Electric car scrap in Atherton

Electric cars come to the end of their lives for ordinary reasons, from accident damage to a fault that costs more than the car is worth. What changes is the battery pack. We collect EVs and hybrids from Atherton free of charge, pay by bank transfer and make sure the car goes to a facility equipped to deal with that pack.

The driver loads the car as it is and never works on the battery; that is left to specialists at a partner facility, well away from your drive in Atherton. For the stages every car goes through there, see how dismantling works.

Atherton is about 300 miles from our Fort William base, and collections here are grouped with other north-west and Cheshire collections, including Crewe, into scheduled runs that come round less often than our Scottish ones. We agree the date when you accept the price. Tell us where the car is parked and how close a truck can get. Postcodes, districts and how collection runs in Atherton are on our local collection notes.

Getting an electric car ready for collection

An electric car needs a little more preparation than a petrol one. Start with the 12-volt battery: many EVs will not release the parking brake or go into neutral without it, so tell us if it is flat. Then the charging cables: leave any that came with the car in the boot and tell us if they are missing. Keep every key or key card together, including spares. Finally, do not try to charge a car with a damaged pack, and keep it parked outdoors in Atherton, away from buildings, until it has been collected.

Where the battery goes after collection

A traction battery runs at several hundred volts and stores enough energy to injure someone or start a fire if handled carelessly, so the order of work matters. First the high-voltage circuit is isolated by someone trained to do it. Then the pack is lifted out as a unit and checked. Only after that does the ordinary dismantling begin, from draining coolant and brake fluid to removing reusable parts. Batteries are recycled or, where they still hold charge well, assessed for reuse. We do not sell packs, modules or motors, and neither the battery nor the car is taken apart by the driver or on your property.

How an EV or hybrid is priced

Two electric cars of the same model can be priced very differently. One has a body dented in a car-park knock but a healthy battery and a working motor; the other has a pack that failed after years of use, or that sat in flood water. The first holds components the facility can recover and reuse; the second holds a pack that needs careful recycling and little else of value. Hybrids sit somewhere between, with a smaller battery and an engine. Weight, age, mileage and the distance and access for collection in Atherton all feed in too. We do not publish fixed prices, so send the reg and a description.

Read our full guide to scrapping an electric or hybrid car, see how we price and collect, or ask for a firm price.