Scrap Your Car
How to decide when it’s time to scrap your car; considering when mechanical and bodywork repairs make it uneconomical to keep it on the road. How to scrap it.
Judging exactly when your car has literally reached the end of the road
Cars can be an emotive subject, and for those who have had theirs for many years or just somehow become attached to an ‘oldie’ they’ve maybe only owned for a short time, the thought of disposing of it is sometimes a little foreboding.
That said, like any machine a car will reach the end of its life eventually and if you’re not careful it can become a false economy to try and keep it on the road.
Cost considerations
Of course, the big consideration is cost; is it worth keeping it if repairs are likely to be high? Does it need some major work that makes it uneconomical to keep on the road?
On the other hand, perhaps it may be worth living with the occasional repair bill when comparing these with the cost of updating the car to a newer one?
The big repair bill
You may be forced into making a decision such as on the occasion of an MOT test failure which would cost a large sum of money to repair. On an old car worth very little, even a repair bill of a few hundred pounds with, perhaps, the need for a set of new tyres in the short term might make keeping your old faithful uneconomical.
A body repair would likely be expensive and probably outweigh the value of your elderly car. That said, you may not be worried about aesthetics too much, especially if other areas of the car are showing the ravages of time. As a result, you may decide to either not bother repairing it or doing a cheap ‘rough and ready’ repair with some aerosol paint or similar.
On the other hand, you may be obliged to have a proper repair done if it would cause the car to fail its MOT, so this may suddenly make it uneconomical to keep the car.
Obviously, a huge repair bill could exceed the car’s worth so ushering in the time to dispose of it. Selling it could be difficult since it needs repairs to stay on the road, so the alternative is scrapping.
There are scrap car buyers who will recycle and dispose of your car professionally and legally.
The thought of scrapping
For some, the image of scrapping their old pride and joy is based on the car being literally torn to pieces or crushed. In fact, due to legislation concerning the environment many cars are recycled as far as possible – so it’s likely your motor will live on in terms of the materials used in its manufacture such as certain metals, glass and plastics.
Environmental concerns
For some people, the publicity and focus on cars and their contribution to pollution such as CO2 and diesel particulate emissions makes them keen to drive ‘cleaner’ cars than perhaps the elderly model they currently own.
The old argument that buying another car harms the environment due to the resources used in its manufacturer is weakened if one considers the newer car should be less polluting and more fuel efficient than the old one. Also, as discussed above, old cars are largely recycled anyway.
Choosing a car scrapping company
Ensure they are connected to an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF), are registered with the environment agency, and will help handle the paperwork to notify the DVLA you are no longer the keeper of the car.
They should also issue you with a Certificate of Destruction (DoC), but must not offer you cash for your car as this is illegal – bank transfer is the best option.
Choose carefully; check their website and expect to see a facility where you can enter your car’s details and receive a quote as to how much they’d give you for it along with a willingness to come and collect it.
