the new charity donation methodology and their accumulated skills to help important causes. In 1996, they began work with their first client, the Polly Klaas Foundation; today, Palmer gets eight to ten weekly inquiries from charities wanting his Vehicle Donation Processing Center, Inc., to operate one of these programs. Philosophy Charities are not the only beneficiaries of car donation programs. "[Charity] is a part of everybody’s thinking, and certainly it is the big part of what we believe; but for most people . . . the primary motivator . . . [is] a one-time garbage-removal service," Palmer has said. Ninety-nine percent of cars donated to Palmer's Vehicle Donaion Processing Center are older, dilapidated cars. Sixty percent of cars donated through the Center will no longer start. Because of his philosophy that he is helping donors as well as charities, Palmer's organization, unlike others, accepts the great majority of them, "no matter how crummy that car might be," and even if the amount generated per vehicle is small. Others of the 10 or 12 large charitable vehicle processors in the country are choosier than Palmer is, accepting only vehicles that generate more profit, perhaps at a used car lot. Almost all Palmer's cars are sold at auction, and the average gross sales price is around $400. The charities pay nothing for the processing services and get 50 percent of the net sales price. They are happy to get half that small amount, as opposed to 100 percent of nothing, he says. Palmer believes that auctions allow for multiple bidders and transparency of transactions. No one is guaranteed to make money, but the charity is guaranteed not to lose any. Palmer is a staunch believer in the positive environmental aspects of car donation programs. Many donated cars have been running inefficiently or steadily leaking fluids on the street or, worse, over bare ground. The processing center contracts for their removal on multi-car carriers, minimizing towing trips. Cars are taken to licensed facilities to be tested and improved in ways that lessen their environmental impact. If the car is unworthy of repair, the fluids are drained and recycled, as are all the metals. If the car does go back on the road, it is tuned up and given properly inflated tires, and then recycled to someone who, perhaps, could not afford a new car. How vehicle donation processors operate Car-donation service providers like