Auto salvage in Crewe

A collision can leave a car that is unsafe to drive but far from worthless. Whether an insurer has put it in Category S, N or B, or you dealt with the damage without a claim, we buy it as it stands and price it on what can still be recovered from it.

Collection in Crewe is free and done with a recovery vehicle, so a car that cannot steer or roll is not a problem. Payment is by bank transfer. As a rule, the cars we buy go to a licensed Authorised Treatment Facility for parts recovery and recycling, and when a car is scrapped the ATF issues the Certificate of Destruction and notifies the DVLA.

Crewe is about 330 miles from our Fort William base. Collections here share scheduled runs with Walsall and Atherton, which come round less often than our Scottish ones, so we agree the date when you accept the price. A car can be collected from a driveway, a terraced street or a garage that has agreed to it. Postcodes, districts and how collection runs in Crewe are on our page for Crewe.

Write-off categories and what to tell us

The first question we ask about a damaged car is whether there has been an insurance claim. If there has, the insurer will have given it a category, and your settlement letter says which. We buy B, S and N cars that are yours to sell, although insurers usually let you keep only a Category S or N car. Keeping one comes at a cost: the insurer normally takes the car's salvage value off your payout, so set that figure against our price before you choose. A Category A car we take only for crushing. If you settled the damage privately or decided not to claim, there is no category at all, and the car is priced as accident damage, on what can still be recovered from it.

Photos that get an accurate salvage price

Blurred photos taken at night make a damaged car look worse than it is, and a cautious price follows. Take your pictures in good light, standing far enough back to show each whole side, then move in on the damage. Open the doors and photograph the interior, including the steering wheel and dashboard airbags. If the engine bay is reachable, include that too. Tell us what happened, for example a side impact, a rollover or a flood, and whether the car has been started since. Send the photos with the reg and your postcode, and we reply with a firm salvage price.

When your damaged car is not at home

Collecting from a business site in Crewe is straightforward if the paperwork is sorted first. Most garages and compounds need to know the car is being released on your instructions, and some ask for a reference number or signed note. Some sites charge daily storage, so ask before the bill grows. A car on hire purchase or PCP belongs to the finance company until it is settled, and after a write-off the insurer's payment normally goes to that company first, so mention anything still owed when you ask for a price. Tell us the name of the site, its address and the times it is open, and whether the car is inside a building or in a yard. The driver loads it on a recovery vehicle, and as a rule, cars we buy go on to a licensed treatment facility.

Read our full guide to auto salvage, see what happens after you send the reg, or start a quote.