Buying wrecked cars and scrapping them for parts

[LGP]

Hello firstly i hope this is the right place to post this. I am looking at buying some wrecked cars from an auction and scrapping them down for all of the parts that can be sold and are safe to be re used by someone looking to repair a car. I should also add that i am from the UK

Some information i am not too sure on and would like some help or advice on.

Is it legal to buy wrecked cars from an auction house to scrap them down for available parts and then sell on the parts to people who need them using ebay and other sites.

Do you need any type of licence to be able to do this legally or insurance (it would be done on private property on a driveway and garage)

Lastly i want to give a brief description of why i want to do this , I suffer from very bad anxiety and depression and i never leave my room so by doing this it would get me out the house and working on something i like doing and in a place i feel comfortable doing it , plus the added benefit of making money.

If anyone could help me out with the questions i have i would really appreciate it.

Edited by LGP on Friday 2nd December 01:57

Edited by LGP on Friday 2nd December 02:09

[clarkmagpie]

Can't answer any questions but I wish you the best of luck.
I hope it gives you something to focus on

[LGP]

clarkmagpie said:

Can't answer any questions but I wish you the best of luck.
I hope it gives you something to focus on

Thank you man

[Lagerlout]

No idea about the legalities of it, but a few years back I used to buy old cars, strip them down and sell the parts. I'd regularly be able to buy a car for under 200 quid and sell the parts for a grand. I once bought a Volvo 480 and parted it out for about 1200 quid, cost me 50 quid! It would be a good idea to research what parts people need for certain cars and cars that have a strong following. It used to be a lot easier pre scrappage scheme, expect it's more difficult now. I used to do a roaring trade in window regulators! lol

[LGP]

Lagerlout said:

No idea about the legalities of it, but a few years back I used to buy old cars, strip them down and sell the parts. I'd regularly be able to buy a car for under 200 quid and sell the parts for a grand. I once bought a Volvo 480 and parted it out for about 1200 quid, cost me 50 quid! It would be a good idea to research what parts people need for certain cars and cars that have a strong following. It used to be a lot easier pre scrappage scheme, expect it's more difficult now. I used to do a roaring trade in window regulators! lol

Thank you for your reply , I have been looking at quite a few auction houses for wrecked cars and found a few mini coopers and for focus's that are going pretty cheap with little body damage so im thinking i could make a few quid on them. I just need to know all the legal stuff before i start to do it.

[Shoegrip]

It really depends to some extent in practice on the scale that you are doing it.

The reason I mention scale, is that in theory, if it is done from a private house, you would need change of use. If you are moving parts commercially, you might need a license for moving waste, you would need to register for paying tax. Etc. etc..

There are potential environmental issues to think of too but again, scale makes a difference.

In practice, if you are doing one at a time and not bothering anyone, you could get away with none of this but still should pay tax on any profit you make.

In reality, I would try one or two, see what returns you get and take it from there.

Well done for taking the initiative to look at your situation and thinking a way of moving forward from it. You deserve to do well.

[paintman]

A vehicle being disposed of at the end of its life is deemed waste.
By buying wrecked vehicle to break for parts and sell these parts on you will be regarded as a business.
Your business model is likely to make you an 'end of life' centre which are regarded as waste disposal sites & subject to a lot of legislation.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/end-of-life-vehicles-e...

There have been a number of threads on PH on this subject,e.g:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=117...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=593...

Edited by paintman on Friday 2nd December 08:32

[northwest monkey]

You need to learn to become rude and surly and also have the ability to speak to people as if they've just had a st on your dining room table.

That's my experience of used part sellers on Ebay anyway

[cpjitservices]

What about tools etc ? Surely you'll have to invest in the correct tools and the correct disposal containers etc which will no doubt cost money - that twinned with buying the vehicles for cheap you will have to make back decent money to pay for tools. Which makes the job more expensive as you'll have to offset the cost of the vehicle parts against what you've spent on tools etc.

If that makes sense. Good thinking though. I wish you best of luck.

Also if your doing it on your driveway be careful, my neighbor is a mechanic and whilst I dont mind him working on several cars a night - my other neighbors do hes not harming anyone and doesn't make a great deal of noise to be honest. Someone complained saying they were sick of seeing cars in pieces on his drive. There's that element to it.

[StoatInACoat]

northwest monkey said:

You need to learn to become rude and surly and also have the ability to speak to people as if they've just had a st on your dining room table.

That's my experience of used part sellers on Ebay anyway

Or if you're selling from a premises treat customers as an irritation, talk to them as if they're stupid and proudly present them with a drivers door that's been shat on, folded in half and shot with a blunderbuss in the wrong colour that you told them was "Excellent condition bruv" when they phoned you that morning to say they were travelling quite a distance and would appreciate your honesty.

