UK Van Scrap Data · 2023–2025
Scrap Van Report 2026
First-party data on what UK scrap vans actually look like. Pricing, age, mileage, MOT failures, weight, body style, regional patterns and the environmental story behind the numbers. Built from 54,477 quote requests and 4,209 confirmed van collections through the Vansold network between 2023 and 2025.
About this report
Methodology
Vansold operates a national network of UK scrap-van buyers. Between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025 we received 54,477 quote requests for light commercial vehicles (LCVs) from owners across the UK. Of those, 4,209 owners completed a sale and were paid for their van. This report is built from that dataset.
Vehicle characteristic figures (age, mileage, weight, MOT outcomes, fuel mix, body style, colour, owners at end-of-life) draw on the full 54,477-row sample. All £ payout figures are taken only from the 4,209 confirmed sales, no estimated, indicative or quote-only prices appear in any £ value below.
We don't claim to measure the entire UK van scrappage market. We measure ours. For UK-wide registration and de-registration totals, see the DVLA's vehicle statistics. What we can show, with this depth and detail, is what the UK's end-of-life vans actually look like at the point an owner decides to retire one.
Last updated: 7 May 2026. This URL is refreshed annually with the latest 36-month window.
The defining numbers of UK scrap vans in 2026
Four numbers describe what we see at the point a UK van owner decides to retire their vehicle. Each one is a piece of the same picture: what is getting scrapped, what it pays, how old it is, and how much of the market we have looked at to get here.
£235
Median payout to a UK van owner in 2025
Confirmed sales only. No estimates.
16 years
Average age of a UK scrap van
Peak bracket: 15 to 20 years old
148,109 mi
Median mileage at end-of-life
About 27% further than the average UK scrap car
54,477
Vans analysed in this report
Across the 36 months to December 2025
What a UK scrap van actually looks like
Strip away make, model, year and colour, and the average UK van that arrives at the end of its road has a remarkably consistent profile.
It is 16 years old. It has done 148,109 miles. It weighs just over 1.6 tonnes. It has been through four owners. It runs on diesel, that holds true for 97.5% of the vans in our 2023 to 2025 dataset, and it almost always has a manual gearbox (96.2%). More often than not it is white. Six in every ten scrap vans we collect is white, more than every other colour combined. And, perhaps surprisingly, it usually still passes its MOT, the pass rate among the 52,197+ vans whose pre-scrap MOT we can verify is 91.8%.
That last figure tells you something important. Most UK vans are not scrapped because they have broken down, failed an MOT, or been written off. They are scrapped because, after sixteen years and a hundred and fifty thousand miles, the next repair bill is bigger than the van is worth. The maths runs out before the metal does.
The average is shifting, newer vans are entering the funnel
The 16-year median has been remarkably stable. Underneath it, though, the picture is shifting. The average age of a van completing a sale has dropped from 16.88 years in 2023 to 15.89 years in 2025, meaning newer vans are now entering the end-of-life funnel earlier than they used to. Most of these are Euro-5 and early Euro-6 diesels being retired in response to clean-air zone non-compliance. The metal isn't worn out. The regulation is.
The mileage tail goes much further than the median
The 148,109-mile median is just the middle of the range. The tail goes much further. One in five UK scrap vans has done over 220,000 miles. One in twenty has cleared 250,000. One in a hundred has done over 335,103 miles before being retired.
At the very top of the curve sit the indestructibles. The LDV Maxus dominates: it accounts for eight of the ten highest-mileage vans we have ever collected, all past 940,000 miles.
A UK scrap van in 2026, in one sentence
16 years old. 148,109 miles. 1,620 kg. Four owners. Diesel. Manual. White. Still passing its MOT.
Why do vans get scrapped?
