➡ The charity Cars for Kids is facing legal trouble after losing a lawsuit. The charity, which accepts vehicle donations and sells them to fund its activities, was found to be misleading donors about where the proceeds were going. Instead of helping local underprivileged children as advertised, the money was largely going to religious organizations and programs outside of the donor’s local area. As a result, the charity is now banned from advertising in California until they change their advertising practices.
➡ A man named Bruce criticized the charity Cars for Kids for not using its donations to benefit California, despite receiving a lot of money from the state. He won a lawsuit against them, leading to questions about the charity’s future. The speaker also criticizes the Susan G. Komen charity, recommending Breast Cancer Angels instead. He warns other charities about being honest with their donations, as more legal actions could follow.

Hey, it’s Dan. Welcome back to I Allegedly. And I’ve got a wild one for you today. Cars for Kids. That charity that we’ve heard. So many ads, jingles, the radio, TV, streaming ads. Everywhere. Sports broadcasts. They’re in real trouble. And they recently lost a lawsuit. And trouble is coming in a big, big way for them. Like, subscribe. We have a sponsor today. And I will talk about them in a bit. But here is the thing. A man goes out and donates his car. And didn’t particularly get a lot of money for it. Because that’s changed. I’ll explain that to you in a minute, too.

But the man was upset because he wanted to know where the money was going. And I donated a car. A buddy of mine, I called him today. And I said, when was that truck donated? Think back. We think it was like 21 years ago, like 2005, I donated this truck. And they basically gave me Blue Book for it. And it was on its last leg. Have a nice day. Take the truck. And it went to help kids. The only problem was this man with this lawsuit determined that he didn’t have money go to poor and disadvantaged children and poor families.

It went to different religious organizations, which you would want to know. Everybody would want to know. I would want to know. I have no clue about this. The charity’s religious affiliation, where the money was actually going, and how the programs weren’t even involved in California. For example, the guy that donated the vehicle thought he was going to help kids in his neighborhood, basically. Which I thought, too. I thought that’s how it worked. But the lawsuit, which the guy won, and now this company cannot even advertise. Cars for Kids, here in California, is banned from advertising anywhere right now, until they dramatically change their advertising.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Now, Cars for Kids, people could donate cars, boats, motorcycles, RVs, and even real estate. The charity then auctions and sells the vehicles and keeps the proceeds, and the donors receive a tax deduction. Now, back in the day, before they changed this, the way that this worked was they would give you blue book value for the vehicle. Let’s just use vehicles. Let’s not get complicated with a plane or anything like that, because I have no idea what a plane is worth. But the point is, let’s say you had a $5,000 blue book value, and you gave the car you’d get a $5,000 tax deduction for, donated in a vehicle of that value to this charity.

Well, the way the tax code has changed now is you don’t get a $5,000 deduction. You donate the vehicle, and they go and auction the vehicle off. What they get for the auction price at the auction is what your tax deduction is now. Oh, now, recently, I had a car die, blown head gasket, and I’m like, you know, I’m just going to donate it to these guys. And they told me this story, and I’m like, what do you mean? What do you mean auction? What do you mean waiting? You’re not going to tell me what you’re going to give me for the car? Well, we don’t know what we’re going to get for the car to give it you a deduction.

Well, okay, I could get $5, or the car may not sell. Think about that. So that is not appealing to anybody who breathes and is living out there. So that’s the problem with it right now. Now, the problem with it is that Bruce Putterbaugh, okay, nice man. I give him credit because this guy said, I don’t want my money to go to Israel and different charities. The point was, was he felt deceptive, not where it went. Because if you knew that everything was religious, you’d sit there. Some people would have a problem with that. So he believed the money would help underprivileged children as a neighbor, especially local children in California, but later discovered the proceeds were sent elsewhere.

He argued that the ads emitted critical information, which they do. They know whatever says, hey, we’re sending the money to Israel. No one has ever seen an ad like that. The judge ruled that they had false advertisement. They broke the law. In California, under the competition law, they were found liable for this. Wow. The judge also said they were misleading. They failed to discuss the charity’s Orthodox Jewish affiliation, that most of the proceeds were sent to New York and New Jersey and that the funds were supporting programs outside of the country. They even bought real estate in Israel with the money from this.

Now, how much money did they get? How about $45 million, which was whoa, okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, it’s wild. The court described the actions as deceptive. Now, one thing I want to say is California did not shut this charity down. They’re still able to operate outside of California, but they can’t advertise here in California. But if you don’t think videos like this and you don’t think the other advertising NBC News, read all the stories below because they’re national news organizations that have generated this information. This is crazy. So there’s more to cover on this.

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The simple fact is very, very clear. And that is, if somebody is doing shenanigans, you think that this is the only charity that gives to people that they like and religious beliefs. There’s people that don’t want to donate to the Catholic Church. Christian. Christian what? I don’t want to do that. There’s going to be people that are going to have faith-based problems, which is your choice. But hungry children is colorblind. It’s religious blind. We want people to not go without, especially when it comes to food and having necessities. So this is going to light people up for this.

I mean, they’re going to be furious over this. 60% of the cards for kids revenue flowed to Aura, which is a Jewish charity. 60%. An Orthodox Jewish outreach nonprofit in New Jersey. Did you know that? I didn’t know that. People are flipping out over this. The money reportedly funded Jewish educational programming, summer camps, outreach programs, which all that stuff’s fine. But man, didn’t you think you were feeding a bunch of kids? That’s what I thought with this. We were wrong. Where was the money going? Oh, man. You know, it just, it’s crazy. Like I said earlier, Aura, you know, one of their biggest headlines is that Aura spent $16 million on a building in Israel.

