Scrap & salvage terms, in plain English
The jargon you'll meet when scrapping a car — what it actually means, and why it matters to you.
- ATF (Authorised Treatment Facility)
- A scrapyard licensed by SEPA to depollute and dispose of end-of-life vehicles legally. Only an ATF can issue a valid Certificate of Destruction. We are one.
- Certificate of Destruction (CoD)
- The official document confirming a vehicle has been permanently destroyed at an ATF and can never return to the road. The DVLA is notified at the same time.
- Depollution
- The legal first stage of recycling a car: draining fuels and fluids and safely removing the battery, airbags and catalytic converter before the shell is recycled.
- ELV (End-of-Life Vehicle)
- A car or van that has reached the end of its useful life and is being scrapped or recycled, governed by the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations.
- Cat S
- An insurance write-off with repairable structural (chassis/frame) damage. Can return to the road after proper repair and re-registration.
- Cat N
- An insurance write-off with non-structural damage — electrical, cosmetic or safety items. Repairable and roadworthy once fixed.
- Cat A / Cat B
- The most severe write-off categories. Cat A must be crushed entirely; Cat B can have parts salvaged but the body shell must be destroyed.
- LEZ (Low Emission Zone)
- An area where the most polluting vehicles are banned. Scotland has LEZs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, catching many older diesels and petrols.
- SEPA
- The Scottish Environment Protection Agency — the body that licenses scrapyards and waste carriers in Scotland.
- V5C (logbook)
- The vehicle registration document. When scrapping, the relevant section goes to the ATF and the rest is used to notify the DVLA.
- SORN
- Statutory Off Road Notification — declaring a car off the road to the DVLA. You don't need to SORN a car you're scrapping; the CoD handles it.
- Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015
- The Scottish law that banned cash payment for scrap metal (in force September 2016) and tightened dealer licensing. Licensed yards must pay by traceable means such as bank transfer. England and Wales have an equivalent ban under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013.
- Salvage
- A vehicle worth more than its scrap weight — usually because it's repairable or carries parts in demand. Salvage is valued above straight scrap.
- Breaker / breaking
- Dismantling a car for usable parts before the shell is recycled, rather than weighing the whole vehicle in. A car "broken" for parts usually pays more.
- Weighbridge
- The certified scale a scrapyard uses to weigh vehicles. A "weighbridge price" is one based purely on the car's weight and the day's metal market.
- HPI check
- A vehicle-history check showing write-off markers, outstanding finance and theft records against a registration. Worth running before buying — and the reason write-off markers follow a car for life.
- Depollution rig
- The equipment an ATF uses to drain fuels, oils and coolants safely before a vehicle is dismantled — part of what separates a licensed facility from a back-yard operation.