By Elaine Carlson

Whenever I hear our public radio station asking people to give them the cars they no longer need, I think of my brother's experience when he donated a car to his local Goodwill .

That thrift store sold it to a lowlife who the day after buying it used the car to go on a crime spree with a few friends. When they were leaving the last place they robbed they ran into another car. I guess Frank embellished the story over the years (he is my brother after all) so I don't know if it was true that the new owner and his friends robbed two banks but I am pretty sure they held up at least one store (the one they were running from) and maybe one earlier that day (or the day before after the guy bought it and drove away from the Goodwill in it).

He learned about the crash and that he was still listed on the title as the owner when a woman called and asked him if the car was insured. He said no and that he had canceled that insurance. She then told him he would have to pay for the damages. He replied no he wasn't.

I guess the woman who called was from the insurance company for the car that was hit. Frank was straight with her and answered her questions. But he didn't go further and volunteer the information that he had donated the car to an eligible non-profit.

Once I was talking to my sister and she told me that she and her husband donated their old car to a public radio station when they bought a new one. Although she hadn't heard about our brother's experience she didn't want to take any chances and the day after she gave the car away she went to the state motor vehicle department office to file the paperwork to take her name off of the title.

Our brother knew he didn't have anything to worry about because he had gotten a receipt from the Goodwill.

Ever since my brother told me about donating the car I have wondered what the outcome was. He never was contacted again. I gather that to mean that the different parties—the owner of the car that was hit, the insurance company covering it and the state—all knew my brother was not the rightful owner of the car at the time of the crash. But had the staff at Goodwill transferred the title at the time of the transaction or were they stuck for the damages? I don't think I'll ever know.

Since my brother and my sister donated their old cars non-profits have expanded their appeals and are many are not just asking for cars. I have heard non-profits asking people to give them motorcycles, trucks and even boats. I hope with these donations now being so common that now those non-profits are proficient in transferring the title so the former owners of the cars (or whatever) don't have to worry about what happens after they give up their property.