Donate Your Car

The hassle free alternative to selling your car!

Looking for a quick and easy way to get rid of your used car? Donate your car and help Kids Under Cover prevent youth homelessness in Australia.

We will pick your vehicle up, auction it off, and the proceeds from the sale of your car will help fund Kids Under Cover’s work in preventing youth homelessness. Plus your vehicle donation is 100% tax deductible! 

The Donate Your Car program has helped raise over $16 million to date, providing funding for disadvantaged young people aged 12-25 to continue their education. Our studio program builds a one or two-bedroom unit in the backyard of a family or carer’s home to provide secure and stable accommodation for young people at risk of homelessness. 

Kids Under Cover has helped over 4000 young people and awarded over 2200 scholarships. Right now we have more than 600 studios on the ground, housing 900-plus young people, helping them stay connected with their families, community and education. 

We accept and collect vehicles from a range of locations across Australia, including metropolitan Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, and Hobart.

We can also collect regional vehicles depending on location.

Ready to get started?

Donating your vehicle to Donate Your Car couldn’t be easier!

  1. 1

    Complete our donation form today

  2. 2

    Our team will get in touch to arrange the collection of your vehicle

  3. 3

    We will collect your vehicle – you don’t even have to be there!

  4. 4

    Once it has sold, we’ll send you a tax-deductible receipt

  5. 5

    Feel good you have helped prevent youth homelessness!

Your vehicle donation is 100% tax deductible. Once your car is auctioned off, you will receive a tax deductible receipt from us for the for the sale amount at auction. This will be sent to you within 8-12 weeks of submitting your donation.

If you think your vehicle has a current market value of over $5,000, you are eligible for a valuation by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Your tax-deductible receipt will then be based on the ATO valuation amount.

What is involved in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) valuation process?

  • Complete our donation form
  • Our team will contact you to discuss eligibility and attach specific paperwork to complete, as well as details about submitting the ATO application fee of $241 (also tax-deductible).
  • Complete these forms and send them in the mail to us.
  • We will arrange the collection of your vehicle, which will be stored at Manheim until it has been valued by the ATO. The ATO aims to have most valuations completed within a month.
  • Once we receive your hard copy forms, we will sign off on them and send them to the ATO on your behalf.
  • The ATO will value your vehicle and send you a Certificate of Valuation.
  • Once you have received your Certificate of Valuation, please email us a copy so we can issue your tax-deductible receipt based on the ATO valuation amount.

** If the ATO value your vehicle at less than $5,000, you are not entitled to a tax deduction based on their valuation and they will not issue you a Certificate of Valuation. For more information about the valuation process please call the Not-for-profit department at the ATO on 1300 130 428 or click here for more info about tax-deductible gifts on the ATO website. **

You cannot receive an ATO valuation prior to deciding whether to proceed with the donation. The ATO only values already donated property.

Donate Your Car is run by Kids Under Cover, a not for profit organisation that prevents youth homelessness in Australia.

Kids Under Cover does that by providing studio accommodation in family backyards as well as education scholarships

100% of the proceeds from the sale of your vehicle will go towards helping young people stay connected to their families, education and community and stop them from experiencing homelessness.

Complete the form to donate your vehicle today!

PLEASE ENSURE YOUR CAR DOES NOT HAVE AN ACTIVE RECALL PRIOR TO FILLING OUT THE FORM. CONTACT YOUR VEHICLE MANUFACTURER FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO FULFILL AN ACTIVE RECALL.

Complete the form to donate your vehicle today!

How to fill out the form:

  1. Have the contact information of the person organising collection of the vehicle ready, as well as the location of the car ready to be provided.
  2. Have the details of the (current or previous) registration ready – this includes the VIN*!
  3. Check if the car is starting, and upload photos of any extensive damage to your device so they can be submitted with the form.
  4. If you are having technical difficulties with the online form, you can instead complete this word version of the form and email to donateyourcar@kuc.org.au

*A 17 digit combination of letters and numbers with no I, Q or O included. I = 1, and O = 0.

All vehicles will be sold via public auction, any transferal of ownership is to be done with the advisement of your transport authority. Kids Under Cover do not take on ownership of any vehicles donated to us and are not the new owner of the vehicle. Please read our terms and conditions.