Every van reaches a tipping point. Unlike with cars, the maths is sharper for vans because most have to earn their keep. A van that costs £400 to fix and is worth £350 to scrap is an easy decision. The same handful of reasons drive that decision again and again:
- An MOT failure that is uneconomic to fix. The trigger event for around one in twelve of the vans we collect (8.2% of pre-scrap MOTs in our dataset failed)
- Repair bill exceeds residual value. The most common underlying reason, even for vans that pass MOT
- Body and chassis corrosion. A particular vulnerability for older Transits, Sprinters and Vivaros operated in salt-belt regions
- Engine, gearbox or DPF failure. Major drivetrain repairs that don't make sense at 150k+ miles
- Insurance write-off following accident damage
- Flood or severe weather damage
- Clean-air zone non-compliance, with ULEZ, CAZ and other LEZ schemes accelerating the retirement of pre-Euro-6 diesel vans
- End-of-life convenience, when free same-day or next-day pickup beats the hassle of listing a tired van for sale at a few hundred pounds
The owner chain matters too. By the time a van reaches our network it has typically passed through four owners (median 4, mean 4.3). Each handover compresses the economics. The new owner paid less, has less emotional investment, and has less appetite to sink money into repairs. By owner four or five, scrapping is rarely a sad event. It is usually the cleanest exit.
"The typical UK scrap van has been through four owners before it reaches us. Each handover compresses the economics until the next repair stops making sense. That is not a fleet failure. It is a healthy fleet doing exactly what it is supposed to do."
When are vans scrapped? Two clear patterns
January is the peak month, running 14% above the annual average. December is the trough, 18% below. The gap between them tells the same story most fleet operators know: scrap decisions get parked over Christmas, then triggered in January when the new-year MOT, repair-bill and insurance cycle starts.
Mondays dominate the week. Around 18.1% of all UK van scrap quotes come in on a Monday. Sunday accounts for 9.9%. Owners think about it at the weekend, act on it at the start of the working week.
How do you scrap a van and report it to the DVLA?
Scrapping a van in the UK is a regulated process. You can't just take it to any yard and walk away. It has to go through an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF), and the DVLA has to be notified. Here is how it works.
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Step 1, Find an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF)
Only ATFs can legally scrap a vehicle. Using an unlicensed yard means the van is not formally de-registered and you remain liable for it on the DVLA's books, including for any tax, fines, or offences committed in it after collection.
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Step 2, Get a quote and confirm collection
You will need your VRM (number plate), your postcode, and a few details about the van. Most reputable services, including Vansold, give an instant online quote. Once you confirm, collection is typically arranged within 24 hours.
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Step 3, Hand over your V5C logbook
Give the yellow Sell, transfer or part-exchange section of your V5C to the collection driver. Keep the rest of the document until the DVLA confirms the van has been taken off the road.
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Step 4, The ATF notifies the DVLA
Notifying the DVLA is the ATF's legal responsibility, but verify it yourself. If it doesn't happen, you can be fined up to £1,000.
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Step 5, Get your Certificate of Destruction (CoD)
The ATF must issue a CoD within seven days of scrapping the vehicle. This is your proof that the van has been formally retired and that you have no further legal connection to it. Keep it forever.
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Step 6, Claim your road-tax refund
Once the DVLA has the de-registration on file, full unused months of road tax are refunded automatically. The cheque arrives by post, typically within six weeks.
What happens to a van after it is scrapped?
Scrapping a van through a licensed ATF is the most environmentally responsible way to retire one. The UK's End-of-Life Vehicles Directive sets statutory recovery targets, and the industry is meeting them.
95%
Of vehicle weight legally required to be recovered or recycled
~88,000 t
Estimated material processed from the 54,477 vans in our 2023–2025 dataset
97.5%
Of UK scrap vans run on diesel, each carrying fuel, oil, coolant, AdBlue, DPF residue and brake fluid that has to be safely extracted
The depollution stage, which extracts hazardous fluids and components, is the part most people don't think about. A typical 16-year-old diesel van arriving at an ATF holds 15 to 40+ litres of regulated fluids. Across the vans in this dataset alone, that is an estimated 1.5 to 3 million litres that must be drained, separated and processed before the body is touched.
After depollution, the van is dismantled. Reusable parts come off first: engines, gearboxes, axles, body panels, glass, electrical components. They head into the second-hand commercial-vehicle parts market, where there is strong demand from working van owners trying to keep older vehicles on the road. Whatever can't be reused is shredded. The shredded material is separated into ferrous metal (around 65% of vehicle weight), non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper, around 5%), plastics, glass and residue. Most of it is recovered.
