About Donating a Car in California

Choose a worthy charity. Conduct some research on the charity. Ask how it will make use of your donation. Some great charities that can accept donations in California are the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco or Silicon Valley, the AIDS emergency fund, the Breast Cancer Fund, Mercy for Animals, and the U.S. Doctors for Africa. If you are concerned about receiving a tax-deduction on your donation, you will also want to make sure that the charity you are donating to is a tax-exempt organization registered in California. Most charities that fall into this category will fall into the group of 501(C)(3) organizations according to the IRS. The IRS lists these in their Publication 78 which can be found in the resource section in at the bottom of this guide. You may also call the IRS to ask if the charity you had in mind is included as there are some exceptions that will qualify you for a tax deduction that are not in the group. The number is 1-877-829-5500.

Look up the value of your car so you know what you can claim on your tax deduction form. You should be advised before making your donation that you can only receive 50% as a deduction of what your gross annual income is. Also, you will not receive the blue book price on your car, but rather the fair market value price of what your car could have expected to sell for if you were selling it to another person in the state of California. If your car is over $5000 in worth--and you plan to take the deduction--you also need to have it appraised officially in order to make a claim for your tax deduction.

Make sure the charity offers you a written letter of acknowledgment for your vehicle donation that states a donation was made, a fair estimate of the size of the donation and how it benefited the charity in return. This information should also contain the address of the charity. You will need to have this statement in your hands and dated before the day you officially file your taxes if you hope to be able to include the deduction in the past year's tax claim. It may be easier to have a local California tax agency file your taxes to make sure you receive the full deduction.

You will have to go to the DMV to transfer the title of your car over to the charity where you choose to donate it. The title will usually be given directly to the charity. If you have lost your original title, you need to apply for a duplicate by either mailing the application for Duplicate License form 277 to the address below or appearing in person at your local Californian DMV. The address is: Department of Motor Vehicles, Registration Operations, P. O. Box 942869 Mail Station E-254. Sacramento, California 94269-0001.

Complete the transfer of the vehicle title to the charity by signing the title transfer application and completing the release of liability form from the California DMV.