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What to do if your vehicle is scrapped or written off

You must take your vehicle to an authorised treatment facility (ATF) if it needs to be scrapped. If the vehicle is to be written off by your insurance company, they may take the vehicle in return for a total loss payment.

Taking your vehicle to an authorised treatment facility

You must take your vehicle to an ATF that will make sure it’s dismantled in an environmentally friendly way.

The vehicles you can take are:

  • cars
  • light vans
  • three-wheeled motor vehicles - excluding motor tricycles

Leaflet Certificate of Destruction INF156(NI) downloadable below gives more detail about the process:

Authorised treatment facilities

The ATF will give you a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) straight away if they agree to take your vehicle. They’ll also tell the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) that you’re no longer responsible for the vehicle. Keep the certificate as proof that the vehicle has been destroyed and you’re no longer responsible for it.

If you have a vehicle other than those already mentioned, you still need to take your vehicle to an ATF to ensure it’s destroyed to environmental standards. They’ll arrange for the vehicle record at DVA to be updated with a Notification of Destruction.

Telling DVA you no longer have the vehicle

If you’re not given a CoD or your vehicle is not being destroyed, then you should complete the V5C/3(NI) ‘Notification of sale or transfer’ section of your vehicle registration certificate (V5C(NI)), and send it to DVA, Coleraine, BT51 3TA.

You should get a letter confirming that you’re no longer responsible for the vehicle. If you don’t get this letter within four weeks, telephone 0845 402 4000 for further advice. Text phone/minicom users can telephone 028 703 41351.

If you have broken up the vehicle yourself, you must either continue to tax it or tell the DVA that you are keeping it off the public road. You can do this by making a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification). You will need to make a SORN every year until you have taken it to an ATF, or told DVA that you no longer have it.

For more information on SORN, please follow the link below.

How to apply for a refund

The rules surrounding who can claim a refund of vehicle tax have changed. Refunds will only be paid to the registered keeper or last registered keeper (the keeper must have had a registration certificate in their name). In addition DVA must have been told why the vehicle no longer requires a tax disc.

This may be because it has been sold, scrapped, exported, stolen, the vehicle has been taxed in a nil value tax class (such as disabled) or a statutory off road notification (SORN) has been made.

For more information on this please follow the link below. Form V14(NI) can be downloaded below to enable you to apply for a refund.

Personalised registration on your vehicle

You’ll need to transfer your personalised registration before you dispose of the vehicle. If you don’t, you’ll lose your entitlement to the registration number.

Tell your insurance company not to dispose of the vehicle until the transfer application is complete. Ask them to make sure the vehicle is available for inspection.

You’ll also need to get a:

  • letter of no interest from the insurers confirming they are happy for you to transfer the vehicle registration number
  • copy of the engineer's report confirming the vehicle’s details

Third party insurance cover on your vehicle

If your vehicle has been damaged in an accident, and will cost more to repair than the vehicle is worth, and you don’t want to keep the vehicle, you must tell DVA. Return your registration certificate explaining the necessary changes to DVA, Coleraine, BT51 3TA.

You should get a letter confirming that you’re no longer responsible for the vehicle. If you don’t get this letter within four weeks, telephone 0845 402 4000 for further advice. Text phone/minicom users can telephone 028 703 41351.

Total loss payment for your vehicle

If your insurance company decides to write off your vehicle, you must hand over the vehicle to them in return for a total loss payment.

You’ll need to:

  • complete the V5C/3(NI) ‘Notification of sale or transfer’ section of your registration certificate and send it to DVA, Coleraine, BT51 3TA
  • give the remainder of the registration certificate to the insurance company

Your insurer may ask you for the whole registration certificate which they’ll complete for you and send to DVA.

If this happens, write to DVA to be sure your name is removed from the record. Give the date you passed the vehicle to the insurance company and details of their name and address and send it to DVA, Coleraine, BT51 3TA.

If your vehicle has not been scrapped and you choose to keep the salvage, you should be in possession of the V5C(NI).

Your vehicle may also need a Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) before it can be used on the road again.

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