Donate a truck camper that has been on jacks since the truck was sold

Where donated truck campers come from

Owners who sold the truck and kept the camper, intending to buy another one. Two years later the camper is still on its jacks and the plan has quietly ended.

Hunters and fishermen who stopped going, and retirees moving to something with a bathroom door and a step rather than a ladder. Truck campers ask a lot of your knees.

Estates. A camper on jacks in a driveway is an awkward item for an executor: valuable, heavy, and not drivable on its own.

It has to be lifted, not driven

This is the one RV that cannot move under its own power and does not roll. It has to be lifted off its jacks and set onto a flatbed or into a truck bed, and we arrange that.

Tell us whether the jacks work. Electric or manual corner jacks that still operate make this a straightforward pickup. Seized or broken jacks mean a forklift or a crane, and that is worth knowing in advance.

Tell us where it sits and what is overhead. A camper in a garage or under a low carport cannot be lifted straight up, and the driver needs to know before he arrives. Empty the tanks, take your gear, leave the appliances.

What decides what a truck camper brings

• Hard side or pop-up. Different markets. Pop-up campers appeal to buyers with lighter trucks; hard sides to buyers with one-tons.
• Truck fit. Short bed or long bed, single or dual rear wheel. A camper that fits a common truck configuration sells much faster.
• Dry weight. The number that tells a buyer whether their truck can legally carry it. Get it off the sticker rather than estimating.
• Wet bath or no bath. A camper with a shower, a toilet and a holding tank is a meaningfully different product.
• Roof, corner seams and floor. Water gets in at the corners and the roof penetrations. Soft floors and delaminated walls are the fault that ends these.

Makes we accept

Truck campers are shopped almost entirely by builder.

• Hard side: Lance, Host, Northern Lite, Arctic Fox and Northwood, Bigfoot, Palomino Backpack, Adventurer, Eagle Cap, Cirrus by nuCamp.
• Pop-up and lightweight: Four Wheel Campers, Alaskan, Hallmark, Phoenix, Palomino pop-ups, Outfitter, Capri.
• Older and vintage: Six-Pac, Caribou, Sun-Lite, Skamper, Shadow Cruiser, Real-Lite.

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

Truck campers are the odd case: some states title them, some register them as cargo, and some issue nothing at all because the camper is not a vehicle. We will tell you which applies where you are, and the state title rules page covers the process. Where there is no title, a bill of sale plus the serial plate inside the entry door is what we need.

Giving Center sells the camper and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A sound hard-side camper with a wet bath often lands between $500 and $5,000, where Form 8283 Section A applies and no appraisal is required. A late-model four-season camper can clear $5,000, and above that the IRS requires a qualified appraisal at your expense.

An older camper with a soft floor and a leaking roof can sell for under $500, where the deduction is the lesser of fair market value or $500 and we send a written acknowledgment instead of a 1098-C.