While we’re not back to the ‘normal’ we were all hoping for, after the shock of last year, 2021 has thankfully had some huge positives for us and for our wonderful customers. Here’s a quick review of the last twelve months and some of CarTakeBack’s best bits…
We started the year on a huge high after being awarded Feefo’s Platinum Trusted Service Award for the second year in a row. Only businesses delivering exceptional service provision, as rated by real customers, receive this ‘Platinum standard’ accreditation. We’re also rather proud that we restrained our desire to turn the entire website design platinum in celebration!
January saw another magnificent high for our customers and a first in many years – a healthy scrap metal market and increased demand for recycled materials saw the average scrap car price brake the £200 ceiling! Those of you scrapping your car enjoyed record prices and we’re delighted to report the average has stayed well above £200 for the entire year – more on that later!
In February we were thrilled to be involved in a new scrappage scheme in Coventry as part of a £22 million ‘future transport’ initiative funded by the Government. Drivers can to get up to £3,000 to give up their old vehicles with an overall aim of reducing levels of congestion and air pollution in cities. We are supporting the two-year trial by ensuring vehicles are responsibly recycled in accordance with the law.
This exciting new scheme in the West Midlands received national coverage from the BBC as the first member of the public made the most of this generous deal. We enjoyed our moment in the spotlight, which was all about highlighting the responsible car recycling. We didn’t replay it over and over in the office, honestly.
March and April could both have recorded unprecedented average scrap car prices, but with yet another increase month on month, May took the trophy reaching a whopping £247. That average price was 83% higher than May 2020 and we encouraged customers to make the most of this incredible pricing – so they were even happier than usual!
Being a forward-thinking, responsible service provider, we have been involved with electric vehicle (EV) developments since the start; ensuring that manufacturers bear in mind the end-of-life impact these vehicles will have. We’ve concentrated on making sure EVs and hybrids can be recycled safely and effectively and in July we were relieved to be able to restart our EV recycling training with BMRA after having to pause due to Covid restrictions.
After enjoying the quieter roads and cleaner air that were odd, but most welcome side-effects of the pandemic, car use was shown to have returned to pre pandemic levels in July. While it was a shame to see how quickly some driving habits returned, we were encouraged to discover in a survey that over 7% of the customers that then recycled their car with us, did so because of the alternative transport methods they used over lockdown. If that percentage was representative of the whole driving population, that’s potentially 2.7 million people prepared to swap their traditional-fuelled car for more environmentally friendly alternatives, once they are in a position to do so. Keep getting that bike out when you can and treat yourself to those walking boots – we can all make a difference!
In September the kids went back to school (many hopefully walking after being inspired by Clean Air Day, Car Free Day and Recycle Week!) and we attended this year’s Air Quality News Conference. With transport playing such a huge part of the pollution problem we are proud to represent the car recycling industry and talk to councils and other organisations interested in schemes and campaigns that could help them encourage responsible car use and end-of-life vehicle services.
Good news in October came from our colleagues at Charity Car. The team was celebrating ten years of their big-hearted scheme, which has now seen over £800,000 worth of car donations being passed on to good causes! This year has also seen Official Partner, Cancer Research UK, reaching the incredible donation milestone of £100,000. It’s amazing to see old cars being transformed into donations that truly change lives and we are delighted to help Charity Car provide responsible car recycling for the supporters of great causes, as well as help them celebrate of course!
If you listened to any news at all in November you’ll be well aware of Glasgow hosting COP26. While many of us could only sit back and watch the debate, we feel proud to know we have been taking these matters seriously since our inception. We’ve now saved over 5 million tonnes of material from ending up in landfill. Reaching the target of recycling 95% of the cars we process two years early was no lucky coincidence and our shareholders continue to invest in environmentally forward-thinking practices to ensure we stay at the forefront of the industry.
And here we are in December! With scrap car prices still high, a renewed public interest in responsible recycling, and the prospect of being able to celebrate the end of the year in person, things feel remarkably positive.
We’ve joined in the Christmas Jumper Day campaign with our colleagues at Charity Car so here’s a few of us in our festive attire wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year from everyone at CarTakeBack… See you in 2022!
