Guidance for vehicle owners and operators
- England and Wales: ELV Authorised Treatment Facilities - Public Register List
- Northern Ireland: ELV Authorised Treatment Facilities
If you send your end-of-life vehicle to a storage site before it is taken to an authorised treatment facility, make sure that the storage site has:
- an environmental permit (England or Wales)
- a waste management licence (Northern Ireland or Scotland)
You can do this by contacting the local office of your environmental regulator.
End-of-life vehicles are classified as hazardous/special waste until they have been treated to remove fluids and other hazardous substances and components. Vehicles intended for treatment and destruction must be consigned as hazardous waste when they move between sites.If the vehicle is a car or van, you should be issued with a certificate of destruction. This demonstrates that your vehicle has been taken to an approved treatment site and allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to deregister the vehicle.
If the authorised treatment facility which you use automatically updates the DVLA that your vehicle has been destroyed, you do not need to send your certificate of destruction to anyone. However, you should keep it for your own records.
A certificate of destruction must contain:
- detailed information describing the vehicle
- details of the authorised treatment facility
- details of the competent issuing authority.
You can take your car or van to an authorised treatment facility free of charge providing it has the essential components of a vehicle – such as the engine, transmission, coachwork and wheels – and it is part of the appropriate manufacturer’s network. Contact Autogreen and Cartakeback, the free take-back service providers, for information on network arrangements.
Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes must also be depolluted at an authorised treatment facility but are not covered by the free take-back arrangements.
