A car that’s heading to the scrapyard isn’t going to belong to this world, so many are led to believe that you need to declare the car as SORN before actually scrapping it – it’s off the road, after all. But do you actually need to go through the hassle of SORNing your car if you’re going to scrap it? We break down the ins and outs of how SORNing affects scrapping your car.
If your car isn’t currently SORNed, follow these steps to scrap it…
If the car you’re scrapping is not currently SORNed, don’t worry about it; you can legally scrap your car without it being SORNed.
Simply follow the process of scrapping a car as normal. This includes driving it yourself to the scrapyard (just be sure to have it scrapped at an Authorised Treatment Facility) – and the rest should be handled for you. Whenever a car is scrapped through typical means, a Certificate of Destruction – the document declaring your vehicle as now off the road – will be generated within 7 days and the relevant information will be updated on the DVLA database accordingly.
You’ll want to ensure that you do complete other necessary steps, such as sending off the required sections of the V5C logbook and informing the DVLA through the correct channels, otherwise you’re all good.
The situation slightly differs, however, when the car you’re wishing to scrap is currently SORNed.
If your car is SORNed, follow these steps…
If your car is SORNed currently, you can still scrap it but you’ll need to arrange legal transportation of the vehicle to the scrapyard in order to have it scrapped.
You can often get the scrapyard to pick up your car at an agreed collection time, and many collect the car completely free of charge or within the price offered at Jamjar, the car buying comparison site. Still, it’s important that you legally and safely get the car moved and if you don’t have any other options, it’s pretty much the only way forward.
Outside of this factor, the rest of the process remains the same.
What about taking specific car parts when scrapping your car?
You might want to take some parts from the car before you scrap it, whether that’s to use them to repair another vehicle, to recover particularly expensive parts you might have installed in the car, or otherwise. If you are planning to remove parts before having them scrapped, you will need to declare the vehicle as off the road to the DVLA before you actually remove any parts.
Again, because your car is now SORNed, you’ll need to arrange transportation of the vehicle to the authorised treatment facility you’ve chosen to go with. All other arrangements remain the same in regards to having your car scrapped.
If you’re looking for a guide on the process of scrapping your car, read our guide on how to scrap your car.