Per tonne of metal, vans are actually slightly less valuable to scrap than cars. Most van components are heavier-gauge mild steel rather than the high-grade aluminium and alloys you find in modern cars, and van catalytic converters are typically lower-grade than those on petrol cars. The headline scrap-metal price reflects that. Where vans recover the difference is in their second-hand parts value: engines, gearboxes, axles and body panels with active demand from working van owners. That parts uplift is what allows our network to pay better-than-pure-scrap prices on most vans.
"With cars, scrap value is mostly the kilos. With vans, it is the parts as well. Engines, gearboxes, axles, panels, all things that have a working life ahead of them in the second-hand parts market. We factor that in automatically. If your van has parts other van owners need, the offer reflects that. A better-than-scrap price."
How long does it take to scrap a van?
From first quote to Certificate of Destruction, the process is faster than most owners expect. Across the vans Vansold collected in 2023 to 2025:
- 82.8% were collected on the same day the owner confirmed the offer
- 99% were collected within seven days
- Mean time from confirmation to collection: 17 hours
- The ATF then has seven days to issue the Certificate of Destruction; in practice most are issued the same day
Quote
Instant
Online quote in minutes. No viewing, no negotiation.
Collection
Same day (82.8%)
Flatbed turns up, payment handed over, V5C handed back.
ATF processing
1–2 hours
Depollution, dismantling, parts recovery, shredding.
Certificate of Destruction
Within 7 days
Legally required from the ATF. Most issued same day.
How much is a scrap van worth in the UK in 2026?
Across the 4,206 confirmed van sales through our network in 2023 to 2025, the median UK scrap van paid out £254. That is the headline number. Half of all sellers got more, half got less.
The range matters too. £254 is a midpoint, not a forecast. Actual figures cluster between £201 (25th percentile) and £362 (75th percentile), meaning eight in every ten owners can expect an offer somewhere in that band. The top 5% of sales clear £500. The very top of the distribution reaches £6,600 (a low-mileage 2008 Nissan Navara that sold in 2025).
£235
Median payout in 2025
n = 1,617 confirmed sales
£201–£362
The IQR, where most owners land
Pooled 2023 to 2025
£600+
Top 5% of payouts
Mostly heavy pickups and 2.0t+ panel vans
Across the three years, payout has stabilised after a 2022 peak when commodity steel prices ran hot. The 2025 median of £235 reflects the LME ferrous steel index settling in 2024 and 2025. It is the steel market resetting, not Vansold paying less.
| Year | Confirmed sales | Median payout | IQR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,158 | £327 | £250–£407 |
| 2024 | 1,434 | £230 | £194–£340 |
| 2025 | 1,617 | £235 | £182–£310 |
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"With cars, scrap value is mostly the kilos. With vans, it is the parts as well. Engines, gearboxes, axles, panels, all things that have a working life ahead of them in the second-hand parts market. We factor that in automatically. If your van has parts other van owners need, the offer reflects that. A better-than-scrap price."
What drives van scrap value? Weight is king, but not the whole story
Scrap value is driven primarily by weight. Heavier vans contain more recoverable metal, and more metal means a higher offer. That is why a 2.0-tonne panel van consistently outvalues a 1.2-tonne car-derived van of the same age, regardless of condition or mileage.
The relationship is clear in our data. Across thousands of confirmed van sales where we have a verified kerb weight, the Pearson correlation between weight and payout is +0.366. Moderate-positive. Cars at the same level of analysis run +0.67. Why the gap? Because vans don't trade purely on weight. Their parts are part of the price.
Weight
The primary driver. More steel and aluminium means a higher offer. Heavier panel vans, Sprinters, Boxers and Movanos consistently top the rankings.
Parts demand
Engines, gearboxes, axles and body panels with active second-hand demand add a meaningful uplift over pure scrap weight. This is where vans pay better than cars.
Age
Moderate negative effect. Older vans return less, but heavier platforms hold value better than light commercial derivatives as they age.
Condition
Missing components, severe accident damage or stripped catalytic converters reduce the offer significantly. A complete, intact van always pays more than a parts-stripped one.
