As we go through life, we tend to accumulate things that we no longer need. There are several ways to deal with this unneeded clutter, we can throw it away, keep it or donate it. Thankfully, most people prefer to donate what they don't need or want. Now it is possible to donate a car that you no longer want and don't want to go through the trouble of selling. However, car donation is a fairly new concept and may need some explaining, the following tips will help guide you through this procedure.

When the car donation is completed, you will get a receipt from the charity that you donated to.

This should have the following information:

The make and model of the car

The year of the car

The date of donation

The "blue book" value

If this information is not on your particular receipt, make sure to have it added, as the government will not allow you to claim the car donation on your taxes if this important information is missing.

It is important to remember that as with anything that you decide to donate as opposed to selling, the act of a car donation has important benefits for all involved. You get to do something that benefits you and the charity. The charity in turn, gets to help someone while at the same time earning money to keep their programs going and the purchaser of the car gets transportation to and from work. This is truly a win-win situation all the way around.

Once you decide on the charity that you want to give a car donation to, you need to get a "blue book" price for your car. This is will give you the fair market value of the vehicle that is being donated.

If you are considering car donation, it is very important to be sure that you are donating to a charity or cause that is approved by the government. The best way to be sure is to ask to see the 501(c)(3) certification that is given by the government to an organization that is given tax-exempt status.