But good luck! Be a decent breaker!

[TooMany2cvs]

LGP said:

Is it legal to buy wrecked cars from an auction house to scrap them down for available parts and then sell on the parts to people who need them using ebay and other sites.

Of course it is. It's your car, you can do what you want with it. You'll need to get the shell properly disposed of, though.

LGP said:

Do you need any type of licence to be able to do this legally or insurance (it would be done on private property on a driveway and garage)

Your neighbours will hate you. Your local council might have something to say. You won't be able to bid on CatB cars unless and until you get authorised and registered with the auctioneers.

[Bennet]

I had an MG ZR with a broken engine. I thought I would make money selling it piece by piece on ebay, and perhaps I would have, but unless you have experience or you really, really want to do it, you find yourself standing over it with a spanner and after 20 minutes realising that 95% of it is a serious pain in the arse to dismantle, and you've nowhere to put all the filthy, bulky parts anyway. I sold about four parts.

No idea whether the above would apply to you. I'd suggest you don't spend much money unless you're already pretty certain you can and will see it through.

[OldGermanHeaps]

In scotland you need a licence and you get endless surprise visits from sepa who want you to jump through a billion hoops, far too much to list here. The only way to do it on such a small scale is to illegally fly under the radar and risk deep st if you get caught. As well as the authorities in some areas the scrap game is controlled by people you don't want to make enemies of. Lastly dealing with the fknuggets on ebay and scumtree can be enough to make the most mild mannered want to go on a shotgun rampage. At least one of your neighbours will object to you running a scrapyard in a residential area and can cause you grief. can't imagine much of that being good for your anxiety. Could you not find a more hobbyist method of tinkering withold cars?

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Friday 2nd December 09:34

[mgv8]

I did it on one car and it did pay me back quite a lot. Air tools e.t.c are a build help.
If I was to do this I would start with one model of car. Then you can have stock and focus. Build out from there?
You may get an environmental grant is you say the right things about what you are doing?

[mgv8]

PS Good frend went threw the same thing and got into clock restration. Worked very well for him, so good luck.

[texaxile]

There are people doing this on the side, one car every couple of months , then move on to the next one. They do it purely via eBay and gumtree ,then fill the remaining car up with crap and take it to the scrappy, usually by lifting / dragging it onto the trailer if it has no wheels.

There was a Tv programme about 2 "teams" of blokes who did this as a kind of competition for a while (discovery I think). It made interesting viewing but was obviously scripted.

I can't advise as to the legalities, nor about declaring any income, the guys I know do it "under the radar" and deal a lot in cash from gumtree etc.

My only tips are to maybe get an idea of shipping costs by searching equivalent items on eBay , and try to source as much free packaging gear as you can , I used to go to places like B&Q and ask for scrap cardboard / bubble wrap, Tesco's as well (free boxes which you can cut up and adapt), also keep an eye open for skips around industrial estates which chuck big bits of cardboard / polystyrene etc out ( although again I might be wrong but lifting stuff out of skips without permission might be classed as theft), then order my packing tape off Ebay and get my box cutter knife and blades from Poundland.

Good luck with whatever you decide, hope it all works out for you .

[GSalt]

LGP said:

Is it legal to buy wrecked cars from an auction house to scrap them down for available parts and then sell on the parts to people who need them using ebay and other sites.

Do you need any type of licence to be able to do this legally or insurance (it would be done on private property on a driveway and garage)

Because you're talking about doing this to make money..

End of life vehicles need to be depolluted so it depends what state you're buying the cars in. If you're buying in untreated wrecks you'll need to be registered as an authorised treatment facility (ATF) for ELVs, comply with ELV regulations and meet recycling targets.

If you're buying in already depolluted vehicles for breaking you'll need to be registered and hold permits for storing and treating waste - a depolluted wreck is considered waste and the activity you describe is a waste processing activity.

Depolluting an intact end-of-life vehicle is relatively straightforward, but it can get more complicated with a damaged wreck.

There's quite a bit of guidance available online about the permits and the depollution process. The application for an ELV ATF is relatively straightforward if you have the facilities. The last permit application I did for someone had was £1600-ish for the application fee. You can make the application yourself but if you're not familiar with the process of making an application to the EA/SEPA you may need to buy in some help with the forms and supporting paperwork.

You'll also need planning approval for a waste activity - that could be you biggest problem for a domestic premises.


There are exemptions if you're breaking a vehicle for your own use, e.g. you're restoring a car and buy in a wreck to salvage parts. But as soon as you start talking about doing this commercially (to sell parts on) you need the permits and licenses before you start.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/end-of-life-vehicles-e...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/end-of-...

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...