Payout by weight band
Median payout in GBP, n shown alongside each band in the table below. Pearson r = +0.366.
| Kerb weight | Sample | Median payout | P25 | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1.3t | 984 | £204 | £167 | £266 |
| 1.3 to 1.6t | 1,000 | £230 | £197 | £341 |
| 1.6 to 1.9t | 1,114 | £285 | £230 | £428 |
| 1.9 to 2.2t | 467 | £427 | £303 | £600 |
| 2.2 to 2.6t | 65 | £456 | £348 | £606 |
A van weighing more than 1.9 tonnes pays roughly double what a 1.3-tonne van pays. Most of that gap is recoverable steel mass. The rest is parts demand. Sprinters, Boxers and Iveco Dailys keep working examples on the road for decades, and that demand carries through to scrap value.
Why vans pay less per tonne than cars is worth saying out loud. Most van components are heavier-gauge mild steel rather than the high-grade aluminium and alloys you find in modern cars, and van catalytic converters are typically lower-grade than those on petrol cars. Per kilo of metal, vans are slightly less valuable to the smelter. Vans recover the difference through second-hand parts.
Highest-paying van makes
Some makes consistently pay more than others, and the reason is usually obvious from the metal. Pickup-led brands top the table because pickups are heavy 4×4 platforms with substantial parts demand. Full-size German panel-van makers come next because they are the heaviest panel vans on the road.
| Rank | Make | Median payout | IQR | Confirmed sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MITSUBISHI | £600 | £410–£759 | 102 |
| 2 | MERCEDES-BENZ | £480 | £327–£614 | 68 |
| 3 | NISSAN | £460 | £282–£648 | 206 |
| 4 | VOLKSWAGEN | £336 | £230–£494 | 221 |
| 5 | MERCEDES | £305 | £252–£401 | 143 |
| 6 | RENAULT | £254 | £187–£312 | 352 |
| 7 | FORD | £251 | £213–£370 | 988 |
| 8 | FIAT | £247 | £198–£346 | 214 |
Pickups are vans too, and they pay best
The Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara and Ford Ranger consistently top the payout rankings. If you're scrapping a pickup truck, expect £400 to £600+ on a complete, intact unit. Heavier 4×4 platforms with strong parts demand. Same process as a panel van, same form, same instant offer.
The most-scrapped vans in the UK
The top of the table doesn't move. The Ford Transit has been the most-scrapped van in our network every year, and it is not close. Across 2023 to 2025, 27.4% of all UK van scrap quotes were for a Ford, and the Transit alone accounts for 8,664 quote requests across the three years.
Confirmed sales 2023 to 2025. The Ford Transit dominates UK van scrappage.
| Rank | Model | Confirmed sales | Median payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FORD TRANSIT | 414 | £282 |
| 2 | FORD TRANSIT CONNECT | 372 | £228 |
| 3 | VAUXHALL COMBO | 317 | £207 |
| 4 | VAUXHALL VIVARO | 268 | £258 |
| 5 | PEUGEOT PARTNER | 177 | £230 |
| 6 | VAUXHALL ASTRA | 170 | £220 |
| 7 | RENAULT TRAFIC | 156 | £275 |
| 8 | CITROEN BERLINGO VAN | 142 | £211 |
| 9 | VOLKSWAGEN CADDY | 105 | £270 |
| 10 | CITROEN BERLINGO | 104 | £216 |
| 11 | FIAT DOBLO CARGO | 103 | £222 |
| 12 | MERCEDES VITO | 102 | £296 |
| 13 | CITROEN DISPATCH | 100 | £230 |
| 14 | RENAULT KANGOO | 99 | £188 |
| 15 | MITSUBISHI L200 | 98 | £600 |
The shape of the table is the shape of the UK working van fleet a decade ago. Transits and Transit Connects across the trades. Combos and Berlingos for couriers and small businesses. Sprinters and Vivaros for fleet operators. The vans we collect today are the working vans of 2010, retiring on schedule.
Why UK scrap vans run 27% further than cars before retiring
A van isn't a car that happens to have more space. It is a tool. Tools get used until they break.
That shows in the mileage. The median UK scrap van in our 2023 to 2025 dataset has done 148,109 miles before being retired. The all-vehicle UK average sits at around 118,000 miles. Vans run 27% further than cars before reaching the same end point.
