Donate a cruiser when the riding days are behind you

Why cruisers get donated rather than sold

Because selling a motorcycle means letting a stranger take it around the block, and nobody wants to watch someone else drop their bike in the street. It also means a cash transaction in a driveway, which older sellers in particular would rather avoid.

The second reason is that these bikes are often worth more to the owner than the market pays. A heavily customized cruiser with ten thousand dollars of chrome does not return that on resale, and being told so by a series of buyers is a discouraging way to spend a month.

Loaded into a truck, never ridden off your property

The bike goes into a truck bed or an enclosed trailer, strapped down by someone who moves motorcycles for a living. A running bike is still loaded rather than ridden. Non-running bikes are loaded with a ramp and a winch. Giving Center arranges and pays for it.

Tell us whether it starts, whether the tires hold air, and whether it is behind other vehicles in a garage. If there are extra parts, a stock exhaust you swapped out years ago, or a cover and a battery tender, include them.

What decides what a cruiser brings

• Brand and model, which dominates this market more than in any other class of bike.
• Mileage, with genuinely low-mileage examples worth a real premium.
• Whether it runs, and how long since it last did.
• Original versus customized. Tasteful upgrades help; heavy custom work shrinks the buyer pool.
• Tires, battery and fluids, which age out on the calendar even at low mileage.
• Bags, screen and backrest, plus service records and both keys.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

Motorcycles are titled in every state, though very old machines sometimes have none. If the title is missing, a duplicate goes to the registered owner in one to four weeks, and a few states require a notarized signature; see state title rules. Any recorded lien must be released before sale, and a salvage or rebuilt title is accepted as it is.

Your deduction is the gross sale proceeds once Giving Center sells it, on Form 1098-C. Items in this class often sell below $500, in which case you may deduct the lesser of fair market value or $500. Above $500 you file Form 8283 Section A; above $5,000 the IRS requires a qualified appraisal you obtain and pay for. We tell you which to expect before pickup. Full detail on the tax benefits page.