Car Donations

Car donations are filling the coffers of charities across the United States. Small local organizations, large national charities, and every shape and size in between, are capitalizing on Americans' dedication to charity and cars.

Hundreds of thousands of cars leave America's roadways every year. The U.S. also leads the world every year in per capita donations to charity. It's only surprising that car donations didn't become popular long before they did. By some estimates, one in five the junk cars that leave American roadways, do so as car donations.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, charitable car donations are coming under fire. Unfortunately, because the vast majority of Americans donate their cars in a genuine effort to do some good (though the tax deduction doesn't hurt). Fortunately, because the criticism is coming from environmental groups who are also just trying to do some good.

The Green criticism of car donations is focused on the fact that too many donated cars end up making a significant and detrimental impact on the environment. Very few of the charities actually dispose of the car donations themselves.

Instead, they contract with local junk car removal companies. These companies too often fail to drain the oil, transmission fluid, and battery in an eco conscious way. They seldom remove mercury switches and computer chips that are equally toxic to the environment despite their small size.

The answer is for charities to ensure that their donated cars are given to car removal companies with Green disposal policies. That effort will be accelerated if the people making car donations start asking charities if their car will end up hurting the environment.