Where can I donate a car to be used for auto repair training?

July 14, 2009 4:55 PM

I'm looking for a charity that will take a non-operational car, use it to train people in auto repair by fixing it, then sell it or give it to someone that needs a car. This is in the SF bay area.

I realize that the tax law no longer treats car donations favorably, and I'm not really interested in how much of a deduction I get. Nor does it matter to me what the charity is, as long as it's for what I think is a good cause.

I'm mainly looking for two things:

(1) that the proceeds from the car's sale (or the car itself, if not sold) go as much as possible towards the charitable cause, as opposed to a middleman; and

(2) that the charity provides disadvantaged individuals with an opportunity to learn a marketable skill by teaching them for free or at a reduced cost how to fix cars, and specifically the car being donated.

I seemed to remember a radio ad from a few years back when car donations were all the rage describing a charity operating according to just this scenario, but I don't remember it and all my web searches have only turned up organizations outside of California. Thanks for the help.

posted by EatenByAGrue to grab bag (3 comments total)

Consider high school or college shop class, and firefighter extraction and/or extinguish training.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 5:10 PM on July 14 [1 favorite]

If you've found organizations that do exactly what you're looking for, chances are good that they're familiar with the community of such organizations, and they could probably direct you to a group in California, if one exists.
posted by telegraph at 6:53 PM on July 14

As a reference point, if you donate to the American Foundations for the Blind, their middleman says "A minimum of 65% of the sale price is turned over to the charity." (I looked it up because I was curious.)
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:52 PM on July 14