Scrapping Your Car April 30, 2012 at 3:18 pm
There comes a time in every car’s life when it goes beyond repair and needs to be scrapped. Although there are many reputable companies out there who can scrap your car for you, car disposal can be a lucrative business for criminals, and many unscrupulous dealers out there have been known to cash in on dangerous “cut and shut” operations – taking your car to be scrapped but selling it on instead.
This is obviously highly dangerous for road users and pedestrians alike, as cars that are nowhere near road-worthy are allowed to continue to operate. It also poses a problem for the owner who thought it was being safely disposed of, who remains liable for any damage that is caused and can receive hefty fines if the vehicle is picked up on by the authorities.
To avoid being part of any scam, you should ensure that whoever you approach to scrap your car has a good reputation. A reputable dealer should ask you for identification such as a driver’s licence or passport as well as the v5c registration document, key and logbook. Once you have sent your car off to be scrapped, you should ensure that you are provided with a certificate of destruction as proof that your car is no longer on the road.
Alun Lendrum, who runs a legal scrap car service in the South of England said:
“We have heard of cases where unsuspecting car owners have been slapped with a £5,000 fine because the person they hired were involved in cut and shut operations and others where their cars have been used in things like armed robberies. We make sure that we take all necessary precautions before we scrap cars, and always issue a certificate of destruction but unfortunately, there are clearly still people out there who are more than willing to take advantage”