July 2018

When scrapping your car or van you will have to notify the DVLA that your no longer the keeper and that you authorise your vehicle to be scrapped, over a million cars and vans are scrapped every year in the UK but according to the EU commission between 3-4 million vehicles go missing across Europe as unregistered scrap dealers buy and sell illegally on the black market which means over 55 million tonnes of waste fluids like engine oil and air con gas go unaccounted for damaging our environment, some vehicles are lost to paperwork grey areas and some are exported to the middle east for illegal dismantling.

In Denmark, car owners pay a minimum annual recycling fee of €11, which accumulates over the car’s life. The final owner gets the money when the car is scrapped with a legitimate dismantler.

Poland tops the charts with a whopping million cars a year reportedly missing, following closely behind France and Spain have half of that amount to which the government have no clue as to where they have gone. Germany has an outdated system contributing to the problem when a car has not been used for 7 years it is automatically removed from the system but still exist in physical form.

To reflect manufactures will all have to collaborate in the future to form a system that will track cars from source through ownership to recycling maybe following the Dutch idea of rewarding owners for responsible ownership and responsible recycling, if they don’t then we could see the problem getting a lot worse when 2020 comes around and manufacturers stop manufacturing diesel and start giving car owners incentives to buy electric vehicles.

The blog is written by

Paul Sweeney

It can be a stressful time when you decide to scrap your car or van, thankfully Essexscrap.co.uk make this process as easy as possible.

When your car or van fails its MOT or has just come to the end of its life, a quick search on google will show a list of dealers that will collect your vehicle free of charge. Make sure you choose somebody that has a valid scrap car and waste collectors license and has good feedback from previous customers on a reputable website such as Google or Facebook reviews.

Most online scrap car collection companies will have valuation software on their websites so when you input your details it will automatically generate a quote, once you receive this and have booked a collection they will send either a driver or a recovery vehicle depending on the size and weight of your scrap car or van. Usually, the process takes no more than a day from booking to collection providing you have good access the driver will load your car and fill out the yellow slip of the V5c or logbook, never hand over all the logbook as you will still be liable for the vehicle. Cash for scrap metal was banned in 2012 it’s now illegal for a dealer to pay you in cash unless the vehicle is salvage.

How do I know my car is scrap

Has your scrap car snapped its cambelt or maybe the clutch has failed and you don’t want to spend any more time and money on it?. Most scrap vehicles will be over the age of about 7 year’s old and over 100,000 miles although it’s not uncommon to see low mileage examples that have started to develop running issues and owners just can’t or won’t repair them.

If your car isn’t worth that much and you think it’s going to fail the next MOT test its then probably more economical to scrap It and buy a new one. Has your car or van been involved in an accident or started smoking from the exhaust then its time to go. Remember you can earn extra cash out of selling your vehicle to a scrap dealer.

Avoid any penalties

Make sure you notify the DVLA when selling or scrapping a vehicle, you can do this by filling out the V5c in the new keeper’s details or online. As soon as you have notified the DVLA they will refund any road tax that is still remaining this usually comes through the post in the form of a check providing it’s in your name and you still live at the same address. If you fail to notify the DVLA they will send you fines and penalties.

Make sure you remove all your belongings because when the car has gone it can be very hard to get them back once it’s seen the inside of the crusher, organise all your paperwork and keys prior to the collection that way your not rushing around at the last minute. No need to clean your car before collection as its only going in the bin.

The blog is written by

Paul Sweeney