When it comes to donating possessions, most people generally think about books, old clothes, souvenirs, or furniture, but car donations surpass all levels. The selfless act of donating your old car to a charity is indeed praiseworthy. But you should do it right to maximize the output of the donation. You should also understand the practical reasons behind this act of kindness and help make the most of it for the benefit of the community.
So, here goes!
How can car donations help those in need?
Donating an old car that takes up space unnecessarily in your garage to a charity will help them raise some funds for a cause. The car will be auctioned and sold by them, and the money will be used to better the lives of the poor and needy people in the local community. This money can even sponsor the education of an orphaned child, which would otherwise have been spent on materialistic things.
The car can also be sold to a dealer for its scrap metal and the money from the deal can go into the charity funds that aim to improve living standards for those in need. For example, the people at Mersgoodwill.org offer free education to many students in public schools with the help of donation funds. If 5-6 people from your community donate their old cars, enough funds can be raised to help people suffering from financial issues.
Tips to help you do the donations right
To optimize the returns on your car donation, you should follow a few steps that have been mentioned below:
Get informed about the foundation
Acquire as much information as you can about the charity, their objectives, mission, vision, values, and of course, their location, before you donate the car for their cause. You should make sure that the money from selling/auctioning the car should go into the education or welfare of the needy.
Get the car inspected
To ensure that the deal is worth your effort and that of the charity, you should run a basic inspection of your old car before donating it. See if the brakes, tires, windows, and wipers are in proper condition and check for potential damages. If possible, you can get some repairs done to increase the selling price of the car, which will help benefit the people in need better.
Check the car for personal items
Many a time, people misplace some of their personal belongings in the old car and consider them lost. Hence, you should check the insides of your car for such items that may be of value, like jewelry, lost phones, sim cards, money, or anything else, before you give it up for donation. Check the floor mats, dashboard, and space under the seats for more valuable things, like credit cards, identity cards, keys, or wallet.
Clean the car
Your car may be accumulating dust in the garage for years, so make it a point to clean it thoroughly before donating it. When you’re planning to do something for society, you should always be ready to go the extra mile, and cleaning the car is one such way of doing that.
Wrapping it up
Donating your car can also give you some tax relief, but that shouldn’t be your primary reason for going ahead with it. You should be more focussed on how this act of yours will benefit the people in need of the money. After all, we all should contribute towards society to leave it a better place for our next generations.
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