What is a Certificate of Destruction?

Posted on 3rd Mar 2021 by CarTakeBack Posted in: In The Know

A Certificate of Destruction (sometimes referred to as a CoD), is an official DVLA document which every scrap car should be issued with when they reach their end of life.

A Certificate of Destruction proves that a car has been disposed of correctly (having been handled by a registered ATF) and that it’s no longer on the road. Most importantly to the owner, it provides proof that they are no longer responsible for the car.

Avoiding penalties

If DVLA records are not updated correctly when you sell or dispose of your car, you could get an £80 fine, be liable for any traffic offense penalties carried out in it, as well as for paying tax in arrears, County Court Judgements, a fine of £1,000 and even prosecution.

The Certificate of Destruction, or written confirmation from DVLA (which you should receive if you’ve notified DVLA yourself) are both proof that DVLA have been notified correctly and will relieve you of any liability.

How you will receive your Certificate of Destruction?

CarTakeBack has a direct electronic link to the DVLA’s vehicle registration database, so if you have scrapped your car with us you’ll receive your DVLA Certificate of Destruction by email, usually within 24 hours of the car being recycled. (That means you need to check that emails from info@CarTakeBack.com don’t get caught in your spam or junk folder.) If you don’t have an email address it will be posted to you.

In the rare circumstance you don’t receive your Certificate of Destruction, customer services can guide you through how to post the completed section 9 (V5C/3) of your registration certificate to DVLA. If you need to notify DVLA but haven’t got the registration certificate, you will be advised to write to DVLA telling them that you no longer own the car. We have a template letter to DVLA that you can use and add the name and address of the CarTakeBack branch, make and model of your car, the registration and the date of sale.

How to recognise a Certificate of Destruction

Example of a DVLA Certificate of Destruction

An official DVLA Certificate of Destruction has:

  • the DVLA logo at the top;
  • ‘Certificate of Destruction’ written underneath the logo;
  • a unique 12 digit certificate number (Certificate No);
  • the date that the certificate was issued (Date of Issue); and
  • the signature of a representative of the CarTakeBack branch (Issuing Establishment) which accepted your car.

You should sign the certificate within the ‘Holder/Owner’ section as soon as you receive it and then keep it safe indefinitely.

Finding you the
best price...

Working on it...

Refreshing your quote...

Accepting your quote...

Loading your account...

Official Partner to:

Aston Martin logo
DFSK logo
Dacia logo
Ford logo
Infiniti logo
Volvo logo
Polestar logo
Iveco logo
Jaguar logo
Lotus logo
Skywell logo
Peugeot logo
DS logo
Land Rover logo
Mazda logo
Tesla logo
MG logo
Renault logo
SsangYong logo
Mitsubishi logo
Citroen logo
Seres logo
Nissan logo
Alpine logo
smart logo