Caring Cars, Inc. ratings, reviews and complaints - Charitable Promotion Services

Complaints and Resolutions

Complaint Experience

N/A

Complaint Resolution Index (CRI)

Complaint Resolution Index (CRI) Explained The Complaint Resolution Index (CRI) is an indicator on how responsive a company is in addressing and resolving customer complaints brought to their attention by BCA. If they are considering doing business with the company, consumers can use this indicator to forecast the likelihood of having their issues addressed if a problem arises. CRI measures the company's customer satisfaction abilities through BCA’s complaint mediation process.

A variety of factors are considered when calculating CRI. This includes how quickly a company responds to complaints, the number of complaints against a company, whether the company addressed complaint allegations, and the outcome of the complaints. CRI is just a subset of the overall rating for the company. Consumers are encouraged to take into consideration the company's CRI, their overall BCA letter rating and other relevant information about the company so they can make a well-informed purchasing decision.

BCA's Summary and Analysis:

We have received no complaints against this company.

Our complaint services are free and our team of expert mediators will assist in resolving complaints with businesses.

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Complaint Closing Statistics

0 complaints against Caring Cars, Inc. closed in last 3 years.

Complaints	Type of response
0	Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
0	Making a partial refund
0	Agreed to make an adjustment
0	Refusing to make an adjustment
0	Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
0	Unanswered

Other Information

Company Info

Caring Cars, Inc. advertises that it provides vehicle donation services.

Primary Contact:	Joe Blanco (Director of Donations)
Business Started:	8/26/2008
Social:

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Licensing

According to the CA Department of Justice, Caring Cars, Inc is not registered as a fundraising professional.

A commercial fundraiser generally is a person or corporation who is paid by a charity to raise money on the charity's behalf. The for-profit business usually arranges a flat fee or charges the charity a percentage of the donations collected in the charity's name. By law the California Attorney General oversees the activities of commercial fundraisers for charitable purposes. These commercial fundraisers must file financial reports with the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts obtain a $25 000 surety bond and meet all registration requirements.

According to the State of California Department of Justice Registry of Charitable Trusts website it is an individual decision whether a charity uses a commercial fundraiser. Historically only about one-third of the total dollars collected by the commercial fundraisers in California actually go to charities. However most of the over 80 000 charities registered with the Attorney General do not use commercial fundraisers to solicit donations.

For more information on Commercial Fundraisers or to verify if a business or entity is registered as a Commercial Fundraiser you may visit the State of California Department of Justice Commercial Fundraiser website or contact the Registrar at (916) 445-2021.

Government Actions

Agency: California Attorney General (CA AG)
Description:

On March 11, 2019, the Attorney General of California Registry of Charitable Trusts entered into a Settlement Agreement with American Charity Center, Caring Cars, Inc, and their Principal Joseph Blanco to reconcile several violations alleged against the entities.

On January 17, 2018, the Attorney General issued a notice that it was refusing to register/renew the registration and automatically suspending the registration of American Charity Center. The notice also included an assessment of penalties ($313,000) against American Charity Center and Caring Cars, Inc. The agency alleged the companies solicited donations in California in violation of the law, did not comply with requirements established for commercial fundraisers, engaged in fraudulent conduct and misleading practices. American Charity Center and Caring Cars, Inc., do not dispute the allegations in the notice.

The parties agree to settle this matter on the terms and conditions that: the Commercial Fundraiser for Charitable Purposes Registration issued to American Charity Center is denied, refused, and revoked. American Charity Center & Caring Cars, Inc. has dissolved business and ceases all operations. All charitable assets it raised, including the proceeds from sales of donated vehicles, have been transferred to the appropriate charity. The $313,000 penalty assessed against American Charity Center is stayed subject to its compliance with this agreement. If American Charity Center or Joseph Blanco violate this agreement in any way, the Registrar may set aside the stay and impose the penalty which shall be immediately due and payable to the California Department of Justice. American Charity Center, Caring Cars, Inc., and Joseph Blanco are prohibited from all involvement in raising funds for charitable purposes. Joseph Blanco may not serve as an officer, director or trustee for any entity that holds or solicits charitable funds, without prior written authorization from the Attorney General.

Complete details are available here.

Date of Action: 3/11/2019

Comments and Analysis

Typical complaints for the company include allegations of false advertising in relation to donated vehicles resold on eBay. Specifically consumers have complainted that the quality and condition of the vehicles are misrepresented.

The company responds to complaints by agreeing to issue refunds or partial refunds by reminding complainants they made an AS-IS purchase and are not entitled to a refund or by accusing the complainant of slander.

Before donating a vehicle to a charity BCA suggests asking the charity for copies of its latest annual report to identify how they spent their funds in the past fiscal year. Find out what happens to the donated cars. Will they be used in helping to carry out the program services? Will they be sold? Will they be recycled and how? Find out if the company issues receipts, if the receipt contains their registered charity number on it, and if the receipt will be issued for the fair market value of the car? The answers to these questions may determine how big a tax write-off, if any, you can take. Verify that you are dealing with a legitimate charity and not a company that has a name similar to a charity.

Make sure that your donation is tax deductible. Donations to a charity that qualifies for Section 501(c)(3) of the Tax code are usually tax deductible. Donations to a nonprofit organization that has 501(c)(4) 501(c)(6) tax status or other tax exempt status are not tax deductible. Don’t confuse tax exempt and tax deductible. Tax exempt applies to the charity itself, it doesn’t have to pay taxes. Tax deductible means you may be able to deduct the donation on your income tax return. You can use the IRS search tool to check if a charity is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Note that in order to deduct charitable contributions you must itemize your deductions on IRS Form 1040 Schedule A.

Under current Federal law allowable deductions for charitable contributions of vehicles boats and airplanes (assets) for which the claimed value exceeds $500 will depend on how the asset is used by the recipient charity. If the organization sells the asset without any significant intervening use or material improvement the donor’s deduction is limited to the gross sales proceeds received by the charity. But if the organization uses the asset in direct furtherance of its charitable purpose the donor may deduct the fair market value of the asset. (According to the IRS the donor, not the recipient charity, must determine the fair market value which the IRS describes as the price that a willing buyer and willing seller would agree upon if neither were pressured to do so. Assistance with vehicle values can be found on the Kelly Blue Book website.)

Other Considerations

Our files show disconnected phone numbers, returned mail or both. The company appears to be out of business. We cannot trace addresses of companies or principals. General information is available upon request which may assist you.

This company, under the settlement agreement with the California Attorney General, has been ordered to cease operations. For information on the settlement agreement and allegations, check out the Government Action section of this report.

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