Share of UK scrap vans by mileage band. n = 51,026 full-coverage rows.
| Mileage band | Share of UK scrap vans |
|---|---|
| Under 50k | 2.1% |
| 50k-80k | 5.5% |
| 80k-100k | 8.1% |
| 100k-120k | 12.6% |
| 120k-150k | 23.2% |
| 150k-180k | 21.4% |
| 180k-220k | 16.6% |
| 220k-260k | 6.4% |
| 260k-400k | 3.7% |
| Over 400k | 0.4% |
One in five UK scrap vans has done over 220,000 miles. One in twenty has cleared 250,000. One in a hundred has done over 335,103.
At the very top of the curve sit the indestructibles. The LDV Maxus dominates. Eight of the ten highest-mileage vans we have ever recorded are Maxuses, all of them past 940,000 miles. We treat the very extreme readings with some scepticism, six- and seven-figure odometers can roll over or be misread, and we exclude anything implausible from the headline figures.
"Vans earn their keep. By the time we collect one, it has typically done about 30% more miles than the average UK car at scrap age. They retire when the maths stops working. When the next repair bill is bigger than the residual value. Not when the road runs out."
Have a particularly high-mileage van? See our high-mileage van guide for what it might be worth.
What finally kills a van? The real MOT story
This is the part of the data nobody else publishes. We can join every van in our network to its DVSA MOT history at the point we collect it. Across 53,107 vans with full MOT coverage in 2023 to 2025, 41,065 had at least one advisory notice on their last MOT, and 4,250 had at least one outright failure.
Top MOT advisory categories, the warnings every van owner sees
These are the issues flagged at MOT but not severe enough to fail the test. The early-warning system. By the time we collect a van, around 77% of them are carrying at least one.
Number of vans whose final MOT carried this advisory category.
| Rank | Advisory category | Vans with this advisory |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brake component wear/corrosion | 17,294 |
| 2 | Tyre wear or damage | 14,810 |
| 3 | Oil leak | 12,736 |
| 4 | Steering joint wear | 8,219 |
| 5 | Other corrosion | 7,351 |
| 6 | Registration plate fault | 6,968 |
| 7 | Underbody / suspension corrosion | 5,887 |
| 8 | Windscreen damage | 4,975 |
| 9 | Lighting fault | 4,823 |
| 10 | Exhaust system fault | 4,161 |
| 11 | Drive shaft / CV joint | 2,892 |
| 12 | Coil spring corroded or fractured | 2,576 |
Top MOT failure categories, what actually kills the test
These are the issues that caused an MOT failure. The trigger event that pushes a van into the scrap funnel rather than the repair shop.
Number of failed pre-scrap MOTs that listed this failure category.
| Rank | Failure category | Failed vans |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lighting fault | 2,295 |
| 2 | Underbody / suspension corrosion | 2,273 |
| 3 | Steering joint wear | 1,581 |
| 4 | Other corrosion | 1,424 |
| 5 | Brake component wear/corrosion | 1,306 |
| 6 | Brake efficiency below requirement | 1,120 |
| 7 | Wiper or washer fault | 1,113 |
| 8 | Tyre wear or damage | 935 |
| 9 | Emissions / lambda / cat | 768 |
| 10 | Exhaust system fault | 702 |
Shares of failure types add to more than 100% because failed MOTs typically list multiple failure reasons against the same van.
The three things that end UK van life
Strip the categories down to root cause and three patterns dominate. Rust (underbody, sub-frame, sills, brake pipes), brakes (component wear plus efficiency drop) and emissions (lambda, MIL, cat issues). A 2010-era diesel van that has done 150,000 miles is fighting all three at once. Most don't win.
The diesel cliff
UK scrap vans are basically diesel. 97.5% of the vans through our network in 2023 to 2025 ran on diesel. Petrol accounts for 1.8%, almost all of it small car-derived vans. Gas bi-fuel, electric and hybrid vans combined make up less than 0.4% of the sample.
| Fuel | Share |
|---|---|
| Diesel | 97.5% |
| Petrol | 1.8% |
| Null | 0.4% |
| Gas bi-fuel | 0.2% |
| Electricity | 0.1% |
That is a story about the UK working-van fleet, not about Vansold. Diesel was the only viable powertrain for a 1.6t to 2.5t commercial vehicle for most of the last two decades. Light, torquey, fuel-efficient at urban delivery speeds, robust. Almost every working van produced between 2003 and 2020 left the factory with a diesel engine. Ours is the cohort being retired now.
