The leading independent car salvage advice centre. We give people the information they need to scrap their cars in both a safe, legal and environmentally friendly way. Our advice is built on our 10 years worth of experience in the industry and by regularly talking to local councils, scrap dealers and merchants.
Car salvage or car scrap (which it is sometimes known as) is the remains of an old or damaged vehicle. These types of vehicles often end up in the hands of scrap car dealers as they can recycle the part for re-sale. Although this is an economical and environmentally friendly solution to the abondment or non use of old vehicles it does lead to some problems. Problems mainly re-side with unscupulous dealers who re-sell unusable/dangerous parts to unknowing customers. This not only poses a threat to the public but is also extremely unethical. One of the main purposes behind this site is to educate people about such practices and promote reputable car salvage yards and there work. 
Each year the number of car related incidents rises and in 2007 the number of accidents stood at a staggering 2946. This high accident ratio and vehicle abandonment rate has lead to a huge increase in the availability of car salvage cars and parts. This means consumers in both the UK and around the globe have access to a huge car salvage market place which if used correctly can be extremely beneficial. Reputable car salvage yards for example will pickup old vehicles for you and provide you with a small lump sum for your vehicle. Yards will also recondition, clean and re-sell parts for a variety of vehicles. Some of the more innovative yards even list their parts online in auctions. You can find some pointers about car salvage auctions on our car salvage auctions page.
When a vehicle enters a yard an initial inspection is usually made to identify which parts are reusable for other vehicles and which parts will be scrapped for metal. Once an examination has taken place a dealer will remove all the internal electrics and on board computers. This is done wearing specialist safety gear and the wires and parts are either racked for re-use or placed in the electronic scrap components pile. Electrics are done first as you don't want to drip oils and fluids on to potentially recycled parts.
Once the electrics are removed the oils and vehicle fluids are drained from the vehicles. This is done in strict accordance with environmental and safety standards and all liquids should be seperated and kept in specialist waste disposal areas. You should check with your local council to see which yards maintain acceptable standards.
Once the essentials have been removed dealers will look to remove your vehicle parts. Typically they will look to remove the re usable parts first in order to ensure their integrity. The parts will then be taken away and cleaned. The Defra site also has some valuable information on salvage car yards and searching for a yard on here is a must.
Re-usable parts are usually bought by existing car owners and used on existing vehicles whereas broken parts are broken down for scrap metal. Yards will normally split the parts out in to different areas of their property and then ship them out to countries all over the world. The need for scrap metal in this country and around the world is extremely high.
There are several key things to look for when chosing a vehicle salvage service:
| Make sure they provide vehicle destruction certificates | Check the business history of the yard | |
| If your buying parts check online reviews | Environmental Records of a yard | |
| Look at how your vehicle will be destructed |