Remove My Car data
One million scrap cars: what twelve years of collections show
Between August 2014 and August 2026 we arranged the collection of 962,630 end-of-life vehicles across the UK. This page sets out that dataset: how old cars are when they reach the end, which models last longest, what owners were paid, and how it varies across the country.
Vehicles 962,630Period Aug 2014 – Aug 2026Prepared 20 August 2026
What owners were paid
Scrap values track the metal markets almost exactly: a floor in 2016, a climb through 2018–19, a spike to a 2022 peak when steel and catalyst metals rose together, then a fall back. This is why a quote is only valid for days, not months.
Average paidTypical amount paid
The most scrapped cars
The chart shows 2026. The table tracks the same nameplates back through the years as a share of everything collected, so you can see which are rising and which are working through.
Which cars last longest
Typical age at collection for every nameplate still reaching us in meaningful numbers, ranked on the most recent three years. Read it as how long these cars survive in service, shaped partly by when each model sold in volume.
Each brand’s share of everything scrapped
Every brand as a percentage of that year’s collections. The gradual fall of Ford and Vauxhall’s combined share is the 2000s fleet they dominated finally working through the system.
FORDVAUXHALLPEUGEOTVOLKSWAGENRENAULTCITROEN
Which model years are dying
The chart shows the registration years of everything collected in 2026. The table tracks how that peak has moved: the cars dying each year get newer, but never as fast as the calendar.
How it varies around the country
Typical age at scrappage and average value paid for each postcode area, with the most scrapped model there. Age differs with how long owners keep cars on the road; values differ with the local mix of vehicles.
How old cars are when they die
The clearest finding in twelve years of collections. The typical car we collect has aged from 13 to 18 years without falling once, and the share arriving at 20 or older has gone from one in thirty to nearly one in three.
Typical age at scrappageAverage age at scrappage
The millionth car
This study covers 962,630 vehicles, the position as at 20 August 2026. That figure is fixed so it can be checked and cited. Around 37,000 collections from now — some time in the spring of 2027 — one of them will be our millionth. Whoever that customer turns out to be will be given a brand new electric car. There is nothing to enter and no way to influence it; it will simply be whoever books the collection that happens to be the millionth.
About this data
Figures are drawn from vehicles collected through the Remove My Car network of licensed Authorised Treatment Facilities between 20 August 2014 and 20 August 2026. Age is the collection year minus the year of first registration. Where a figure is described as typical, it means the middle vehicle — line every car up in order and take the one in the centre. It gives a truer picture than an average, because a handful of unusual vehicles cannot drag it. Values are what the owner was paid, not trade or salvage values. Per-year figures are shown as shares and averages so that changes in our own volume do not distort comparisons. Regional figures describe the vehicles collected in each postcode area and partly reflect where our network operates. Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with a link to this page as the source — for queries or further breakdowns contact
[email protected].
