Car donation programs have witnessed equal number of successes and flaws in the recent time. Existence of genuine car donation centers and scammers has put a question mark on the fairness of these service providers. Constant warnings from IRS and sufferings from car donation rip-off have issued an alert for the car donors thinking to hire these intermediaries. Not every these donation centre is associated with frauds and one can gather useful information to choose a genuine car donation centre. Here is a complete discussion on this.
What Types of frauds?
Here are some ways that can indicate these donation companies to be fraudsters:
o First of all, the companies advertising tax deduction advantage on car donations, equivalent to the market price of the vehicle have less standing for their legitimacy.
o Second, the companies that offer a diminished fraction of their earning from the car's sale to the charity should be considered as scammers. One of the main aims of these donations is to provide help to the people in need. However, many cardonation centers consider it from business point of view and your motive to help a charitable organization takes backseat.
o A third type of frauds indication is when the name of the charity is not mentioned in the title of the vehicle donatedby you. For IRS, it is an important proof to find the name of the charity in the title transfer documents of the vehicle. Only then, the donor is considered for tax deduction advantage.
o Some of these car donation centers display the names of charities that don't exist in real. To attract the attention of the donor, these donation service providers use the names similar to those of the popular charities.
Avoiding Car Donation frauds
Car donation rip-off are easy to avoid by spending some time towards the noble cause, so that you and the recipient are benefited from the donation. Here are few guidelines to help you in this regard:
o Learn about these donation company from reliable resources. The company must be government authorized and must possess a legal license for providing these services. State Attorney General and the Secretary of State are two significant sources to get information about these companies.
o Make sure that you are dealing with a donation center that has no objection in providing you the written records of the donation process.
o View the financial statements of these donation center that can be easily availed from its authorities. These records are easily available for public viewing and the company can't deny showing them.
o Get to know about the charities these donation centers work with and visit or contact the representatives of charitable organizations. These organizations must be legal and eligible to accept car donations.
By being an informed car donor, you can make your donation reach the deserving hands and also, enjoy the rewards by avoiding car donation rip-off.
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