The ultimate guide to
Recycling Your Car
What's the best way to recycle a car?
Professional Automotive Recycling refers to the process of disassembling end-of-life vehicles in order to recover all ROE–Recycled Original Equipment® auto parts for reuse to repair vehicles still in operation. During the dismantling process, all fuel, fluids, batteries, catalytic converters, electronics, tires, and other parts are properly handled to reduce harm to the environment.
It doesn't matter the condition, we can help recycle your vehicle
There are over 285 million vehicles on U.S. roadways and every day, minute by minute, mile by mile these vehicles get nearer to the end of their useful life. When a vehicle gets to a point where its usefulness is largely expended due to age, mileage, condition, needs of repair or expense of maintenance the vehicle reaches its end-of-life point. In many cases significant damage to a transportation asset through collision or mechanical failure will bypass a timeline of normal deterioration and depreciation and create an ELV event.
Regardless of the mechanism, in all cases this day will come. The question then becomes, what is next for that vehicle? The good news is you have options – such as SHiFT® for the Future.
How to recycle your car
Automobiles in America
This is the good part: it’s actually really easy.
With SHiFT, we partner with a select group of automotive recyclers who follow careful environmental standards.
- Submit your vehicle through our super simple process
- We’ll review your submission and help connect you to one of our trusted auto recycling partners (including helping with your title if needed)
- Your vehicle will then be picked up from your home (regardless of where you are in the country)
- Your car will then be taken to one of our recycling partners, who are certified through the Automotive Recyclers Association.
- At the facility your car will be marked as a SHiFT vehicle, barring the re-sale of the combustion engine block in its whole form. The vehicle’s parts will be harvested to be used as recycled auto parts.
Once your vehicle is processed, you’ll get a donation certificate and the planet will thank you for choosing the best environmental outcome for your vehicle
How is a car recycled?
To effectively recycle a vehicle, the process begins with the removal of all fluids. Then begins the disassembly of components. Once stripped-down, the remaining metal “hull” is processed for recycling and sold for industrial use.
The vehicle recycling process encompasses several critical steps that are vital for the efficient handling of end-of-life vehicles while adhering to environmental regulations. Traditionally, vehicles that enter the secondary market are first evaluated to determine if they should be repaired or dismantled, depending on their condition and the cost to repair. If a vehicle enters the market designated with a “salvage” title, it will certainly be stripped down by automotive recyclers for parts and materials.
SHiFT™ stands out in the secondary market because it is a pathway for vehicles that forgoes the calculation of “Is it more profitable to repair or dismantle this vehicle?”, in favor of choosing the best environmental outcome for the planet: permanent engine retirement.
At the recycling plant, the procedure starts with depollution, involving the draining of the vehicle’s fluids and preparation of them for possible reprocessing. Performing this step carefully is key in ensuring harmful materials do not enter the groundwater and atmosphere.
Afterward, salvageable parts like seats, doors, airbags, and tires are removed and resold, catering to a clientele that includes insurance companies and auto repair shops.
This method provides a cost-efficient alternative for consumers in need of replacement parts and preserves resources by utilizing recycled material rather than extracting raw materials to create new parts.
Specific to the SHiFT vehicle recycling process, it is at this point that the engine will be removed from the vehicle. Per program guidelines, the recycler can resell the engine block for parts or to reclaim the raw materials within, but are unable to resell the engine in its whole form.
This ensures that the vehicle will never end up back on the road while also balancing the need to optimize the re-use of existing materials..
Once the valuable components have been removed, the residual vehicle structure, or “hull,” is transferred to metal salvage recyclers for further refinement.
This phase involves recycling additional materials such as glass and rubber, and shredding the metal frame to eliminate non-metallic elements. The processed metals, categorized into ferrous and non-ferrous types, are then sold to various industries, including automobile manufacturers, for reuse in producing new vehicles.