- ULEZ, CAZ and other low-emission zones are pulling vans into early retirement. These are vans with working drivetrains and pass-grade MOTs being scrapped because they can't enter the city centres they were built to deliver into.
- Emissions failures account for 18% of pre-scrap MOT failures. High enough to be a real factor, low enough to confirm that most vans are not dying on emissions. They are dying on rust and brakes.
- The hybrid/EV van fleet is years behind the car fleet. Even in 2025, less than 0.2% of the vans we collect are electric. The first wave of working EV vans won't reach our funnel in volume until the 2030s.
The white van phenomenon
The UK working van is, overwhelmingly, white.
White vans outnumber the next colour by six-to-one.
There are six times more white vans in our scrap data than the next colour. White outnumbers black by sixteen-to-one. This isn't a fleet decision. It is a UK working-van convention. Fleet operators choose white because it is cheapest from the factory, easiest to repair, easiest to apply livery to, and easiest to resell at end-of-fleet life. That convention has been stable since the 1990s.
Body-style breakdown, what shape is a UK scrap van?
Strip the make and model away, and four shapes dominate the UK scrap van fleet.
| Body style | Share |
|---|---|
| Panel Van | 80.3% |
| Car Derived Van | 9.5% |
| Pick Up | 4.4% |
| Chassis Cab | 3.8% |
| Window Van | 0.8% |
| Minibus | 0.6% |
| Van Derived Car | 0.2% |
| Platform Cab | 0.2% |
Eight in every ten UK scrap vans is a standard panel van, Transits, Sprinters, Vivaros, Combos, Boxers and so on. One in ten is a car-derived van (Berlingo Van, Caddy, Astravan, Doblo Cargo), the small-business workhorse. One in twenty is a pickup, dominated by the Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara and Ford Ranger.
Where in the UK do scrap vans come from?
Across the 54,477+ van quote requests we received in 2023 to 2025, every UK region is represented. The distribution is broadly spread across England's regions, with London notably below its share of UK population.
Share of UK van scrap quote requests by region.
| Region | Share | Quote requests |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 13.9% | 7,502 |
| South West | 13.3% | 7,177 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 12.2% | 6,622 |
| West Midlands | 10.7% | 5,793 |
| East Midlands | 9.6% | 5,210 |
| East of England | 8.7% | 4,721 |
| South East | 8.3% | 4,518 |
| London | 8.2% | 4,441 |
| Scotland | 6.1% | 3,296 |
| Wales | 5.1% | 2,784 |
| North East | 3.4% | 1,823 |
| Northern Ireland | 0.5% | 272 |
The North West and South West lead, both regions with significant rural and trade-business van populations, plus longer working-van lifespans on rural-mileage roads. London sits at 8.2%, well below its ~13% share of the UK population. Partly a ULEZ effect (newer or already-compliant vans), partly because London commercial fleets retire vans through different channels.
Looking for a quote in a specific area? See our UK locations directory.
Four owners deep, the depreciation cascade
Across the 36,500+ UK scrap vans where we have a verified owner count at end-of-life, the median van had four owners. The mean is 4.3. That number has been remarkably stable across 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The pattern explains itself once you map the typical UK van life cycle:
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Owner 1: A fleet, lease or trade buyer
Buys new, runs the van under warranty for 3 to 5 years, sells at first major service interval.
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Owner 2: A small business or sole trader
Buys at 5 to 8 years old, gets the workhorse years, hands it on when the first big repair (clutch, turbo, DPF) lands.
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Owner 3: A project buyer or part-time trader
Picks it up for £2,000 to £4,000 between 10 and 14 years old, accepts the maintenance bill, runs it to MOT cliff edge.
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Owner 4: End-of-life buyer
Typically picks the van up for £500 to £1,500 between 14 and 18 years old. Often a younger driver, a side-business operator, or a rural buyer with a specific use case. Scraps it within 2 to 3 years.
By owner four, the economics of a major repair almost never stack up. The van is worth £300 at scrap and £1,800 to fix. Scrapping isn't failure. It is the system working.
