Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of people that will donate a car this year? If so, before you donate, you probably want to know what will happen to your car donation. Because many car donation companies process their donations in different ways, I can tell you how we at Cars Helping Charities will process your car donation however, I can’t promise that this is what will happen with regards to cars donated outside of Cars Helping Charities. With that said, here is how we process car donations:
The first thing that will happen when you decide to donate your car is it will be towed to a car donation facility. Don’t worry, you won’t have to pay anything to have the car towed, because you have decided to make a donation to a charitable cause, you have done enough. The truth is, your car donation pays for the towing in the long run however, until that happens, we cover all expenses!
Once your car donation has been towed to a car donation facility, the next thing that will happen is called the analysis. At this point, your car donation will be analyzed to answer a few very important questions:
- Is the car a junk car – The first question that is answered by the car donation analysis is whether or not the car that you donate is a junk car or a running car. This is a very important factor because this factor determines how your car donation will be processed.
- Does the car donation need repairs – The next question that is answered by this analysis is “Does the car donation need repairs?”. Before we sell your car donation to a consumer or dealership, often times, we make the decision to do the necessary repairs to get the most value out of your donation. For instance, a car that needs a new radiator which costs about $250 to take care of may bring an extra $1,000 at auction ensuring that the charity will get the highest dollar amount donation possible.
- What is the perceived value of the car donation – The final question that is answered through this analysis is “What amount of money can we expect your car donation to generate for charity”. Although, this may not seem important, it really is because it helps us to build bi-monthly reports that can let the charities know how much money they can expect to be donated. This insight gives the charities an option to work on projects that they may have had to wait for!
Once your car donation has been analyzed, it will be taken through one of the following 3 next steps:
- Cars that are deemed to be junk cars will be fixed or stripped. This simply means that if it is deemed through the analysis that your car donation would bring a higher donation amount fixed and running by more than it costs to fix it, your junk car donation will be fixed and refreshed to a running car. However, if your car donation is deemed to be not worth fixing, it will be stripped of all working parts, scrap metal and anything of value!
- Cars that need repairs will be repaired by one of our certified mechanic specialists! This is a step to simply ensure the highest dollar amount will be donated to the charity of your choice. After the cars are repaired, they will be washed and readied for sale.
- Cars that don’t need any repairs and run just fine will get a simple car wash and will be readied for sale!
Finally, once one of the above three steps are complete, the car will be ready for sale! Cars that are in good running condition will often be sold at auction to ensure that we are able to obtain the highest dollar amount possible for the sale of your donation. The working parts, scrap metal and any thing of value in junk cars will also be sold to generate a cash donation for the charity that you chose when you decided to donate your car!
