What to do with an elderly parent’s car

It’s an unfortunate but inevitable time in an adult child’s life when one of their parents or both are in the position to hang up the car keys, are ill, need to be moved to a retirement home or long term care facility or ultimately pass away. 

I know all too well from experience when my father passed away several years ago. As the only child in Toronto, I had a long list of things to deal with and take care of with regards to his estate.  Of course, adding to this list is the emotional rollercoaster that we all go through watching a parent’s demise — sometimes slow, sometimes quick — and then their eventual passing. No matter how old that parent is, it’s always too early. 

On my to-do list were things like:

• Funeral arrangements

• Financial arrangements

• Legal issues such as will and estate

• Decision making on health issues while in hospital

• Dealing with family squabbles

• Finding the right agent and putting a home on the market to sell (sometimes more than one home like a cottage or home down south)

• Selling and/or disposing of his/her personal items 

• Selling and/or disposing of his/her furniture and art 

• Selling and/or disposing of his/her car

When a parent is no longer able to drive or live in their home and they move into a retirement home or long-term care home, many of the above issues are dealt with, including the difficulty surrounding the emotional loss of one’s independence.

Given that there are many emotional attachments to a family home, belongings in that home and family finances, a car often ends up being a cumbersome problem that needs to be dealt with. The option of placing an ad on Kijiji or Auto Trader and setting up appointment after appointment with no shows, getting into a car with a complete stranger for a test drive — and even allowing strangers to know where you live —is not ideal for many. And for many people, getting an extra buck is not a priority — disposing of the car in an efficient, easy and eco-friendly manner is.

Car donation for charity offers just that. It’s fast and easy and philanthropic. It’s a feel good way of ticking off that one other item on the to-do list whilst doing something good for charity. To review the charities Homeless Cars supports click here. Every car donation makes a significant difference to these charities and homeless. 

If only I had known that car donation for charity was available to me. This is a problem I would have welcomed to be solved for me easily and quickly. Instead, I drove my father’s Buick to a neighbourhood mechanic shop (whom I didn’t even know), left it there with the keys and told them to do whatever they wanted with.  In the midst of all the other things I needed to deal with at that time, I was not about to add to my stress by putting an ad on Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. Trying to sell a vehicle is time consuming. You must:

• Purchase a Vehicle Information Package

• Get the car e-tested

• Clean out the car of everything and have it detailed (this can be costly)

• Take photos of the car and place the ad (often paying for it) 

• Field phone calls and play telephone tag to reach potential buyers

• Set up times for people to come see it. (Good luck coordinating schedules and dealing with no shows.)

• Go on a test drive with a complete stranger (not something I was comfortable and interested in doing).

So, I gave the car away to a stranger. 

Car donation for charity would have been the perfect answer. Homeless Cars proudly serves Toronto and the surrounding area, Southern Ontario to Niagara Region, and Southwestern Ontario to London. If you have a car or any type of vehicle to dispose of quickly, the process is simple:

• Call us or fill out our contact form.  Within 5 minutes the vehicle in question can be arranged to be donated in exchange for a tax receipt. All you have to provide is some information about the vehicle, such as its year, make, model and information about the donor for tax receipt purposes.  

• Your car will be arranged to be picked up, free of charge, at a mutually convenient time. The donor does not need to be present when the car is picked up.

• You will receive a thank you email after pickup with all the information for your records

• A tax receipt will be issued by Homeless Cars in the month after the month of donation.

Best of all, a difficult problem will have been solved and you will be helping those in need. It’s a feel-good way of solving a problem.