CEO commentary
From William Fletcher, CEO, Vansold
William Fletcher founded Vansold to serve the part of the UK van market that was structurally underserved by car-focused scrap networks: end-of-life commercial vehicles where the scrap-versus-parts decision is more nuanced than it is for cars. Three observations from looking at three years of network data.
"The typical UK scrap van has been through four owners before it reaches us. Each handover compresses the economics until the next repair stops making sense. That is not a fleet failure. It is a healthy fleet doing exactly what it is supposed to do."
"With cars, scrap value is mostly the kilos. With vans, it is the parts as well. Engines, gearboxes, axles, panels, all things that have a working life ahead of them in the second-hand parts market. We factor that in automatically. If your van has parts other van owners need, the offer reflects that. A better-than-scrap price."
"Vans earn their keep. By the time we collect one, it has typically done about 30% more miles than the average UK car at scrap age. They retire when the maths stops working. When the next repair bill is bigger than the residual value. Not when the road runs out."
, William Fletcher, CEO, Vansold
Frequently asked questions
How much is a scrap van worth in the UK in 2026?
+
The median payout to a UK van owner through the Vansold network in 2025 was £235, with most owners receiving between £182 and £310. Heavier vans such as Sprinters, Boxers, Movanos and full-size pickups over 1.9 tonnes typically pay £400 to £600. Smaller car-derived vans pay closer to £200. The actual offer depends on weight, age, condition and what salvageable parts the van still carries.
What is the most-scrapped van in the UK?
+
The Ford Transit. It has been the most-scrapped van in the Vansold network every year, accounting for 15.9% of all UK van scrap quotes from 2023 to 2025. The Ford Transit Connect, Vauxhall Vivaro, Vauxhall Combo and Peugeot Partner round out the top five.
How old is the average UK scrap van?
+
16 years. That is the median. The peak retirement bracket is 15 to 20 years old. Vans newer than 10 years are unusual in scrap data, usually only when they have been written off in an accident. Vans older than 25 are also unusual because most have not survived that long mechanically.
How many miles does a van do before being scrapped?
+
The median UK scrap van has done 148,000 miles at end-of-life. One in five has done over 220,000 miles. One in twenty has cleared 250,000. UK scrap vans average around 27% more miles than UK scrap cars. Vans get used until they break.
Are heavier vans worth more for scrap?
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Yes. Across Vansold's 2023 to 2025 confirmed sales, vans under 1.3 tonnes paid a median of £204, while vans between 1.9 and 2.2 tonnes paid £427, roughly double. The relationship is not perfect (Pearson r = +0.37) because vans also pay for parts. But weight is the single biggest factor in any scrap van offer.
What is the most common reason a van fails its MOT before being scrapped?
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Lighting faults (54% of failed MOTs) and underbody or suspension corrosion (53%) are the top two. They appear together on most failed pre-scrap MOTs. Brake component wear, brake efficiency drop, steering joint wear and emissions issues round out the top six. Most failed pre-scrap MOTs list multiple failure reasons against the same van.
How long does it take to scrap a van?
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Same day for 82.8% of owners. 99% of vans are picked up within seven days of the owner accepting the offer. Mean time from acceptance to collection across Vansold's 2023 to 2025 data is 17 hours. The Authorised Treatment Facility then has up to seven days to issue the Certificate of Destruction, though most are issued the same day as collection.
Do I need a V5C to scrap my van?
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Yes. The yellow Sell, transfer or part-exchange section of the V5C goes to the collection driver at the point of pickup. Keep the rest of the V5C until the DVLA confirms the van has been formally de-registered. Without a V5C, scrap is still possible through licensed routes but the process is slower and the offer is generally lower.
Why is my scrap van quote different from someone else's for the same model?
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Three reasons. Weight: kerb weight varies between trim levels even within the same model. Year and condition: older vans pay less, and missing or damaged components such as catalytic converter, body panels or seats reduce the offer. Parts demand: if your model and year is currently in demand from working van owners needing replacement parts, the offer reflects that. Two vans listed as 2012 Transit can pay £150 apart if one is a long-wheelbase panel van and the other is a chassis cab.
What is a Certificate of Destruction and do I need one?
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The Certificate of Destruction (CoD) is your legal proof that your van has been formally retired. It must be issued by the Authorised Treatment Facility within seven days of the van being scrapped. Keep it forever. Without it, the DVLA does not have proof of destruction on file and you remain on record as the registered keeper. Always confirm the ATF will issue a CoD before handing over the V5C.
