Terms and conditions

These terms apply when you use Scrap My Car Online to sell a scrap, damaged or end-of-life vehicle. They are written to be read; if anything is unclear, ring us on 0333 335 5482 before you accept a price. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected by anything below.

1. Who we are and what we do

Scrap My Car Online is run by Scrap My Car Online Ltd (company number 15518154), whose registered office is at Salvage Yard, Kilnhurst Road, Kilnhurst, Mexborough S64 5TL.

We are an introducer. We do not buy your vehicle, collect it or pay for it. We show your vehicle to licensed scrap yards — Authorised Treatment Facilities, which we call “collectors” — that have joined our network and set the prices they will pay in each postcode district. When you accept a price, you are agreeing to sell your vehicle to the collector that takes your booking, on the terms in sections 2 to 10. The sale is between you and that collector. We stay your first point of contact from start to finish (section 11), and we stand behind the collector’s payment (section 8).

Every collector on the network holds an environmental permit as an Authorised Treatment Facility from the Environment Agency, SEPA or Natural Resources Wales, and a waste carrier registration. We check both before a collector receives a single booking, and we remove collectors that fall short.

2. The price

The price is worked out from the vehicle details held against the registration you enter, the answers you give about its condition, and the best approved rate among the collectors covering your postcode district. It is valid until the date shown on your quote, and it is offered on the basis that what you have told us is accurate and complete.

The price includes collection. Collection is free wherever the network covers you: nothing is deducted for the truck, the distance or the fuel, and nothing is added on the day.

If an obvious mistake has been made in producing a price — a vehicle record that is plainly wrong, or a rate entered in error — we or the collector may correct it before the vehicle is collected. If the corrected price is lower, you can walk away at no cost.

3. The collector

Every collector on the network is approved to the same standard, so we do not tell you which collector has your booking until it contacts you. Once you accept, your booking goes to the collector whose rate set the price, and that collector rings you — normally within two hours during the working day, or first thing the next working morning — to arrange the collection. It introduces itself when it rings, and its name and permit appear on the Certificate of Destruction.

If the collector cannot take your vehicle after all — it withdraws, or cannot reach you — we may pass the booking to another approved collector at the same price, or tell you that we cannot arrange the collection. You are not charged either way.

4. What you confirm when you accept

By accepting a price you confirm that:

• you are the registered keeper of the vehicle, or are authorised by the registered keeper (or the keeper’s estate) to sell it;
• the vehicle is not stolen, is not the subject of an insurance claim that has not been settled, and has not been kept by an insurer;
• there is no outstanding finance on it, or you have told us about the finance before collection — any finance remains your responsibility and does not pass to the collector or to us;
• your description of the vehicle is accurate: what is missing, what does not work, and any damage or modification you know about;
• you will remove your belongings, and transfer or retain any private registration, before the vehicle is collected.

5. Collection

The collector arranges the day and a morning or afternoon window with you directly. Most collections happen within one to three days of accepting the price. The vehicle must be somewhere a recovery truck can reach safely: on solid ground, with room to load, and within winch reach if it does not roll. Tell us at the time of booking if the vehicle is in a garage, on a slope, or without wheels, so the collector brings the right vehicle.

On the day the driver checks the registered keeper’s photo ID and proof of address (section 9), and checks the vehicle against your description, before loading it. If the vehicle is materially different from what you described — an engine, gearbox or catalytic converter missing, damage or parts you did not mention — the driver will explain a revised price before anything is loaded. You may decline it, and the collector may decline to take the vehicle.

Once the vehicle is loaded the sale is complete, and ownership and risk pass to the collector. Anything left in the vehicle after that point cannot be returned.

6. Cancellation and wasted journeys

You may cancel at any time before the driver sets off, at no charge, by telling us or the collector. There is no cooling-off period to wait for: cancel by phone or email and the booking is closed.

