Major declutter! Car People: walk me through parting with vehicle

[Pen]

I am probably about to donate my 1992 Accord to my son’s School for the kids to work on and ultimately for them to perhaps sell as an old car or for parts or whatever.  I think this would be a better use than a salvage yard or Salvation Army.  But I don’t know how to do this so that transfer is correct.  And what else am I supposed to do like call insurance company? Who is supposed to file the transfer documents?  What records do I keep?   There could be some tax deduction possibly, but my biggest concern would not having responsibility for the car and what teens or future owners might do with it.  

I lost its pink / owner slip somewhere along the way,  but got something from DMV to prove my ownership, also picked up transfer forms.   However this was some months / (could even be over a years?) ago, and then my own teen thought he wanted it to work on with a friend, but then changed mind about that, so I don’t know if I need new ones?

 

Any pitfalls to watch out for?

17 yo son is about to get DL but car is not currently safely drivable IMO (there’s a problem with the transmission computer that the head of the school auto shop says he know how to fix), any reason not to part with it quite yet that anyone can think of?   I feel currently like in retrospect I should have let it go years ago, but was expecting that DS would be driving at 16 and that Accord would still have been good for him then.  Now I’d hate to find out just after parting with it that I should have not done so. 

 

This was basically my first car, so I don’t have car selling / transfer experience, let alone car donation experience.  

 

TIA!!!

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by Pen
Trying to fix autocorrect

[mom2scouts]

We donated an old car to a high school vocational program. They were so excited! Usually they would work on minor issues on cars people brought in, but a donated car allowed them to take it apart, rebuild it, or work on anything the instructor thought they needed. We set up a time with the instructor and took the title and signed it over. The school took care of anything else and sent us a thank you letter to use if we wanted a donation receipt. We called our insurance agent and had him take the car off our insurance. It was all very easy and I felt good about the donation when I saw how excited the teens and their instructor were about it.

[KungFuPanda]

In MD you can't cancel your insurance until the tags have been turned into the DMV.  That's not something everyone thinks of.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, mom2scouts said:

We donated an old car to a high school vocational program. They were so excited! Usually they would work on minor issues on cars people brought in, but a donated car allowed them to take it apart, rebuild it, or work on anything the instructor thought they needed. We set up a time with the instructor and took the title and signed it over. The school took care of anything else and sent us a thank you letter to use if we wanted a donation receipt. We called our insurance agent and had him take the car off our insurance. It was all very easy and I felt good about the donation when I saw how excited the teens and their instructor were about it.

 

This is what I’m hoping for!  I hope mine will go smoothly like that too!

[Suzanne in ABQ]

If you give the car to them, you might need to include a special gift affidavit, which must be notarized (that's how it is in New Mexico if you give the car to a person). If you donate to a non-profit organization, it's different. I suggest you look up your state's motor vehicle website to ask about giving a vehicle as a donation, or as a gift, or sell for small fee.

If you need to, you can order a replacement title for the car. It'll cost a bit though.