San Diego, Donate Your Used Car to a Local Charity

Donating a used car to charity is an excellent way to do a good deed and help someone less fortunate. You can also earn an income tax deduction for yourself when you donate a used vehicle to charity. Two local social service agencies which accept donations of used automobiles are Father Joe's Villages® and the San Diego Blood Bank Foundation.

The used car donation program at Father Joe's Villages® helps people in need turn their lives around. One of the villages in particular, St.Vincent de Paul near downtown San Diego, offers education, job training, child care, medical and dental care, and substance abuse counseling for the homeless in San Diego. The sale of donated used vehicles provides substantial income for Father Joe's Villages® to continue the humanitarian mission of helping the homeless become self sufficient.

The birth of Father Joe's Villages® began in 1950 as a small Catholic charity which handed out sandwiches to the homeless. A San Diego bishop asked Father Joe Carroll to head St. Vincent de Paul in 1982. The operation has expanded over the past 25 years to include a family of seven large "villages" in the Southwest which aid the homeless.

If you have a used auto, boat, RV, motorcycle or van that you would like to donate to Father Joe's Villages®, you can start the process by calling 619-671-7900, or toll free 1-888-328-4375 if you are outside the 619 or 858 area code calling area. You will need to provide the year, make and model of the vehicle, as well as the license number and vehicle identification number (VIN) when you schedule a pick-up for your vehicle. In most cases, the car does not need to be in running condition.

The staff at Father Joe's Villages® will handle the paperwork with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and arrange for towing the vehicle to Father Joe's auction facility free of charge. You will receive a receipt for tax purposes in the mail after the vehicle is sold. Father Joe's Villages® operates its own donated car auction facility and does not use a middleman. The headquarters for Father Joe's Villages® is located at 3350 E Street, San Diego, California, 92102.
The San Diego Blood Bank Foundation is another local social service agency which accepts donations of used vehicles. The Blood Bank uses the proceeds from the sale of donated automobiles, trucks, RVs, motorcycles, and boats to help save lives. The money is used to help fund services to provide blood for accident victims or others who may need a transfusion because of illness or elective surgery.

The San Diego Blood Bank Foundation is another local social service agency which accepts donations of used vehicles. The Blood Bank uses the proceeds from the sale of donated automobiles, trucks, RVs, motorcycles, and boats to help save lives. The money is used to help fund services to provide blood for accident victims or others who may need a transfusion because of illness or elective surgery.

To donate a used vehicle to the San Diego Blood Bank Foundation, call 619-296-6393, extension 8176. You will also need to have all the information about your vehicle, such as license number, etc., handy when you call the Blood Bank. Blood Bank staffers will arrange to have your vehicle picked up for free. It does not necessarily need to be in running condition. A receipt for tax purposes will be mailed to you after the vehicle is sold. The Blood Bank uses a middleman to auction their donated vehicles. According to a Blood Bank media spokesperson, the agency pays the middleman a flat fee of $100 to $150 to pick up the vehicle and auction it off. The Blood Bank receives the remainder of the proceeds. The San Diego Blood Bank is located at 440 Upas Street, San Diego, California, 92103.

There are many other San Diego charities and social service agencies which are also looking for donated vehicles to boost their funding of services to the needy. But it is a good idea to ask some questions and know something about the organization before you sign over the pink slip for your old clunker, because their are some potential pitfalls in the process. To avoid future problems with the Internal Revenue Service resulting from the donation of your used vehicle:

- Make sure the nonprofit organization is reputable and tax-exempt by calling the San Diego Better Business Bureau at 858-496-2131. The San Diego BBB is located at 5050 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 110. Office Hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

- Call the Internal Revenue Service at 1-800-829-1040 and ask to have IRS Publication 4303, A Donor's Guide to Car Donations, mailed to you. You may only claim a tax deduction for the fair market value of your car, not the Blue Book value. But the taxpayer's deduction is also limited to the gross proceeds from the sale. The charity must provide the donor with an acknowledgement of the amount of the gross proceeds within 30 days of the sale.

According to the Better Business Bureau, many donated vehicles are sold to a wholesaler or used car dealer who may only give the charity a flat fee of as little as $100 per vehicle. It's also apparently not uncommon for the charity to receive only pennies on the dollar of the used-car's value when a middleman is used to auction the donated vehicle. To ensure that a middleman will not get most of the proceeds from the sale of your donated auto:

- Ask the charity what percentage of the profit will go to the middleman.

- Ask the charity for its latest annual report and IRS Form 990 that will fully disclose whom they benefited in the past fiscal year.
### Cassie Brill