Scrap yard in Aberdeen: free collection instead of a trip

A scrap yard is where an end-of-life car ends up, but you do not have to be the one who takes it there. A recovery vehicle can carry it from your address instead, which matters most for the cars that were never going to make the trip under their own power.

What we need from you is short: the registration, your postcode and a few honest lines about the car, such as whether it starts, what is wrong with it, anything missing and whether you have the V5C. Photos help. When the driver comes, have photo ID ready and details of a bank account in your name. A yard trip would need a road-legal car or a trailer as well; this needs neither.

Aberdeen is the furthest Scottish city we cover, about 160 miles from our Fort William base. Jobs in the city and nearby Aberdeenshire are grouped into scheduled runs, so the wait is longer than in the central belt. We agree the collection date when you accept the price, and the car can stay where it is until then. Postcodes, districts and how collection runs in Aberdeen are on our page for Aberdeen.

Why collection beats a trip to a scrap yard

Taking a car to a yard yourself sounds simple until you check the rules. To be driven there, the car needs tax, insurance and a valid MOT, and a non-runner has to be towed or trailered, which brings its own risks. Then there is the price. A yard weighing a car at the gate has every reason to be cautious, and you have little room to argue once you have made the trip. With collection, the order is reversed. You send the registration and an honest description, you get a firm price in writing, and only then does a recovery vehicle come to your address. If the car matches what you told us, the figure agreed is the figure paid, by bank transfer.

Not every scrap yard can take a car

The phrase scrap yard covers two very different businesses. A scrap metal merchant buys metal: old radiators, cable, cookers and offcuts. It needs a metal dealer's licence from the council, but that alone does not let it take in a whole car. An end-of-life vehicle still holds fuel, oil, coolant, refrigerant and a battery, so the law treats it as hazardous waste until it has been depolluted, and only an Authorised Treatment Facility with an environmental permit from SEPA in Scotland or the Environment Agency in England may do that. That facility is also the only place that can issue a Certificate of Destruction when the car is scrapped. So before you take a car anywhere, ask which kind of yard it is.

What sets a scrap price in Aberdeen

A scrap price starts with weight: how much steel, aluminium and copper the car will yield, set against current metal prices, which move up and down. A heavier estate or 4x4 carries more metal than a small hatchback. Then comes completeness. A car with its engine, gearbox, wheels and catalytic converter in place is worth more than a shell, so tell us if anything has been removed. Make and model matter where parts are in demand, and condition matters for the same reason. Last is distance and access from our route to your address, and the journey is allowed for in the one figure we quote. There is no separate collection charge and no admin fee.

Read our full guide to scrap yards and end-of-life recycling, see what happens after you send the reg, or send us the reg.