Guide · 6 min read
Scrapping a car is mostly paperwork done in the right order. Get the order right and the car leaves your name cleanly, with any unused tax refunded to you.
If the car carries a private number you want to keep, apply to take it off before anything else. You need the V778 retention document and the new log book before the car is scrapped, or the right to the number is lost.
Use an ATF directly, or a collection service that delivers to one. Check that whoever takes the car holds a scrap metal licence and that payment will be by bank transfer.
Remove personal belongings, parking permits, toll tags and dashcams. Check the boot, the glovebox and under the seats. Cancel any car-park or clean-air-zone auto-pay accounts linked to the registration.
Give the V5C to the ATF or collector but keep the yellow section headed 'sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade'. That slip holds the reference you need for DVLA.
The ATF issues the CoD through DVLA's online system once the car has been treated. Keep it with your records.
Use the online service with the 11-digit reference, naming the scrapyard as the trader even if you were not paid. Or post the yellow slip to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BD.
Cancel the insurance once the car has gone and watch for DVLA's confirmation letter and any refund cheque.
Most people reach this point after a failed MOT, a large repair quote or a breakdown that isn’t worth fixing. A useful test is to compare the repair bill with what the car would be worth once repaired. If the gap is wide, or the car has structural rust, recycling it is usually the sensible route.
If the car is on finance, or your insurer has written it off, stop here and read the guides on those situations first. Both change who is allowed to make the decision. The same applies if you are not the registered keeper, for example when clearing a relative’s car, because the buyer will need to know you have the authority to hand it over.
An ATF is a site permitted by the environmental regulator to depollute and dismantle end-of-life vehicles. Fuel, oils, coolant, brake fluid, refrigerant and the battery are drained or removed under controlled conditions, reusable parts are recovered, and the shell goes on for metal recycling.
GOV.UK is clear that an end-of-life vehicle must go to an ATF. A yard without that permit cannot issue a Certificate of Destruction, and without one you have no official proof the car was destroyed. GOV.UK also notes that scrapping at an ATF is usually free, although a site can charge if essential parts such as the engine, gearbox, wheels or bodywork have been removed.
You can scrap a car with very little paperwork, but these make the process quicker and cleaner:
You can remove parts to repair another vehicle you own. GOV.UK asks you to make a SORN first and keep the car off the road while you work, and to drain fluids without letting them soak into the ground or reach drains. Bear in mind that a car missing its engine or wheels may attract a fee at the ATF, and a car that cannot move under its own power cannot have its private number taken off.
With Car Scrappage, you enter the registration and the postcode where the car is. The postcode routes the details to a licensed buyer covering that area, who usually contacts you within about an hour with an offer. Collection is free, at a time that suits you, and declining an offer costs nothing.
Cars go to Authorised Treatment Facilities, collectors are licensed waste carriers, and payment is never made in cash. You can also call 0800 058 8087.
In short
Last checked October 2026 against official guidance.
Questions
Short answers to questions this guide often raises.
Can’t see your question? Read every answer or call 0800 058 8087.
It helps, because the collector will want to see identification and take the keys and log book. If you can't be present, agree the arrangements in advance with whoever is collecting.
Yes. Tax and MOT status do not stop a car being scrapped. If it is untaxed it should already be on a SORN or kept off the road, and it should not be driven to the yard.
If you used the online service and gave an email address, confirmation arrives by email. A letter confirming you are no longer the keeper follows.
Guides
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