m sure more people than not itemize deductions over the standard deductions.
12,400 standard deduction for MFJ is hella tough to beat unless you’re paying a hefty mortgage, very sick, or very wealthy.
If you don’t donate through CarTalk and decide on another, be very careful of the many unscrupulous donation programs out there. The one you hear advertise all the time (for kids) gives a tiny percentage of proceeds to the charity, pocketing the rest.
Thanks everyone for your input on vehicle donations and taxes. I’ll keep it all in mind.
12,400 standard deduction for MFJ is hella tough to beat unless you’re paying a hefty mortgage, very sick, or very wealthy.
I don’t know…around here just the property tax on a decent suburban home will cover almost half of the standard deduction. Mortgage interest on an average home will get you over the top. Sales tax deduction, child raising expenses, unreimbursed work expenses, charitable donations, it all adds up. I consider my family to be of average means and we easily doubled the standard deduction.
Gotta agree, its not hard to beat the standard deduction. Gotta remember state taxes are included so when you add state taxes, real estate taxes, mortgage interest, and contributions, it adds up quick. Now if you are in a state where there are no state income taxes, it might be harder.
By the way if someone calls you up claiming they are from the IRS and have to call them right away-ITS A SCAM. The record seems to be $500K that someone paid them. Same as the guy from Microsoft yesterday, and the ladies a couple months ago. I told her she should be ashamed of trying to scam people and she hung up.
“around here just the property tax on a decent suburban home will cover almost half of the standard deduction. Mortgage interest on an average home will get you over the top. Sales tax deduction, child raising expenses, unreimbursed work expenses, charitable donations, it all adds up.”
+1
I don’t even have child raising expenses or unreimbursed work expenses, and I still come out ahead with itemization, as opposed to the standard deduction.
My mortgage is down to ~$11k, and because I lucked-out with a variable-rate mortgage, I have been paying only ~3.4% interest on the mortgage for the past few years. However, between my property taxes, some large charitable donations, and the paltry amount of interest that I pay on my mortgage, I do much better by itemizing.
If you’re married, own a house or have kids…then you want to itemize.
I think the IRS limits the deduction to the actual sale price and oldtimer is correct. If not, everyone would be claiming that a 20 year old rusted out Jeep that won’t pass inspection is worth 8 grand.
Property taxes here in OK are cheap compared to other parts of the country. An acquaintance who lives in an affluent part of a neighboring city has a huge 5 BR, 3 bath home with a 3 car garage and large shop building on more than an acre of desireable real estate right across the street from the country club and his taxes are about 3500 a year.
Living out in a small town my taxes are about 165 bucks a year.
Living out in a small town my taxes are about 165 bucks a year.
!!! Property tax on a brick xxxxhouse out here in the Seattle area would be more than $165/year.
I think the excise tax I pay to license 4 cars per year is almost as much as that.
But the registration tax you pay for your car license is also tax deductible.
Taxes are generally pretty low here in OK on most things. Sales taxes can be a bit high at near 10% in most places and excise tax on car sales is horrid but most everything else is not bad compared to other places.