If you need more help with the form, you can contact our team. Call us on 1800 801 633 or email us at donateyourcar@kuc.org.au.

Got questions? We've got answers

We accept cars, vans, motorbikes, caravans, trucks, buses, tractors, boats on trailers, and much more. Have a different vehicle? Contact us to find out if we can accept your donation.

We are able to accept vehicles that have general wear and tear, however we're unable to accept anything with significant damage - i.e. smashed windows, major panel damage, mould, missing parts etc.

We're able to accept cars that aren't running, as long as the battery/engine are both intact and nothing has been removed from the vehicle.

We collect vehicles within metropolitan Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, and Hobart.

We are able to collect cars from regional areas, however as these towing costs are higher we will ask if you are able to contribute towards the cost of towing your car.

If the car is driveable, there is also the option of dropping the car off at the closest Manheim auction site.

100% of the proceeds from the sale of your vehicle will go to Kids Under Cover, a not for profit organisation that prevent youth homelessness.

It's a quick, easy and free way to get rid of an unwanted vehicle.

Your vehicle donation is 100% tax deductible.

We guarantee that you'll feel great about helping to prevent youth homelessness in Australia.

Yes, you can

We are closely following the recommendations of the relevant government authorities in relation to the containment of the COVID-19 virus within the community. 

Donate Your Car remains fully operational and no physical contact is needed for car collection, to ensure everyone's safety.

Once we have received your donation form, we will contact you within 3 business days to organise the collection of your vehicle. We then need to give our transport company at least 5 business days’ notice. All up, this process takes about one - two weeks.

If you require an urgent collection (as a result of a council notice, because you are moving overseas, etc.), please contact us after completing the form so we can organise an earlier date for you.

No, you do not need to be present for collection. There is no need to stay at home that day or take time off work.

You can discuss the finer details (such as keys) directly with the towing company when they call you to confirm the collection closer to the date and let them know how they can gain access to the vehicle.

You may also nominate someone else as the point of contact if you prefer, such as a family member.

All transport is organised by through our auction partner Manheim. They use a variety of fully-licensed and insured towing companies to pick up cars from across the country.

You will receive a courtesy call prior to the collection of your vehicle, that way you will know who to expect for your pick-up!

This call may be the day before the collection, usually late afternoon/ early evening, or, at the latest, by 10am on the morning of the collection. Please contact us if you have not heard from the transport company by 10am on the morning of your collection date so we can follow up.

All our donated vehicles are sold by Manheim’s experienced auctioneers at their public auctions. Please be aware that regardless of what you believe your car might be worth, the car is worth exactly what someone is prepared to pay for it at auction. This might be more than, equal to or less than you expect.

Yes – all donated vehicles are tax deductible! You can expect to receive your tax-deductible receipt for the sale amount of the vehicle at auction within 8-12 weeks of submitting your donation. This will be sent via Australia Post unless otherwise specified.

The date on your receipt will be the date Kids Under Cover received the sale proceeds from your vehicle.

The tax-deductible receipt must be issued in the name of the last/current registered owner of the vehicle.

See the 'Your tax deduction' section above for all details on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) valuation process.

We cannot accept donated vehicles that still have finance owing. Please ensure your contract has been terminated prior to donating the vehicle.

In the event that a donated vehicle is found to have finance owing, you will be contacted by us to resolve.

No – legally we are not able to accept abandoned vehicles. If there is an abandoned car in your street, please call your local council.

No, we sell all cars unregistered at auction to avoid any transfer of ownership/notice of disposal paperwork. If your car is currently registered or expired, we will require you to contact your local road authority and cancel the registration. If you're still driving the car, you can cancel the registration 1-2 business days after the car has been collected, or prior to the collection if that's more convenient for you.

No problems, our friendly team can answer any other questions that you have. Call us on 1800 801 633 or email us at donateyourcar@kuc.org.au.

Donate Your Car & Help prevent youth homelessness

“When we didn’t need our car any more it made more sense to donate it, rather than selling it. My wife sent me a link to the Donate Your Car program and I immediately thought it was the perfect solution.”

Donate Your Car today!

Quick Facts

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20000

+ vehicles donated to Donate Your Car

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100

percent of proceeds help us prevent youth homelessness

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1789

young people supported by Kids Under Cover last year

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113

studios provided last year for 176 young people