If you want to donate your used car in Louisiana, there are a variety of local and national organizations that are eager to help. You might even be eligible for a tax deduction depending on which one you pick!

Even old cars can be scrapped or recycled for parts, allowing you to put your money directly into something you care about. So if you’ve got a clunker, a former hobby vehicle, or a huge paperweight sitting in your driveway, consider donating it to charity. Just don’t forget to cancel the

car insurance

In support of kids, prostate cancer awareness, and veterans, the car super app

Jerry

has created a guide to donating cars and saving money on your

Louisiana car insurance costs

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How to donate a car in Louisiana

You can count convenience among the benefits of car donation—many participating charities offer to do all the paperwork, towing, and deduction calculations for you! Here’s what donating a vehicle could look like:

Find an organization: Scammers, unfortunately, have been known to target car donors. Thankfully,

Guidestar

offers a fast, free, and trustworthy tool to verify the reputation of any organization you find.

Gather your documents: You can make the process smoother by writing down your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), the car’s

make and model

, and its odometer reading. A signed title is also helpful for donating.

Find the market value of your vehicle: The

Kelley Blue Book

can help you find important information about your car, including its fair market value.

Schedule a pickup time for your vehicle: Some charities use an online donation form while others use a phone line. Either way, you’ll be able to set a time and date to pick up your vehicle.

Keep the donation receipt: Tax deductions require some form of paperwork, which is why you’ll need to keep the donation receipt. You won’t know the exact value of your donation (or claim) until the car is sold or scrapped, at which point the organization should notify you.

How do taxes work when donating a car?

You can choose how to invest your money in the community and then receive an equivalent credit on your taxes through tax deductions. How much you can claim from a vehicle donation depends on how much cash the charity gets from scrapping or selling it, with a few caveats:

If your car sells for more than $500, the amount you claim is equal to its sale price, not its market value. If your

Toyota Camry

has a price tag of $1,800 on the Kelley Blue Book but only sells for $800, $800 is what you claim. Some charities put more work into fixing the cars they receive than others, maximizing their value and your claim amount.

If your car sells for less than $500, you must claim the lesser amount: $500 or the market value. Cheap cars are usually sold to families in need, so you may want to look into the charity’s mission statement if you’d prefer your car to fetch a higher price.

If your car stays in the possession of the organization, then you can claim its market value.

Only organizations that are registered as tax-deductible can provide tax deductions! To see whether a group is registered, use the IRS’

online search tool

. If skipping a tax claim doesn’t bother you, you might want to consider donating to a mechanical trade school in your area; the students will appreciate your car as much as any other group.

Key Takeaway Avoid scammers and make sure you’re able to receive a tax-deductible donation receipt by doing your research on any charities that offer to take your old car.

MORE:

What to consider before donating your car

Where to donate a car in Louisiana

If you’d rather get rid of your car sooner rather than later, Jerry has a list of organizations that offer trustworthy, reputable, and tax-deductible car donation services.

Kars4Kids

If you’d like to support the education, development, and play of Jewish kids and families,

Kars4Kids

makes it easy. They accept cars,

boats

, and

RVs

; fill out the online evaluator and you could have your driveway cleared in under 24 hours.

Vehicles for Veterans

The

Vehicles for Veterans

program handles car donations from pickup to paperwork, then distributes the proceeds to veteran support and assistance services across the country.

Habitat for Humanity

If you’d like to donate, you can use either the

car donation wizard

or call 877-277-4344 to support

Habitat for Humanity

. Their Cars for Homes program turns donations into shelters for families in need.

Goodwill

Not only does Goodwill find new homes for clothing, books, and cookware, it accepts used cars as well!

Goodwill Car Donations

supports job training and placement programs for the vulnerable members of your community.

The Humane Society of the United States

The animals that benefit from the

Humane Society’s

mission to end unethical animal treatment can’t thank you themselves, but they’ll notice the difference in their lives. You can get a free tow simply by calling 833-227-7610.

The Prostate Cancer Awareness Project (PCAP)

Early detection vastly increases the chances of surviving prostate cancer, which is why

Cars for Prostate Cancer

campaigns educate men on its symptoms and treatment. They’ll handle the paperwork, pick-up, and receipts for your donation for absolutely zero cost.

Wheels for Wishes

is the car donation arm of the Make-A-Wish foundation, which supports individual quality-of-life projects for critically ill kids. The

Louisiana chapter

accepts cars, trucks, trailers, RVs, watercraft, and more.

MORE:

Car loan in Louisiana

How to find affordable car insurance quotes in Louisiana

Donating a car might be easy, but insuring a car is not. Confusing forms. Long phone calls. Fine print, headaches, and paperwork lost in the mail—it’s really an absolute miracle that anybody manages to find a policy without

Jerry

trustworthy licensed broker app

, Jerry gives you just the essentials of car insurance: a few questions during signup and you’ll be presented with competitive quotes from over 55 name-brand insurance partners. Pick your policy and you’re done—no need for paperwork! You can cancel policies and manage your documents from within the app, where friendly, expert customer service is only a couple of clicks away.

Jerry is the number one insurance app on the App Store! Is that because of our high level of service or the fact that the average user saves $887 per year on car insurance? We’ll leave it to you to decide.

“
Jerry
had a super simple app that was easy to navigate. And their terrific customer service made everything even easier. Plus I saved $700 in a single year.” —Lucia M.