VX220 launches service
September 8th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
VAUXHALL sportscar fans recently helped charity by driving up bidding to £4700 for a scrap VX220.
The Lotus-derived sportscar went for so little because it was a ropy example ‘given’ to the new Giveacar charity firm.
Giveacar is the brainchild of former dealer Tom Chance. It offers to take customers’ car off them, for free, before analysing the state of repair.
Depending on the outcome, Giveacar will either scrap the car in accordance with official guidelines, or – and this is what makes the organisation unique – auction it off, with 80 percent of the proceeds raised heading to a charity of the customer’s choosing.
Although ‘car donation’ is an already popular business in the States, it has yet to make an impact on these shores.
However, Chance reckons the new regulations will change this, and in turn enable Giveacar to grab a significant slice of the market.
‘Giveacar only disposes of vehicles at Authorised Treatment Facilities where 85 percent of the weight of the car is recycled,’ he explains.
‘We’re working hard to raise awareness both within the car industry and amongst the public about the damage car waste can do to the environment and how important it is to avoid illegally scrapping your car.’
Part of the problem until now is that owners have been able to tick a box in the logbook marked ‘self-scrapped’ when getting shot of their wheels; under the revised rules, however, this is no longer an option, and removes the possibility of car disposal via dodgy scrap merchants.
Will you be using the new scrap car donation service?
By Ben Foulds
BACKGROUND – new government legislation on car scrappage
It is compulsory for all owners to obtain a Certificate of Destruction when getting rid of their motor.
The reason? To make sure that every vehicle is recycled in the most eco-friendly manner possible.
As well as any environmental benefits it may bring, recent changes to the law should also make life a good deal tougher for rogue scrap merchants who until now have made their trade by cutting corners in areas such as tyre and fluid disposal.
