Can I scrap a car with no MOT or tax?

Yes. A car does not need a valid MOT, road tax or insurance to be scrapped, because it is loaded onto a recovery vehicle and never driven on the road. Enter your registration and postcode, see the best price the licensed yards in your area will pay, and if you accept, the collecting yard picks it up free of charge.

Why doesn't the MOT matter for scrapping?

The MOT, tax and insurance rules are about using a car on public roads. A scrap car is lifted onto a truck or trailer from where it is parked and taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility, so none of those rules come into play.

Plenty of scrap cars have failed an MOT or been sat untaxed for months. The yard is interested in the car itself, not its road status.

Can I drive it to the yard myself instead?

Generally, no. You cannot legally drive a car on a public road without a valid MOT, except to a pre-booked MOT test or to have repairs done after a failed test. A trip to a scrap yard does not count. Driving an untaxed or uninsured car brings its own penalties too.

Free collection avoids all of that. The yard comes to you, whether the car is on a driveway, in a garage or parked at the kerb.

What if the car is on the road without tax?

If an untaxed car is parked on a public road, it can be clamped or removed, and the keeper can be fined. If your car is in this situation, it is worth booking the collection sooner rather than later.

A car kept off the road, on a drive or in a garage, should have a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) if it is not taxed. You do not have to declare SORN just because you are scrapping, but if the car is going to sit untaxed off the road for a while first, a SORN keeps you on the right side of the DVLA.

Does no MOT lower the price?

The price you see comes from the rates that licensed yards covering your postcode district have set, and those rates are mostly about the car's weight and the metal in it. An expired MOT on its own does not change what a car weighs.

What can make a difference is the car not being complete. If the engine, gearbox, wheels or catalytic converter are missing, say so when you book, because that changes what the car is worth to the yard.

What paperwork do I need?

The same as for any scrap car:

• The V5C logbook, if it is to hand. It goes with the car, apart from the small yellow slip for the motor trade, which you keep
• Photo ID and proof of address, which the yard can accept in place of a missing logbook
• Any keys for the car

You do not need an MOT certificate or proof of tax.

What happens after collection?

The collecting yard is a licensed Authorised Treatment Facility. Yards in our network are licensed by the Environment Agency in England, SEPA in Scotland or Natural Resources Wales in Wales. Once the car is collected:

• The yard pays you by bank transfer within 24 hours of collection. No yard can legally pay in cash for a scrap car.
• The yard notifies the DVLA and the Certificate of Destruction is recorded on your booking and emailed to you.
• If any road tax is left on the car, the DVLA refunds full remaining months automatically after the yard reports the scrapping.

Keep the Certificate of Destruction somewhere safe. It shows the car has been legally destroyed and is no longer down to you.

Quick answers

Can I scrap a car that failed its MOT? Yes. A failed or expired MOT makes no difference to whether a licensed yard can scrap it.

Do I need to tax the car before it is collected? No. The car travels on a recovery vehicle, so it does not need tax, MOT or insurance.

Do I have to SORN a car before scrapping it? Not because of the scrapping itself. A SORN only matters if the car will be kept untaxed off the road before collection.

Will the yard still collect if the car does not start? Yes. Non-runners are collected on a recovery truck the same way.

Car off the road with no MOT? See your best price by entering your registration and postcode.