Donate a diesel pusher when the cost of keeping it stopped making sense

Where donated diesel pushers come from

Full-timers who came off the road. A couple sells the house, lives in the coach for six years, then buys a place and the coach becomes a 40-foot asset in a storage lot costing money every month.

Estates. A pusher is often the single most valuable item in an estate after the house, and also the hardest one to divide, insure or drive. An executor generally needs it resolved on a date certain.

Owners moving down. A pusher gets traded for a Class C or a fifth wheel because the driving got tiring, and the trade offer on a high-end coach is frequently disappointing enough to send people looking for another route.

Driven by someone who has driven one

A running registered pusher gets driven, and we arrange a driver who is qualified for a 40-foot air-brake coach rather than whoever is available. That is not a small thing and it is covered.

If it will not start, this is the most expensive RV in the program to move. A dead pusher needs a heavy wrecker and an air-brake release, and on an older coach with water damage the tow can exceed the sale. If that is your situation we will run the numbers and tell you honestly before booking anything.

Before pickup: empty both holding tanks, take your property, leave the appliances and the generator, and tell us whether the air system holds overnight. Note the tire date codes; eight tires on a pusher is a serious line item and buyers check.

What decides what a pusher brings

• Chassis and engine. A Freightliner or Spartan chassis with a known Cummins is the core of the value. Engine and generator hours both matter.
• Slide-outs. How many and whether every one runs in and out. A stuck slide is a significant deduction and it complicates transport.
• Roof and sidewall condition. Water is what ends coaches. Soft floors, delaminated sidewalls and staining under a vent or air conditioner all lower the sale sharply.
• Air system and brakes. Whether the system builds and holds. An air leak is common on a parked coach and it is priced in.
• Tires. Eight tires, and buyers read the date codes rather than the tread.

Makes we accept

Coach builder and chassis are separate names and buyers search both.

• Coach builders: Newmar Dutch Star, Mountain Aire and Ventana, Tiffin Allegro Bus and Phaeton, Entegra Aspire and Anthem, Monaco Dynasty and Signature, Holiday Rambler Endeavor, American Coach, Country Coach, Foretravel, Beaver, Safari.
• High-end conversions: Prevost with Marathon, Featherlite, Liberty or Millennium conversions, and MCI conversions.
• Chassis and drivetrain: Freightliner XC and XCR, Spartan K2 and K3, Roadmaster, Cummins ISB, ISC and ISL, Allison transmissions.

Manufacturer names appear here so you can find your own coach. No manufacturer sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with this program.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

A motorhome is a titled vehicle and the title has to transfer. If it is lost, most states have a duplicate process and the state title rules page walks through yours. If there is a loan against it we need the lien release; we cannot transfer a coach the lender still holds.

Giving Center sells the coach and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds, reported on Form 1098-C. It is not the insured value and it is not a guide book number. A running pusher clears $5,000 in essentially every case, which means the IRS requires a qualified appraisal and Form 8283 Section B. On a coach at this value an appraisal is worth having done by someone who knows the diesel coach market. It is your expense and your decision, and the appraiser must be independent of us.

Be careful with expectations here more than anywhere else in the RV category. Asking prices on high-end pushers run far above what units actually change hands for. Your deduction follows the sale, not the listings.