# What are your thoughts about automotive recycling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [October 13, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-about-automotive-recycling/5881 "2007-10-13T14:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![namesakeone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@namesakeone](https://community.cartalk.com/u/namesakeone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-about-automotive-recycling/5881/8 "2007-10-16T00:58:57Z")
You’re almost completely right. You can only receive the amount realized from the car–if the charity sells it. If you can find a charity that can actually USE the car, you are still entitled to fair market value on your tax return. And most cars that are sold at a typical auction are sold for a lot less than their fair market value–if they are sold for much at all. I donated an old Camaro (you could almost R & R the exhaust pipes from inside the car) in 1992 to Volunteers of America and received a credit of $3300 (which I couldn’t take, since I didn’t itemize). I have attended some of their auctions since and seen a lot of cars that did not make their minimum bid of $100. These cars are probably sold to a local junkyard–sorry, automotive recycling facility–for a lot less than $100, which would make the ultimate tax credit a lot less than $100. --- _[View the full topic](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-about-automotive-recycling/5881)._