1:06 pm, April 22, 2010
EACH year in the UK, a staggering two million cars and vans are scrapped. That’s a phenomenal total – there are as many motors crushed as there are sold new!
Trouble is, not all are actually crushed. Up to half the scrapped cars each year are disposed of through unofficial means, which is bad for the environment, road safety, inquisitive exploring-child safety, you name it.
Oh, and if it’s your name on the registration document, says Rebecca Roddis of experts in the field, Cartakeback, it’s bad news for you, too. This will include responsibility for any dodgy things the car’s been up to in the meantime…
To deal with all this, back in 2003, the government introduced the End of Life Vehicle directive. This demands all car makers take back their own brand of car free of charge, and dispose of it in the correct way. For most owners, the car dealer will be one of the obvious routes they use to instigate this service.
Authorised treatment facilities were set up to handle this process. All hazardous materials, fluids and batteries had to be removed, before any part of the old banger could be recycled.
Two years later, legislators cranked up the pressure by demanding car makers and authorised treatment facilities met targets for 85 per cent recycling by weight. All of which means, explained Roddis, you can’t just take a car anywhere for scrapping. And it’s a fair old process to do yourself: which is why firms such as Cartakeback exist – ‘to take the hassle out of the car disposal process for car dealerships’.
Roddis explains: ‘We are proud to be the largest network of vehicle manufacturer approved authorised treatment facilities in the United Kingdom.
‘Our licensed car dismantlers and scrap car yards have been exclusively approved by the UK’s leading vehicle manufacturers, assuring you of a first class car recycling service in strict accordance with the End of Life Vehicle regulations.’ There’s nothing scrappy about these boys.
FUNDS
New car dealers will already be well aware of everything about using these ATFs, of course. It was by dealing with them that the all-important Certificate of Destructions were issued which allowed scrappage funds from the government to be claimed.
Cartakeback really did win here, because it has the facility to instantly issue CoDs on receipt of the vehicle. These are actually emailed to dealers directly, explained Roddis, ‘freeing them of any legal responsibility for the vehicle’. This has given the firm a great platform to build on for the future.
Cartakeback Collect is the core service. This, using one of the firm’s 300-strong ATF partners, will recycle the scrapper you have getting in the way, immediately giving you online payment.
‘We offer nationwide collection and comply with government de-pollution and other targets,’ she adds.
A more recent development is Cartakeback Drive-In. This is a development of the above service, that lets customers find their nearest ATFs – and compare prices on offer!
For dealers interested in getting the best possible price for their motors, it’s just the job. Using Royal Mail postcode look-ups, combined with Google Maps, clear and precise information is generated in seconds. The new Drive-In features are combined with the existing collection quote system, meaning lots of disposal choice for the customer.
‘It’s a significant development in our e-commerce offer, and boosts choice and convenience for dealers,’ said Roddis. ‘As scrap metal values fluctuate, it hasn’t always been easy for someone to know what an old vehicle is worth or whether there will be a cost to get rid of it. We find the highest payment that has been offered from within our nationwide ATF network.’
An even more recent development is just rolling out though, one that goes above and beyond simple car disposal. Many of those cars will be of no interest to your regular disposal partners, but will still have market value above and beyond the standard scrappage rate. What you need is a route to the sort of sellers who would give you the best price – here’s where Cartakeback Auction comes in!
This is specifically for all those lower-value part-exchanges you get in. ‘We will do the whole lot for you,’ said Roddis. ‘Collect, assess, take images, even store the vehicle offsite and manage all the viewings for you, and promise to deliver payment to the vendor within two weeks of receiving a request to collect it.’
So confident is the firm in this new offer, it will pay you £300 for any car you list before the auction even starts. ‘It is not an auction for scrapped cars,’ added Roddis. ‘Rather, it is a bespoke channel for motors that are too good for the scrapyard, but still not worth enough to be of interest to your usual disposal channels.’
Cartakeback says it has a bulging contacts book of parties interested in these cars and with the new auction service has provided a means of connecting demand with supply, which will ensure all parties win. Dealers of cheaper cars will have much more choice, while those looking to dispose of them will have a new easy way to make more from them.
Sounds fantastic. It costs £100 per car, on sale, and has the potential to make a healthy extra chunk of profit for no effort on your part – a real win/win.
Indeed, with this armoury of options, Cartakeback is going above and beyond its traditional offer of dismantling cars. This will remain the core service, be in no doubt, but there’s a whole lot more to it for 2010, too. Making it a firm to watch, we reckon, certainly one to put on your radar.
For more information log on to cartakeback.com or call 0845 257 3233
