If you are considering scrapping your car or selling it as salvage, you may have come across web content referencing End of Life Vehicles or ELVs for short. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the different types of ELV and how Government regulations state they must be disposed of. Read on to find out more.

What makes a vehicle an ELV?

At present, UK law does not specifically define when a vehicle has outlived its usefulness. Instead, it is typically the role of a car owner to decide if their vehicle has come to the end of the road. In many cases, whether it's due to accidental damage or wear and tear this time usually arrives when a car owner realises it no longer makes sense to keep running their vehicle.

Different ELV types

Not every ELV is considered the same and there are two main categories. Natural ELVs are cars that reach the end of their lifespan because they are no longer equitable to repair or due to age-related failures of a technical nature. Premature ELVs on the other hand are younger vehicles. Such cars are not expected to experience a technical failure but are written off due to damage or an accident.

Disposing of ELVs and the law

Each year in the UK, cars are scrapped resulting in a high quantity of waste metal making it essential that this important process is managed correctly and safely. When the decision is made that a car will become an end-of-life vehicle, it must be dismantled and then disposed of in an environmentally friendly fashion.

The UK Government’s ELV regulations were created in 2003 and updated to their current form in 2015. They state that cars can only be disposed of at official Authorised Treatment Facilities, also known as ATFs. When a vehicle is delivered to or collected by an ATF, it is classed as hazardous waste and must be handled according to end-of-life vehicle regulations.

After the ATF scrapping a car confirms to the DVLA that it has successfully processed the vehicle in line with rules, a certificate of destruction (COD) is issued, and the car is deregistered.

Professional in salvage and scrap

At Motorwise it’s our continuing mission to make scrapping and selling cars as salvage a simple process for owners. Visit our site for a quick quote and we can arrange to collect your ELV for safe disposal.