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Certificate of Destruction
JMW - 19/5/14 at 02:27 PM

Apologies if this is the wrong forum:

My road-going narrow-bodied Westfield suffered significant chassis and
panel damage at a recent hillclimb. I don't think it is economic
to repair now, especially as I want a full cage in future when I compete (it
currently has a roll-over bar).

My question is: is there a way to get a certificate of destruction issued for
it, by just giving up the bits I don't want,e.g. chassis, bodywork and
allowing me to keep the elements I do want, e.g. engine, gearbox, lsd,
brake calipers etc?

tegwin - 19/5/14 at 02:34 PM

Is it road registered...in which case simply fill in the part of the V5 that says it has been scrapped and chop the car up..


It's an expensive process getting the V5 in the first place so It might make more sense to repair the car and retain its ID!?

JMW - 19/5/14 at 02:48 PM

Yes, it is road registered, taxed and MOT'd (but won't pass next time!).

I thought the problem was that you can't scrap a car yourself anymore,
that it either has to be a) taxed, b) SORN'd or c) be the subject of a
Certificate of Destruction issued to you by an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF).

Have I made it more complicated than it needs to be?

dhutch - 19/5/14 at 03:08 PM

I would have a chat with the local breakers.

Sounds reasonable to me, when I wrote of one of my 306's and broke it for bits I look basically everything off it, and then signed over the shell and got the v5 stamped and signed.


Daniel

JMW - 19/5/14 at 03:13 PM

Does anyone know of a breakers in the Northwest likely to be amenable to this sort of request?

loggyboy - 19/5/14 at 03:18 PM

They will let you scrap a car yourself, just fill in the V5 and add a covering letter saying how and why it was scrapped by you only.

If you buy a new chassis from westfield uou could be able to reshell and keep the existing ID to save on IVA expense etc.

[Edited on 19-5-14 by loggyboy]

sdh2903 - 19/5/14 at 03:19 PM

I may very well be talking out my hole, but if you replace chassis like for like can you not retain the v5? Or are you building a different car?

ReMan - 19/5/14 at 03:23 PM

As with sevens it seems acceptable to replace the chassis, like for like and it not be "ringing", I'd have thought that you would not want to scrap it?
Presumably not an insurance claim on a hillclimb?

So I'm sure there is considerable worth in it even if you bought a new chassis (with rool cage) and body and then "upgraded the bits you didnt want, or other combinations as suits?

JMW - 19/5/14 at 03:31 PM

thanks for all the responses. Yes, no insurance involved. It would be a new shell as well as a new chassis. I'm not sure
I'm up to building another car at present, but if I did I'm presuming from your responses that the DVLA don't mind being
informed of a changed chassis number?

Loggyboy - on scrapping it yourself, sorry to query, but are you sure you can just fill in the V5 and put a covering letter with it?
Has this worked for other people? I thought there was a £80 fine involved.

adithorp - 19/5/14 at 03:53 PM

If you replace the chassis with an "identical replacement" then you can (legally) transfer the old chassis number and registration to the new chassis. As there is no official record of exactly what the old design was, then slight differences will go un-noticed... especially as there's no requirement to show it to anyone as it's not been officially written-off. New for old
Westfield chassis will be fine. Personally thats what I'd do but I wouldn't advertise it to the whole world.

You can replace any (damaged or otherwise) body work you like. If you're not sure about rebuilding strip off what you want to keep, cut up and weight in the rest and put the car "officially" on sorn until you decide

mcerd1 - 19/5/14 at 04:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
If you replace the chassis with an "identical replacement" then you can (legally) transfer the old chassis number and registration to the new chassis.


^^ worth pointing out that it must be a new and unused chassis / shell to keep it all 100% legal

bi22le - 19/5/14 at 08:04 PM

I would take one of two actions if I was in your shoes.

1)Break the car for parts and makes as much money back as you can. Buy another car.

2) Buy the parts needed to rebuild new and build the parts back onto the new chassiss. I would stamp the same chassiss number and consider it an old place replaced!

Depends on how ar$ed you can be.

big_wasa - 19/5/14 at 08:13 PM

I would rebuild it with new parts. All legal and you will have a new car to the spec you want.

rick1962uk - 19/5/14 at 09:54 PM

dont scrap it i for one would pay for the chassis and v5 to rebuild with my parts

loggyboy - 19/5/14 at 10:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JMW
thanks for all the responses. Yes, no insurance involved. It would be a new shell as well as a new chassis. I'm not sure
I'm up to building another car at present, but if I did I'm presuming from your responses that the DVLA don't mind being
informed of a changed chassis number?

Loggyboy - on scrapping it yourself, sorry to query, but are you sure you can just fill in the V5 and put a covering letter with it?
Has this worked for other people? I thought there was a £80 fine involved.


Its definately worth looking at the new chassis option, will likely work out lots cheaper than a new car or building up a used car to your spec. You could with out much fear of reprecutions, just replace and not tell a soul.
If you want to do it officially then the body work is irrelevant, its not classed as a shell in the case of these cars. Providing you keep the majoity (or some) of the original parts and use a brand new chassis you can just use the rebuilt vehicles route https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/rebuilt-vehicles

If you are set on scraping, see the last paragraph of this page. https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/using-a-vehicle-for-parts

[Edited on 19-5-14 by loggyboy]

dhutch - 20/5/14 at 07:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
If you replace the chassis with an "identical replacement" then you can (legally) transfer the old chassis number and registration to the new chassis.
I have to admit, thinking about where we want to go, thats what I would do to.

As far as i know you can re-shell a tintip, again, if you get a new and unused shell from the manufacturer and move the VIN number over. You can also, again as far as i know, 're-shell' a car using a used shell and then use the details of the replacement shell. Aka you actually moving the good bits onto the new car, not the good shell onto the old.


Daniel

alfas - 6/6/14 at 09:18 AM

isnt it possible...like with caterham/lotus...when the old chassis is bent, corroded etc...to sent it backto the manufacturer (arch motors for cat and lotus).....they fabricate an identical new replacement chassis..remove the welded plate with chassisnumber from the old chassis, weld it to the new chassis...job done.

this avoids that the "old" chassis is used for creating a clone....

Charlie_Zetec - 6/6/14 at 10:24 AM

As has been stated above, I'd purchase a new chassis and panels etc. and retain the original cars' ID. Just ask any Land Rover Defender owner (myself included) who's put a new galvanised chassis on their vehicle. Some of the parts remain the same, but a lot of parts get changed/upgraded in the process. Totally legal and legit. The chassis comes without a VIN number stamped on it, so down to the new owner to stamp it themselves. But essentially you're replacing "like for like" just with newer parts.

alfas - 6/6/14 at 10:29 AM

yeah..now i remmeber the same procedure with a Lotus eclat i owned.....the original chassis was replaced by a new galvanized one..lotus replacement....which came without number.....so the original number was stamped into the new chassis, the car was assembled again and drove around with the original ID...

JMW - 6/6/14 at 11:39 AM

Thanks for all the previous posts. It looks like if I want to keep the car intact then a new chassis and panels is not a problem. The detail of this means I will have to move from a SE narrow to a SEW as I don't think I can get all new SE narrow chassis and panel components. That would actually suit me as I had to alter my SE narrow to move the pedals so I could drive it, as the SEW is also a bit longer I think. Note I am talking about a live axle here.

As I said in my initial post though I don't think laying out for the above (and a cage as well), make it an economic repair to me, so I was actually enquiring about how to "scrap" what I have but keep the bits of value, while complying with current legislation.

Thanks to the respondents on this thread I now know what to do to follow either path. I just have to choose!