Car dismantlers: what happens to your car, step by step

Car dismantling is the regulated process of taking an end-of-life vehicle apart so that its hazardous materials are contained, its reusable parts are recovered and its metals are recycled. In Scotland and England it may only be done at an Authorised Treatment Facility, a site authorised by the environmental regulator: SEPA in Scotland, the Environment Agency in England. Motor Salvage Group buys cars for dismantling, collects them free and delivers them to licensed partner facilities.

Below is what happens once your car leaves your drive, step by step. Knowing the steps helps you understand why the paperwork matters, why a Certificate of Destruction can only come from the facility, and why you should never let a car go to someone who cannot say where it is being taken.

We pay by bank transfer to an account in your name, our premises are in Fort William, and the dismantling is carried out by our partners rather than by us. We do not sell the parts that come out of the cars we deliver. If you want to know what those parts add to your price, our guide to selling a car for its parts value explains it.

Step one: receipt and the vehicle record

When your car arrives at the Authorised Treatment Facility it is logged against its registration and chassis number and checked against the details recorded at collection. Once the car has been treated and scrapped, the facility uses this record to issue a Certificate of Destruction in your name and to notify the DVLA. That is why the driver checks your photo ID, and the V5C if you have it, at collection: the certificate has to go to the right person. What ends your responsibility for the car, though, is your own notice to the DVLA that you have sold it to the motor trade.

Step two: depollution

Before anything is cut or crushed, the hazardous contents come out. The 12-volt battery is removed. Fuel, engine oil, gearbox oil, brake fluid, coolant, screenwash and air-conditioning refrigerant are drained into separate sealed tanks. Airbags and seat-belt pretensioners are deployed or removed. Tyres come off, and any components containing mercury or lead are set aside. Each of these streams goes to a licensed waste contractor. Depollution is the reason an end-of-life car cannot be dismantled on a driveway or at an unlicensed site, and it is the step that protects soil and water.

Step three: parts recovery

With the car made safe, the dismantlers remove the components that can be reused. Engines, gearboxes, alternators, starter motors, radiators, lights, mirrors, doors, bonnets, tailgates, seats and wheels are typical. The catalytic converter is recovered for its precious metals. Parts the facility can sell are checked, labelled and stored. Motor Salvage Group does not sell these parts and cannot reserve them for you; the facility decides what happens to them. The value of recoverable parts is, however, part of how we price your car when you ask for a quote.

Step four: shredding and recycling

What remains after parts recovery is a bare shell with its wiring, glass and plastics. It is crushed and sent to a shredder, where it is broken into small pieces. Magnets pull out the steel, eddy-current separators recover aluminium and copper, and the remaining fraction is sorted for plastics and other materials. The law sets high recovery targets for end-of-life vehicles, so as much of the car as possible goes back into use, and only what cannot be recovered is disposed of. By this point the DVLA has been notified and your Certificate of Destruction issued.

What you do, and what the facility does

Your part is short. Have photo ID ready, and the V5C if you have it. Remove your belongings, and if you want to keep a private registration, apply to the DVLA to retain it before the sale. Tell us if the car is leaking fluids, has a damaged battery or is electric or hybrid, so the driver comes prepared and the car goes to the right facility. Do not drain anything yourself, and if you take any parts off, tell us before we price the car, because it changes the figure. Apart from telling the DVLA yourself that you have sold the car to the motor trade, everything after collection is the facility's job: depollution, dismantling and, when the car is scrapped, the Certificate of Destruction and the DVLA notification.

Not sure which service you need? It does not matter. Send us the reg and we will tell you the best route, or read how the process works.