Starting a Scrap Car Business

As the saying goes, “one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure” and never has this been truer than when you are considering setting up a business in the ‘scrap’ industry. The Scrap Metal industry has grown rapidly over the last 10 years with a raft of new International legislation with regards to recycling waste goods to limit their environmental impact on disposal.

The EU has now imposed limits on the amount of waste ending up in landfill sites and implemented guidelines for the disposal of all scrap vehicles.

> How to make money in the Scrap Car Business :

There are a number of approved scrap metal recycling centres around the UK, who will pay an amount per ton of scrap metal at the point of delivery. The revenue per ton of scrap metal fluctuates, but is often in excess of £100 per ton.

There is a HUGE demand for a Scrap Car London collection and disposal service. More than 2 million cars reach the end of their life each year in the UK. EU Guidelines now stipulate that more than 74% of the vehicle MUST be reused or recycled.

When a person has a vehicle that they wish to dispose of, the vehicle is often no longer road worthy, no longer insured to be driven, or both. Therefore, the owner NEEDS to have the vehicle collected and disposed of for them, and this is where you come in.

In order to incentivise the flow of business, you may wish to make a small cash payment on collection of a scrap vehicle. But often, people are simply happy to have a vehicle collected and disposed of for free.

> The Basic Car Scrapping Process Explained:

i) Vehicle collected from customer. You will need a suitable Tow Truck.

ii) On collection, the vehicle must be officially signed over to you by the vehicles owner, with the exact time and date noted, for the protection of both parties. The owner should notify the DVLA that they have passed the vehicle to you, either using the section 9 form from the log book or phoning DVLA.

iii) The vehicle must then be run through a depollution process, involving draining the vehicle of all fluids such as oil, fuel and brake fluid. The battery must also be disconnected and removed.

iv) The wheels are removed – including the spare. Any other major non-metallic items are removed. Note, there may be items that you can resell or reuse.

v) Once the vehicle is fully depolluted, you take the vehicle to your local scrap metal recycling plant. You must produce the logbook for the vehicle, the vehicle is weighed and you are paid the going rate per ton.

> How to advertise your scrap car business :

There are a variety of ways to market your new scrap car business, and I have overviewed just a few below.

a) Get a website specifically targeting your local area.

b) Advertise on your local Gumtree, or other free websites.

You can place your adverts in the car section, as people often look on Gumtree when they want to sell or dispose of an old vehicle.

 c) Look in local free ads for people that are trying to get rid of their car.

Most areas of the UK have free ads papers and magazines – where you can post adverts about your business or service for free.

d) Look on e-bay for people trying to sell vehicles in your area very cheaply.

You could look on eBay for people selling vehicles very cheaply in your area (eg. for less than £50). You can set up alerts to monitor eBay automatically.

e) Advertise in yellow pages.

When you are more established you may wish to invest in a Yellow Pages advert or a paid advert in your local / regional paper.

> Conclusion:

 The scrap car business presents an opportunity for anyone who is skilled in car maintenance, has the tools of the trade and who has access to a suitable towing vehicle. The flow of scrap cars is not likely to dry up over the coming years, so business is likely to continue to flow for a well operated and well advertised scrap car business. Not only do you have the opportunity to profit financially from starting a scrap car business, but you can also feel good knowing that you are helping the environment by disposing of vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner.