Research the charity to which you donate a car.

If you have valuable vehicles to donate, it's important to go beyond the car donation overview and get detailed information on the charities to which are consider donating.

The Guidestar database (www.guidestar.org) is a very good resource for information on charitable organizations. You can find a lot of detailed information about a charity, including its annual tax returns, on this site. You can also see what type of programs it runs, how it spends its money, etc.