[V8] re: donating the car and deducting the donation

[Roger M. Woodbury]

I have donated cars and boats recently.  My accountant has advised that
donations with a dollar value below $5000 do not need documentation from
appraisal.  Above that, an appraisal is necessary to prove the deduction at
audit.

Donating a 1990 V8 should be easy, as almost any appraisal will show the
car's value below $5,000.  Sad, but true.

The easiest way to have a car appraised, is to take it to an authorized
dealer and explain that the purpose of the appriasal is to facilitate a
donation to a charitable organization.  The dealer will likely write an
appraisal addressed to the charity.  The appraisal will probably not be
worth anything is you change your mind and decided to try to get the
dealer's value at trade in instead of donation, but for the purposes of
justification of the donation to the IRS, the dealer's appraisal will be
sufficient.

Roger