San Diego, Donate Your Used Car to a Local Charity

The Process and Pitfalls

Donating a used car to charity is an excellent way to do a good deed and help someone less fortunate. You can also earn an income tax deduction for yourself when you donate a used vehicle to charity. Two local social service agencies which accept donations of used automobiles are Father Joe's Villages® and the San Diego Blood Bank Foundation.

The used car donation program at Father Joe’s Villages® helps people in need turn their lives around. One of the villages in particular, St.Vincent de Paul near downtown San Diego, offers education, job training, child care, medical and dental care, and substance abuse counseling for the homeless in San Diego. The sale of donated used vehicles provides substantial income for Father Joe's Villages® to continue the humanitarian mission of helping the homeless become self sufficient.

The birth of Father Joe's Villages® began in 1950 as a small Catholic charity which handed out sandwiches to the homeless. A San Diego bishop asked Father Joe Carroll to head St. Vincent de Paul in 1982. The operation has expanded over the past 25 years to include a family of seven large "villages" in the Southwest which aid the homeless.

If you have a used auto, boat, RV, motorcycle or van that you would like to donate to Father Joe’s Villages®, you can start the process by calling 619-671-7900, or toll free 1-888-328-4375 if you are outside the 619 or 858 area code calling area. You will need to provide the year, make and model of the vehicle, as well as the license number and vehicle identification number (VIN) when you schedule a pick-up for your vehicle. In most cases, the car does not need to be in running condition.