Whether they’ve been written off, reached the end of their working lives or you’ve decided that you can no longer afford the upkeep of your car; the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) ensure that scrap cars are disposed of according to very specific guidelines.
They advise that you send your car to one of the 1558 Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs) which is obliged to break down your car in an environmentally friendly way; the sites themselves must be deemed as having a positive impact on the environment and they must effectively get rid of the hazardous waste which makes up your car. You will then be given a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) as proof that your car has been disposed of and is no longer in your care.
This document aims to put a stop to people scrapping their own cars; as unauthorised treatment facilities will not guarantee a CoD this should discourage people from bypassing an ATF. The DVLA says that the figures don’t add up as two million cars a year are claimed to be scrapped while only one million CoDs are registered. Without a CoD you could be hit by a nasty fine from the DVLA of £200 if your car is found dumped.
If this all sounds rather time consuming, you can donate your scrap car to Giveacar instead!
All you have to do is give us a bell, leave a few details and we’ll organise for a reputable scrap car recycling and collection team to come and collect your scrap car at your convenience.
The DVLA is also your point of contact if you are considering keeping your registration plate –we warn you though, it is quite a complicated process – and if you want to reclaim the car tax on a donated car.
Scrapping a Foreign Car?
Has your car lost it’s ‘joie de vivre’? Are you no longer living the ‘bella vita’ together?
Then consider donating it to ‘Donnez-une-voiture’, ‘Dia-una-macchina’, ’Schenken Sie ein Auto’ – just a few direct translations of our company name. Do not let the fact that your car has a foreign registration plate stop you from using our free and simple scheme and helping your favourite charity in the process.
Some statistics for you:
• According to EU figures, three million foreign vehicles enter the UK over the course of one year, with 28% representing the cars of migrant workers.
• Most foreign registered vehicles operate in London and the South-East of England.
• Unfortunately, many foreign cars are not registered in the UK despite passing the deadline set out by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
We are able to donate foreign cars from all over the world. The Giveacar procedure is the same as that which is followed for all UK vehicles; car owners can phone up Giveacar and we’ll work out whether your car should be scrapped or sent to a salvage auction depending on its potential value. If it is not worth a great deal, the best option is for the car to be scrapped, and our partner organisation Cartakeback will contact you within four hours to organise for your car to be picked up by one of their many facilities at a time convenient for you.
We can pick up any car as long as it has four wheels, so our burly men can manoeuvre it onto their collection truck. The only difference is incurred regarding future responsibility for the car. With any UK car, in order to cede all legal responsibility for the car, you must ensure that you are issued with a Certificate of Destruction which is sent to the DVLA. In the case of foreign cars, you will receive a Notification of Destruction instead.
Information is rather confused on the internet regarding your other responsibilities, but you might also want to look into whether you need to contact your former prefecture about the disposal of your foreign scrap car.