Salvage
Salvage car collection
Some cars are worth more as a set of parts than as a whole. Salvage cars go to Authorised Treatment Facilities where useful parts are recovered before the rest is recycled.
Salvage
What makes a car salvage
A car becomes salvage when repairing it no longer makes sense but much of it is still good. A clean engine in a crashed body, good panels on a car with a failed engine, or a popular model whose parts are in demand.
Parts are only removed by the facility once the car has been accepted, depolluted and recorded. That is how a salvage car is dealt with legally: the car is scrapped properly, and its useful parts go back into circulation.
Information that helps
- Make, model, engine and year
- What is damaged, and what is still sound
- Mileage, if known
- Any parts already removed
Salvage and the law
How a salvage car is handled properly
- 01
Depollution first
Fuel, oil, coolant, the battery and other hazardous parts come out before anything else happens.
- 02
Reuse
Sound parts can be recovered for reuse, which keeps them out of the waste stream.
- 03
Recycling
Metals and other materials are recovered from what remains.
- 04
Certificate
The DVLA is told the car has been destroyed, and you are no longer responsible for it.
The route
How a collection is arranged
Four stations, the same wherever you live. The postcode decides who comes; you decide whether and when.
- 01
Your postcode
Give us the registration plus the postcode of the street, drive or yard where the car sits. That postcode picks the buyer.
- 02
The buyer for that area
The licensed buyer responsible for that patch reads the details and replies with a figure for the car.
- 03
A slot that suits you
Happy with the figure? Pick a day and a time window for the truck. Turn it down and that is the end of it, with nothing to pay.
- 04
ATF and certificate
Payment arrives by bank transfer, the car heads to an Authorised Treatment Facility, and its destruction is logged with the DVLA.
FAQs
Salvage cars: questions
Short answers to what people ask before booking.
More on the full FAQs page.
Can I take parts off before it is collected?
You can, but tell the buyer, because the offer is based on the car as described. Do not drain fluids yourself.
Is a salvage car valued differently?
It is valued on what it is: its parts and materials. That is why the details you give matter.
Do I have to accept the offer?
No. An offer is just that. You can think about it, ask questions or say no, and nothing is owed.
How am I paid?
Into your bank account. Cash for scrap has been banned in England and Wales since the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, so expect a transfer, never notes.
Cars we collect
Other cars we collect
Seven situations we see most. Open the one that matches yours.
- 01
MOT failures
Repairs cost more than the car is worth to you.
- 02
Insurance write-offs
Every category, bought back or not.
- 03
Accident damage
Bent, burnt or flooded, collected as it stands.
- 04
Mechanical failure
Engine, gearbox, clutch or electrics gone.
- 05
Non-runners
Will not start, steer or roll? Still collected.
- 06
Old and unwanted cars
Sitting unused, unloved or simply surplus.
Find out what your car is worth
Two details, the reg and the postcode, put your car in front of the licensed buyer for your area. Their figure, your decision.