COLUMBIA, S.C. — When Palmetto Garage Works L.L.C. (PGW) gives away vehicles to families in need, the project involves more than just handing over the keys.
The Midas dealership's employees work on refurbishing the used vehicles until they are worthy of certified pre-owned status.
This is the third year PGW President Gus Herlong has partnered with Family Promise of the Midlands to provide free vehicles to several families in need of reliable transportation.
The Columbia-based nonprofit helps families with children experiencing housing instability by partnering with 36 local religious congregations, as well as businesses, to provide assistance with rent or mortgage payments, insurance and other needs so families can get back on their feet.
So far this year, the organization has helped close to 100 families.
"We are a small but mighty program," Executive Director Jeffrey Armstrong said, "so a lot of our services are volunteer-based and community partnerships, and the staff that we have.
"It's very much that the money we're bringing into our organization is going right back out to the community. So because of our incredibly low overhead, … we want to make sure that those resources go back to our families, which I think, really sets us apart from other organizations that may be serving in this kind of manner.
"It's not just about the families with housing instability we're serving," he continued, "but it's also going into communities where we know there's high eviction rates and providing services there. So it could be gifts at Christmas time, so that we know that families in January won't be facing evictions because they've spent money on Christmas gifts. So there's different things that we do in that way."
This Thanksgiving, PGW will donate three refurbished vehicles under the Midas Project Spark charity program. (PGW covers the cost of the donation, according to Herlong.)
"Midas has been instrumental in one of the biggest barriers that our families face, which, of course, is transportation," Armstrong said.
The nonprofit helps PGW select recipients who are in need of reliable transportation. The vehicle is given free and clear to the recipients, Armstrong said.
"All the families are, to a person, just in awe. I mean, it takes them probably a month before they realize that the car is their car," he said.
Herlong said donated cars are culled from PGW's fleet of loaner cars available for its customers. When those cars are ready to be retired, they are refurbished and donated.
"So we could sell it. We could sell it to an employee. We could sell it on the market. We could trade it in for a new loaner car," Herlong said. "But we've decided to do something different with those vehicles."
He said the dealership acquires the titles of vehicles that were abandoned in its parking lots by customers who didn't want to repair them.
"We fix (the vehicle) up. Most of the time that means it needs an engine or a transmission. The interior is usually not in good shape, so we'll have to put new leather or new seats in it. But they are our vehicles that I otherwise could sell or use myself," he said.
"In the first 12 months of doing this, we donated eight fully renovated vehicles. And it's probably been about a $75,000 cost for us to do that.
"These vehicles are like a 2012 Chevy Equinox or 2007 Chevy Suburban. We had a 2010 Cadillac SRX, 2007 Chevy Impala. We had 2004 Chevy Tahoe."
All vehicle overhauls are done by PGW employees, along with a local body shop and an upholstery shop, if necessary.
"I mean, anything you see on this car, you need to fix it. It needs to be better than a certified, pre-owned car. If any of the locks are not working, if the seat belts are not buckling, if the radio has a knob that's rubbed off, you get a new knob.
"And then anything mechanical, anything maintenance-related, and drain every fluid," Herlong said.
"I do not want this person in our community to get a brand-new car and then face some sort of larger repair.
"Now, I can't predict what's going to happen to that car after they get it, but I can do anything and everything I possibly can to make sure that we minimize, if not try to eliminate, all that we can, so that they can drive it for as long as they can drive it without having to do anything to it.
"So it isn't uncommon that every one of these cars may have a brand-new engine in it, a brand-new transmission, brand-new tires, brand-new seats.
"We're not just changing the oil and running it through a car wash.
"I mean, it is a full-on restoration," Herlong said, noting that the project takes about six months.
