NPR Car Donation

About NPR Car Donating

For those of you that have an old car you want to trade in or get rid of, there is a way to rid yourself of that old jalopy and help others at the same time.  National Public Radio (NPR) has a program that accepts car donations.  The program was started by NPR's "Car Talk" radio program.  NPR has partnered with V-DAC which is a company that specializes in processing car donations, including picking up cars and taking them where they need to go.  The person donating the car does not have to pay any kind of fee for pickup and donation.  In many cases, a person can write off the value of the car on their income taxes.  In addition to cars, NPR also takes boats, motorcycles, farm tractors, planes and many other things of this nature.  Even if the car does not run, it can still be donated. 

After your car has been donated, it is either used for parts or is sold.  Most donated cars are sold off at auctions and go to the highest bidder.  The money made from the sale of the car is profit to the organization that is selling it, in this case, National Public Radio.  The money then goes to whatever NPR radio station that the donor designated at the time they did the paperwork for their car online. 

For those donating their old car, they are not necessarily getting nothing in return.  Cars donated to charity can be written off on income taxes at the end of the year.  Even though the car owner would get very little for the car if they were to sell it, they can still get some financial reward through a write off.  In order to get a tax credit on your donated car, you must first give it to NPR.  They will then sell it for whatever they can get for it.  NPR will then send you a written confirmation that the car was sold and for how much it was sold for.  The amount that is deducted must equal the amount that the car was sold for.  If a car worth $1,000 is sold for $700, then you are only able to deduct $700 on your taxes.  Cars that are worth less than $500 can be deducted based on the owner's estimated value of the car, making the final selling price of a donated car irrelevant. 

How to Donate

Donating a vehicle to NPR is easy.  You will need to visit NPR's website to provide details about your car and get information on what to do with it.  While online, you will get to choose which NPR station will get the money that comes from your car being sold.  After filling out all the necessary information, you may also need to have the car's VIN number and title.  The next step is to print out the paperwork from the NPR website and mail it to the address given to you.  After that, a towing company will contact you in order to find out when and where they can pick the car up.  An added convenience is that you do not have to be there when the car is towed away.  You will simply have to leave all the necessary papers and keys in the car.

Donating your car is not just a way to get an easy tax write off, it's also a great way to support your local NPR stations that depend on public donations to stay up and running.  An old car can really make a big different to a lot of people.