Frequently Asked Questions

If your question is not answered here, please e-mail Goodwill Industries at vehicles@gwcars.org

Why should I donate a vehicle to Goodwill?
Safety, convenience, a tax deduction, and knowing that your donation is helping us help others get jobs. You don't have strangers coming to your home. You don't have to haggle with car salesmen over trade-in values. We provide free towing and you get to deduct the fair market value of the vehicle off your itemized tax return. Donating to Goodwill is the easiest way there is to do something good in our community.

What percentage of the proceeds from the sale of my vehicle will go to Goodwill programs?
After paying a flat fee for towing, title work and auction services, we receive 100 percent of the resale of every donated vehicle. This money is used to fund our employment, job training and placement programs we provide to people with disabilities and disadvantages throughout the greater Washington-Baltimore metropolitan areas.

How will my vehicle be used?
All vehicles donated to Goodwill are resold at public auction with the proceeds used to fund our workforce development programs.

Does my car have to be running to donate?
NO! WE TAKE EVERYTHING. We accept all vehicles, along with motorcycles, RVs, campers and boats on trailers. 

What type of vehicles do you accept?
We accept all vehicles, along with motorcycles, RVs, campers and boats on trailers.

Do you provide a free home pickup service?
Yes, Monday through Friday within the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas.

I've heard that some for-profits companies are disguising themselves behind nonprofit-sounding names. How can I be sure that I'm donating my car to a legitimate charity?
We recommend you ask a lot of questions.

• Is the organization's name familiar or is it a name that just sounds not quite right?
• Is the organization local?
• Is the organization an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit? If they answer yes, ask for their federal identification number.
• Do they have a web site?
• What happens to the vehicle after it is donated?
• What percentage of the vehicle's proceeds actual goes toward mission work?
• Is the mission work local or in another state or country?
• Is the title signed over to the charity's name?

What do I do after I donate?
You will receive a donation receipt once you sign the title over to Goodwill. Please take a "copy" of the donation receipt, your license tags and registration to DMV as soon as possible to de-register the car. Once it's de-registered, then call your insurance company to cancel coverage (they might want a copy of the donation receipt, too). Further documentation you'll want to keep is listed in the following answer. (Note: If applicable, Government regulations require owners to remove all military installation decals and other special access decals "before" a car is sold, traded or donated.)

How much is my vehicle worth as an itemized tax deduction?

• You should take several photographs of the vehicle before donating to document the car's condition. Keep the photographs, your Goodwill donation receipt and your vehicle's maintenance records for several years following the donation. We will also provide you with a letter on Goodwill letterhead indicating the amount your vehicle sold at auction and the donated date. This letter may be used for tax purposes with a value in excess of $500 -- which must be attached to your tax return. Keep a copy of that tax return with your other documentation.
  
  
• If the claimed value of the donated motor vehicle, boat or plane exceeds $500 and the item is sold by the charitable organization, the taxpayer is limited to the gross proceeds from the sale.
  
  
• More IRS guidelines for charitable contributions can be found at their web site at http://www.irs.gov/ or by calling toll-free 1-800-829-1040.

Once the car is donated and resold, what happens if the new owner doesn't legally register it and I start receiving tickets or impoundment notices from the police or DMV?
More than 50,000 vehicles were donated to nonprofit organizations in the metro area last year and resold at public auction. Luckily, such stories are few and far between, but they do happen. That's why it's so important after you donate a car to take the license tags, registration and a "copy" of your donation receipt to DMV to de-register the vehicle -- and keep the original donation receipt with your important personal papers. However, should this occur, we will send you a letter to take to DMV that states you donated your vehicle to Goodwill, along with a copy of the Bill of Sale that lists the new owner's name and address. Make sure you keep copies of this documentation. This will prove that you are no longer the legal owner and absolve you from any further action.