The court also found that approximately $437,000 was spent on Middle East outreach. Again, I don’t see hungry kids getting fed there. The court did not rule that the religious charities are illegal. It’s all about disclosure. It’s all about you knowing. You know, if you write a check to, you know, your Democrat party or your Republican party or the peace and freedom or the, you know, hazelnut party. You know, the thing about this is that you, you know, you’re writing a check for that. At least you should. And that’s your choice. Freedom of choice, baby. Like Devo said, freedom of choice.

You know, this is just crazy. The charity’s massive. California alone here accounted for 25% of the national vehicle donations. Things break down. You want to move on, unload the car. 30,000 cars were donated annually. Now you want to do yourself a favor, go to eBay. You want to buy one of these cars instead of, you know, going through one of these places. There’s auto auctions out there that these places donate to. There’s one here in Orange, California that I’ve seen a thousand times. But, you know, you run the risk of somebody, you know, donated a car that’s a junk or something you’re going to have to fix.

But there’s auto auctions that you can go to. You don’t have to be licensed. You can just show up there. Do your own research on that and within your own neighborhood and your own area because it’s fascinating stuff. Now, did California benefit? Cars for Kids had very little actual programs here in California, which would, which does get me angry. And I would have used another word to describe that. Despite having enormous amounts of donations here in California, the money was shipped out. That’s why Bruce was angry. This guy got to give him credit. He’s kind of a hero when you think about this because it’s like, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, his, they had to give him back. Think about it. His deduction, how much of a deduction think Bruce got for his car? $250. He did this for the $250 principle and brought down one of the nation’s largest charities. But the rest of you guys out there that are smarter than, bigger than us, giving us everything. You are next. My late girlfriend was a cancer patient. She hated Susan G. Coleman and I can’t stand Susan G. Coleman. You want to donate to a good cancer charity. Breast Cancer Angels in Huntington Beach, California. Breast Cancer Angels.

What they do is they give things directly to women that are hurting. You know, Lisa was told by Susan G. Coleman that she wasn’t a priority because she didn’t have kids. Women that have kids are a bigger priority. But you know, you’ve got all these women that have huge salaries and all these different people that work there that are making five and 600 grand a year from your money. So next time you see that pink month in October, remember that when you give to Susan G. Coleman, because it’s ridiculous. Again, Breast Cancer Angels, look them up, tell them Dan sent you, okay? And great, great group.

Now, Cars for Kids in their defense said, hey, we had a backpack giveaway. The problem with it was, it was basically reported as more of a branding situation where they had a bunch of ads on the Cars for Kids stuff. Did the plaintiff win? Yes. Bruce Putterbaum won his case. $250 restitution. Representative value connected with the donation. But he brought down the bad guys. Again, is it a bad charity? I’m not saying that, but they misled all of us. They misled me. I donated a car there over 20 years ago. Cars for Kids cannot advertise kids until the ads are rewritten.

You’re never going to see this happen here in California. And if this place survives, I will be shocked. Okay? Is this the end of Cars for Kids? No, no. Not yet. That’s what they’re saying. Why? California’s huge donor markets. Other states may now investigate. You have to understand. You get a slam dunk like this, and you find out that there was deception. You don’t think other states are going to hop on that bandwagon and go to town on these guys? Oh yeah, oh yeah. The advertising model is going to need to change. This wasn’t about religion.

This wasn’t about religion. It was about disclosure. It was about telling you where the money went. California basically said the ads gave a false impression, which they did. All these kids singing and dancing and the jingle that just is mind-numbing. Okay? Anyways, you know it. I’m not going to say it because it’s copy written. And, you know, it was an emotional marketing. Can this happen to other charities? Yes. Yes. If you run a charity and you’re doing the shenanigans, your time is limited. Because what’s going to happen is Bruce, probably a retired guy, don’t know anything about this guy.

Couldn’t tell you what he looked like. Couldn’t tell you anything. All I know is he was in Orange County, my county, and sued here in Orange County. And he won, and he’s a hero. Because he was sick of this. Unfair. This is not right. So, show your thoughts on that one. Will this open the floodgate? Yes. Other attorney generals are going to look into this. Regulators, plaintiffs, and attorneys could attempt these losses. You know, what cars for kids said that the decision was flawed. And they ignored the facts, and they misapplied the law. Okay, whatever. Whatever.

Okay? Now, again, don’t forget, we’ve got the private channel I allegedly live, and don’t forget to join our email list. The link is below. You know, for years, for decades, you’ve seen those ads. The kids playing the instruments, singing, dancing, that annoying jingle, over and over and over. You’ve heard it on the radio. But if you knew it was going to go to religious beliefs, and not feed them, you know. You know, even if you’re eating hungry kids, who has a problem with that? I do. Raise my hand. Okay? So, it’ll be interesting. Now, California Court said it didn’t do everything ethically, and it’ll be interesting to see how this goes.

Let us know your thoughts on this. And is this the death of cars for kids? Show your thoughts. Let us know. I’ll see you real soon. Thanks for being here. I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you again. Thank you. [tr:trw].

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