A wasted-journey charge may apply if the driver attends as arranged and the collection cannot go ahead for a reason on your side: the vehicle is not there or cannot be reached; nobody is present with the keeper’s ID; or the vehicle is materially not as described and you decline the revised price. The charge is £1 for each mile of the driver’s one-way journey, with a minimum of £30, and it is payable to the collector, which is the party out of pocket. It does not apply where the collector cancels, arrives outside the agreed window without telling you, or the vehicle matches your description.

7. Payment

The collector pays you the agreed price by bank transfer, to an account in the registered keeper’s name, within 24 hours of collection; it is a condition of being on the network. Nobody on the network pays cash, because the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 makes cash payment for a scrap vehicle a criminal offence in England and Wales, and the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 does the same in Scotland. A driver who offers cash is not following the network’s rules — tell us.

8. Our payment guarantee

If a collector takes your vehicle and has not paid you within 24 hours of collection, tell us. We will chase the collector, and if the collector still does not pay we will pay you the agreed price ourselves, up to £1,000, and recover it from the collector. To claim, tell us within 30 days of the collection date and give us what we ask for: the booking reference, confirmation of the ID shown, and your bank details. The guarantee covers the agreed price only, and it is our only liability for a collector’s failure to pay.

9. Identification and paperwork

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 requires the collector to verify the identity and address of the person it buys from and to keep a record. The driver will ask for photo ID (a driving licence or passport) in the registered keeper’s name and proof of address from the last three months. Collection cannot go ahead without them. An old address on the V5C is not a problem as long as your proof of address is current.

The V5C logbook is helpful but not essential. If you have it, hand it to the driver and keep the yellow “sell, transfer or part-exchange to the motor trade” section (V5C/3). The collector’s Certificate of Destruction updates the DVLA record, but GOV.UK also asks you to tell the DVLA yourself that the vehicle has gone to an ATF — online with the 11-digit reference from the V5C, or by posting the yellow section — and doing it the same day starts your tax refund from that month. Until the DVLA has been told, you remain the registered keeper.

Where the vehicle is destroyed, the collector issues the Certificate of Destruction within seven days and it is emailed to you through us. A car, light van or three-wheeled motor vehicle that is destroyed always gets one. Occasionally a collector will decide a damaged vehicle is worth repairing rather than scrapping, which the law allows an ATF to do; no certificate is issued then, because nothing has been destroyed, and the paperwork is a sale to the motor trade — you tell the DVLA using the same online form or yellow section, and the DVLA writes to confirm you are no longer the keeper. If you want the vehicle destroyed whatever its condition, say so in the notes when you book and it goes to the collector as a condition of the job.

Cancelling your insurance is your responsibility. Vehicle tax is refunded by the DVLA automatically, for full months remaining, once it has been told the vehicle has gone.

10. Private registrations

If you want to keep a personalised registration, transfer or retain it before collection. Once a vehicle has been destroyed the registration cannot be recovered, and neither we nor the collector accept liability for a registration lost this way.

11. If something goes wrong

Talk to us first. Although your contract for the sale is with the collector, we are your point of contact for anything about the collection, the payment or the paperwork: info@scrapmycaronline.co.uk, or 0333 335 5482 (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8am–12pm). We reply within one working day, we take up problems with the collector on your behalf, and we aim to resolve complaints within fourteen days. A collector that does not put things right stops receiving bookings.

12. Our liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded, and nothing affects your rights as a consumer. Otherwise: we are not a party to the sale of your vehicle, and our liability for a collector’s failure to pay is the guarantee in section 8. Our liability for anything else arising from your use of the service is limited to losses that were a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care, and to the agreed price of the vehicle.

13. Your information

To arrange the collection we pass the collector your name, phone number, email address, the collection address and the vehicle details, together with any documents you upload for the booking. How we handle your information is set out in our privacy policy.

14. Changes and governing law

We may update these terms; the version in force is the one shown on this page when you accept a price, and its date is at the top. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction — if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings there.