ELV DIRECTIVE

You may recall in an earlier edition of Club News that we were introducing the presence of the ELV (End-of-Life Vehicle) Directive. This directive is aimed predominantly at vehicle manufacturers, forcing them to take responsibility for their products when they reach the end of their life.

At present it is up to the owner of the vehicle to dispose of it when it reaches the end of its life, but now the directive has set the time restraints for the producer responsibility. Vehicle manufacturers are having to look seriously at how they are going to tackle the issue.

Vehicle dismantling company Charles Trent has signed a groundbreaking agreement with Volkswagen to allow the free take back and disposal of all end-of-life Volkswagen Group vehicles in the Dorset area. This, as we know will cover Seat, Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen cars.

Volkswagen will pay towards the cost of depolluting the vehicles to the appropriate standards. The sums payable are expected to be in the region of £40 - £80, although this has not been confirmed.

The scheme will cover predominantly older vehicles that have either rusted through, or those in which the engine has blown. Newer ELV’s such as insurance write off's will be handled as normal through the traditional routes.

So what does depollution mean?

This will involve the removal of:

All fluids

Glass

Engines

Bumpers

Gearboxes

Metal hulks - which will be put through a shredding process.

The plant in Dorset is expected to take between 300 and 2000 cars during the project and the public will be made aware of the scheme via an awareness campaign, which will be launched over the next couple of months.

These sorts of schemes are invaluable in evaluating the costs and the impact that the new ELV directive will have, not only for vehicle manufacturers, but also for the consumer of the vehicle.