Car Donation Value
Here we’ll go over three different agencies you can use to figure out your car donation value. Each will usually be pretty consistent with the other depending on the options you have on your vehicle.
Kelly Blue Book: Find the official Kelly Blue Book value for your car, SUV, van or truck. Their website is free to use and is one of your best sources for new and used car values.
Here you’ll enter in the make and model of your car and complete the online form on their website to help you come up with the fair market value or car donation value. There are a few values you’ll have to enter in such as mileage, the condition it’s in, and anything else about this vehicle they have listed.
If you look at the trade in value, that’s completely different from fair market value. The trade in value is what the dealership will be willing to give you in order to keep their profit margins high.
NADA Appraisal Guides: Used vehicle pricing and information for automobiles, classic cars, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, aircraft and manufactured housing.
Edmunds: Edmunds provides pricing for new and used vehicles based on your zip code location. Edmunds is another good source to help you get the fair market value and has an extensive database of new and used cars.
TIP: A good thing to remember when trying to figure out the value of your vehicle is what kind of demand is out there for it? If your car is high in demand or not a common vehicle, the fair market value can be more than what books or online sites are telling you. What you can do is pick up an Auto Trader magazine, look at some online classifieds such as Craigs List.com to get an idea of what your’s is selling for in your area. Also by using these resources, you can get an even better idea of your car donation value.
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