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‘Cars for Schools’ distributes about 110 retired vehicles; Automobile Club of Southern California offers transport help
Summary
BAR reported that since July 2022 the Cars for Schools program has placed about 110 retired vehicles with 51 public automotive training programs; BAR secured a transportation partnership with the Automobile Club of Southern California to move vehicles to schools on a volunteer or no‑cost basis.
The Bureau of Automotive Repair gave an update on the Cars for Schools program, which transfers retired consumer vehicles to publicly funded automotive training programs run by high schools, community colleges and regional occupational programs.
Program manager Denise Cunningham said the program began in 2020, paused for the pandemic and resumed in July 2022. Currently 51 schools have signed memoranda of understanding with BAR (17 community colleges, 30 high schools and four regional occupational programs). Since July 2022 BAR has distributed about 110 vehicles, 14 have been returned and about 96 are presently assigned to schools. Eleven assigned vehicles are hybrids.
Cunningham said schools can request vehicles with particular characteristics (model year ranges, transmission type, fuel system) but more specific requests lengthen wait time. Vehicles are made available only from eligible retired consumer vehicles and are inspected by BAR auditors before transfer. Schools may keep a vehicle up to three years; after the program period BAR instructs dismantlers to retire the vehicles—they are not re‑sold for parts or driven on public roads.
A persistent program hurdle has been transportation. Cunningham announced an initial transportation partnership with the Automobile Club of Southern California (AAA SoCal). Megan McKernan (Auto Club of Southern California) facilitated the initial arrangement; three vehicles have already been transported to a participating school at no charge. BAR said the Club’s assistance depends on geographic coverage and business priorities and that BAR is actively recruiting additional transportation partners and backups for northern California.
Why this matters: the program gives public training programs direct access to vehicles with real‑world maintenance and component problems for hands‑on instruction. Transportation and logistical barriers are the main obstacles to broader school participation, and BAR is piloting partner arrangements to reduce those barriers.
