Donate an object

Thinking of donation an item to the Collection? Get in touch with us.

National Motor Museum Collections

There are around 1.9 million items in our collections including vehicles motoring objects, photographs, books, film and archive material. Many of these wonderful items have been kindly donated by members of the public. We continue to welcome donations which enables our collections to grow and represent the story of motoring.

However, we are unable to accept everything that is offered to us. In common with most museums, we have a Collections Development Policy which defines our areas of interest and helps guide our decisions about what we acquire.

How do I donate to the Collection?

We’d love to hear from you if you have an object that you would like to donate, but please don’t bring it to the museum or send it by post without arranging with us first

If you have an object that you would be interested in donating to us, please use our contact form to get in touch.

Please provide us with as much information as possible about the donation, including:

How you came to acquire the item
Any known information about the items history
A description of the item, including condition, dimensions and quantities.

Why we might say no to your offer

We can’t take everything that is offered to us, so if we don’t accept your item, please don’t be offended.

Collecting criteria

What we collect is influenced by a variety of factors:

Does it fit within the themes and priorities detailed in our Collections Development Policy
Do we already have a similar item
Is the item in good condition
We cannot accept items where ownership is unclear or disputed
Items are not usually accepted with specific conditions attached
We don't usually collect items on long-term loan
We cannot accept hazardous items unless there is a particularly compelling reason for doing so

After you have completed your form

Once we have received your enquiry we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible, although this can take a few weeks. We may ask you to bring the item to the museum so we can take a closer look before making a decision to acquire it.

We can’t take everything that is offered to us, so if we don’t accept your item, please don’t be offended. However we may be able to:

Use your item for used within our educational team. It would not be accessioned but used within our educational programme.
With your agreement we might be able to find an alternative home buy offering it for sale to other enthusiasts. If sold all proceeds would go towards the work of the National Motor Museum Trust, a registered charity.
Advise you of another museum that may be interested in taking your donation.

For more information regarding donating an object to the National Motor Museum please contact us using the online form.