Info 101: How to donate your used car in Minnesota

Yesterday Yahoo covered a story on my fellow countryman, Oscar winner, Russell Crowe, who donated 5,000 British pounds to a crew member on the set of his next movie, Robin Hood.

Apparently the crew member’s car went up in smoke whilst she was on her way to work and in explaining her lateness she received a little ribbing from Crowe about it. Angered, she retorted that he’d probably never had to worry about finding the five grand to replace a vehicle. Renowned for his generosity, Crowe donated the money as way of apology.
Unfortunately, for most people who’re on a tight budget, magical fairy movie stars aren’t on hand to get them back on the road again, but you don’t have to be Russell Crowe to make a difference. If you have a vehicle you don’t need, or perhaps you have one that may not be worth you paying to have it fully repaired but don’t want to simply junk it, you should consider donating it to help others in need.

There are a host of places to donate a vehicle and all are worthy causes which can help people in need. One that did jump out amongst the many causes was the program at the Newgate Education Center. The school uses the cars to train young automotive engineers who have less financial resources available to get them to school.
The cars are repaired and put into good working order so that they can be used in charity programs such as their “Wheels for Women” program which delivers 4-5 “better quality, refurbished cars to working moms.” According to the school, the donation of vehicles can be the difference between welfare dependence and a job for single moms.

It’s a clever idea which delivers a benefit to you as a donator in the form of a “fair market” tax deduction, but more importantly, also provides huge benefit to others in need in the form of jobs and transportation for families that would otherwise have to do without.




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