Sure, you know you can donate a car to charity, but you may not know it’s the same process with an RV donation. 

Making an RV Donation

Are you at that time of life when you’re downsizing? Cleaning out the attic, getting a smaller house, looking for a 4-seater car. It doesn’t have to mean your camping days are over! There are plenty of options, but it may involve replacing your camper, trailer or motor home and donating an RV to charity.

You can downsize the RV and the car at the same time, because plenty of vehicles have tow packages. Cars.com says there are several small SUVs that can tow, including: 

• Jeep Cherokee
• Chevy Equinox
• Audi Q5
• Ford Escape
• Mercedes GLK250/350

Those are just a few models, but there are many more, of course.

Why should I donate an RV instead of selling it?

Do you find yourself surfing sites like RV Trader in your free time? And going to look at newer models at Camping World? It may be a sign that it’s time for a change. And what an RV donation can do is make the process of change easier.

Are you looking for greater fuel-efficiency? If you want to leave a cleaner planet, you naturally think about your vehicles, which are making your carbon footprint larger. But don’t give up on the idea of camping, because you can move to a more eco-friendly model.

 According to Go RVing, it’s more environmentally-friendly to travel by RV than to go on the usual vacations that involve flying, driving and staying in resorts. An article on their website says that internationally-known firm PKF Consulting, an industry leader in travel and tourism, claims that a vacation with a family-of-four creates less carbon dioxide when RVing than what families generate with flights, car rentals and hotel stays. 

Even RV manufacturers are contributing to the cause with more environmentally-friendly features, mostly in relation to:

• Weight—They use materials such as aluminum, fiberglass and bamboo.
• Size—They’re smaller now with more creativity by designers.
• Aerodynamics—Their eye-catching designs are fuel-efficient and wind-resistant.
   

But before you go to AutoTrader to create your listing, be aware it’s a lot of work to sell it yourself. People who weigh the value of RV donations before making that decision can feel better about what they gain in the end.

These are 4 things you should know when you make an RV donation:

1. It may sound obvious, but the better shape your recreational vehicle is in, the greater value the RV donation has. Anything like leaks or excessive damage means it sells for less, which is what your tax write-off is based upon. 

2. And if it’s not running you may not be able to find an RV donation company, because of the high cost of towing.

3. Sometimes they can sell for less than expected because of market trends and locations.

4. If your pop-outs and slides work, you can increase the value of your RV donation.

Depending on the vehicle donation company processing it for you, there are a lot of recreational vehicle donations accepted.

At Cars2Charities, we accept ALL types of RV donations – campers, trailers, fifth wheels, toy haulers, and motorhomes. There’s value in most brands – even if you still have that Vanagon from the 1980s.

If your kids are grown and want to continue the camping tradition they grew up with, there are so many new models and incredible features they’ll want to have. The Ohio RV SuperShow is a huge convention that demonstrates some of the best. 

If you look up YouTube videos from the show you can see the updated Mesa Ridge MF374 fifth wheel, with paneled doors, wood features and plush seating. You literally feel like you’re in someone’s home.

And there’s the NuCamp Tag XL, which is a rounded, space age style trailer with a sink/stove combo that sleeps two. Or the Vintage Cruiser By Gulf Stream, which you may want, because its retro style makes you nostalgic.

According to WeekendRVAdventures.com, even the fold down steps are improving. They’re sturdier and have handrails available as well. It’s not unusual to find high-end flat-screen TVs in today’s RVs, and USB charging ports too. 

Exterior storage areas with powered lifts are more common, and now there are backup cameras and LED lights replacing conventional light bulbs.

If young people buy new toy haulers these days, they can have porches on the side and the back. The Stryker 3212, for instance, has the amenities normally found in fifth wheels.

With all of those bells and whistles available, it means you still need to find a new home for your older vacation on wheels, such as an RV donation to charity.

Donating your RV to charity is a generous act of kindness. That’s why we give you the freedom to choose where your donation goes. After we convert your car donation into monetary value- the charity you select gets between 50-80% of the proceeds! *

We work with local and national based animal rescues, children/families charities, environmental causes, homeless shelters, human services, and veterans.