Buying Donated Cars

Buying a donated car is a great way to save money. Let's face it, we all hate paying hundreds of dollars every month in car payments, especially on top of all our other monthly expenses. But we all need a car! So, where does that leave us? Are we stuck scrounging salvage yards to find a car that may be cheep but in all likelihood also unsafe?

Not at all.
Buying a donated car is a super easy inexpensive solution. In fact, unless I unexpectedly win the lottery I'd much rather buy a reliable used car that has been well maintained and costs me thousands of dollars less than a vehicle only a few years newer.

If I buy a donated car am I stuck with a useless car that is falling apart?
Again, not at all. If you do a quick search on eBay for Donated Cars, you'll find many cars for sale that are only five to six years old or less. Even cars made in the last ten to twelve years are running just as well today as they were when they first rolled off the assembly line (and many even get better gas mileage than cars made today - I still get 37mpg with my 13 year old Corolla!) So, even if you are looking for something under $1000 you can find very well maintained vehicles for sale on eBay or other auctions. In fact, here is a list of some of the donated car auctions on eBay:

Isn't it risky to buy a donated car online?
When buying donated cars online or elsewhere you need to be careful to avoid scams and untrustworthy people. Unfortunately that is a fact we need to consider whenever buying a used car. But there are protections in place, and loads of valuable information to help you feel more comfortable about buying a donated car online or at an auction. eBay has a very good program in place to protect car buyers from unscrupulous sellers - listed below along with a few other helpful car buying guides.

• eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection
• Water or Flood Damaged Vehicles
• Things to Avoid when shopping used cars on Ebay
• Reliability and affordable used cars can they co-exist?

I just don't feel comfortable buying online, is there another place to buy donated cars?
Most definitely.
Car donation charities themselves are another good place to buy donated cars. In fact much of the hard work is taken care of for you in that a certified mechanic checks over the car before they will sell it to you. When it comes right down to it buying donated cars from the charity that has received the donation makes the most sense. Finding a trustworthy charity in your area is quite easy with DonateACar.com. Primarily used as a car donation resource for people looking to donate their car, DonateACar.com has an extensive list of car donation charities for you to look through, many of them sell donated cars as well. Simply search by state or by alphabetical charity to find the nearest location for buying a donated car near you.

For further resources for buying donated cars feel free to search below:

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If you need more information on changes to the tax law concerning car donations check out the car donation tax law page.