Can I scrap a van that doesn't run, has no MOT, or has been written off?
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Yes. We collect non-runners, vans without a current MOT, vans with failed MOT, vans declared a write-off, and vans with major mechanical damage. The collection driver brings a flatbed and removes the van whether it starts or not. Vans without an MOT or in non-running condition typically pay slightly less than a working van of the same make and weight, because we cannot legally road-move them. But the same payout-by-weight logic applies. A 2-tonne non-runner Sprinter still pays significantly more than a 1.2-tonne working Berlingo.
Should I sell my van privately, sell it to a dealer, or scrap it?
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Three rough rules of thumb based on the vans we see. If your van is under 12 years old, runs, has a current MOT, and could pass another with under £500 of work, sell it privately or to a dealer. You will get more than scrap value. If it is 12 to 15 years old, has 100,000 to 150,000 miles, and the next big repair (clutch, turbo, DPF, sub-frame) is looming, get a scrap quote and a private-sale price, then compare. Often within £100 of each other once you factor in selling time and risk. If it is over 15 years old, has done over 150,000 miles, or has failed an MOT with significant work needed, scrap is almost always the right answer. Across our 4,200+ confirmed sales in 2023 to 2025, the median van had four owners and was 16 years old.
Can vansold scrap company or fleet vans, and how does VAT work?
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Yes. We handle company vans, ex-fleet, ex-lease and end-of-contract vehicles. For VAT-registered businesses, the scrap payout is treated as a disposal of a business asset for VAT purposes. We can issue a VAT-compliant invoice on collection. For larger fleets and end-of-life batches, we offer a managed disposal service. See our fleet van disposal page for the full process.
Related guides
Quote
Scrap my van, instant quote and free collection
Valuation
Free van valuation, what is your van worth in 2026
Condition
Sell a non-runner van, flatbed pickup, no haggling
Condition
Sell a van without an MOT
Condition
Sell a damaged or write-off van
Mileage
High-mileage van, sell it without the lowball
Age
Sell an old van, 15+ years still pays
Fleet
Fleet van disposal, managed end-of-contract service
Methodology and about the data
Data source
This report is built from the operational dataset of the Vansold scrap network. Between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025 we received 54,477 quote requests for light commercial vehicles (LCVs) from owners across the UK. Of these, 4,209 owners completed a sale and were paid for their van.
What is included
A row enters the dataset when an owner submits a vehicle's VRM and postcode and is returned a quote. Vehicle characteristic figures (age, mileage, weight, MOT outcomes, fuel mix, body style, colour, owners) draw on the full 54,477-row sample. All £ payout figures are taken from the 4,209 confirmed-sale rows only, no estimated, indicative or quote-only prices are reported.
What is excluded
Pre-2023 data is excluded, the pre-2023 period reflects platform growth rather than market conditions and would distort the picture. 2026 data is also excluded because the year is incomplete at time of publication. Free-text MOT advisory and failure descriptions are categorised before publication; we do not publish verbatim text. No personal data, VRM, postcode, owner identity, is published in any form.
Sample sizes
Headline figures use the largest sample available for each cut. Make-level rankings use confirmed sales with n ≥ 50; model-level rankings use confirmed sales with n ≥ 20; weight-band figures use confirmed sales with full-coverage MOT and weight data, n ≥ 30 per band; MOT cuts use the 53,107-row full-coverage subset.
Refresh cadence
This URL is updated annually with a rolling 36-month window. The next update is scheduled for spring 2027.
Licence and citation
The aggregated data presented in this report is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY-4.0). Charts, tables and figures may be reused with attribution to vansold.co.uk and a link to the report URL. The editorial commentary remains the copyright of Vansold.
Suggested citation: Vansold (2026). Scrap Van Report 2026. https://www.vansold.co.uk/uk-van-scrap-report/
The aggregated dataset is also published as a machine-readable JSON file: van_publish_safe_aggregates.json.
Prefer the report offline? Download the full report as a PDF, every chart, table and FAQ from this page in a portable A4 document.
Contact
For data questions, custom cuts or media enquiries, use the contact form and pick "Press & data, Scrap Van Report".