How do I scrap my car?

What you need before you start

• The vehicle log book (V5C).
• Your registration number, if you want to keep it. You must apply to keep it before you scrap the car, or it will be lost.
• Your bank details, as you cannot be paid in cash in England or Wales (see below).

How to scrap your car, step by step

1. Decide if you want to keep the number plate. Apply to take it off the car first.
2. Find an authorised treatment facility (ATF). This is a licensed scrapyard or breaker's yard. You must use an ATF. GOV.UK has a tool to find one near you.
3. Take the car to the ATF. This is usually free.
4. Hand over the log book. Give the ATF the V5C, but keep the yellow section headed "sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade".
5. Tell DVLA. You must tell DVLA that you took the car to an ATF. You can be fined £1,000 if you do not.

The certificate of destruction

If your car is fully scrapped, the ATF must give you a certificate of destruction within 7 days. This applies to cars, light vans and 3 wheeled vehicles (not motor tricycles). Keep it safe. It proves the vehicle has been destroyed.

Some ATFs repair and sell a car instead of scrapping it. In that case you will not get a certificate of destruction.

Getting paid

In England and Wales it is illegal to be paid in cash for a scrapped car. You must be paid by bank transfer or cheque. If the ATF repairs and sells your car instead of scrapping it, you can be paid by any method, including cash.

Vehicle tax refund

Once DVLA knows the car has been scrapped, you will automatically get a cheque for any full months of vehicle tax left. It is worked out from the date DVLA gets your information. Part months are not refunded. If you pay by Direct Debit, it is cancelled automatically.

Example: your tax runs to the end of December and DVLA gets your notice in mid August. You get a refund for September, October, November and December (4 full months). The half month of August is not refunded.

Contact DVLA if the cheque has not arrived after 8 weeks.

Keeping parts

You can take parts off your own car to repair another vehicle you own. Declare the car off the road (SORN) first and remove the parts without causing pollution. The ATF may charge you if parts such as the engine or gearbox are missing.

If your insurer writes the car off

If your car is written off after an insurance claim, you send the log book to your insurer instead (keeping the yellow section) and still tell DVLA. The £1,000 fine also applies here.

Related guides

• What is a V5C log book?
• How do I tell DVLA I've sold my car?
• Do I need to tax a car I have just bought?
• How do personalised number plates work?
• How do I change the keeper on a V5C log book?

Where this comes from

• Scrapping your vehicle and insurance write-offs (GOV.UK)
• Where you can scrap your vehicle (GOV.UK)
• Insurance write-offs (GOV.UK)
• Vehicle tax refund (GOV.UK)