The MVDA register of Category B vehicles & body shells reported by members to be on sale on eBay has passed the 350 mark, in less than 6 months. And these are just examples sent to MVDA by members – so they probably represent just the ‘tip of the iceberg’!
Members will be aware that MVDA has been pressing both Government & the Insurance industry to tighten up regulation surrounding motor salvage. MVDA took the opportunity presented by the review of VIC to highlight the weakness of the current salvage CoP, especially relating to companies/ organisations that don’t adopt it (like some Police Forces & well known fleet & lease operators) and the handling of category A & B vehicles. But also the widespread ‘commercial’ mis-categorisation of salvage and the ‘disappearance’ of over 1 million category C vehicles.
Work undertaken by MVDA has already highlighted a number of problems, such as the significant amount of unrecorded salvage & the fact that every year thousands of category A & B vehicles are not issued with CODs. On top of this, there is an active market in the export of category B vehicles, many of which are almost are certainly repaired overseas. And it would appear that there has been a resurgence in the widespread availability of body shells (sometimes with V5s).
MVDA has called on all CoP stakeholders to support an overhaul of the Salvage CoP, & to provide much more transparency. This must include ensuring that all organisations that produce salvage adopt the CoP, that categorisation is transparent & that the most contentious salvage - category A & B - is physically destroyed in the UK & can never be repaired .
It is encouraging to see that the insurance industry, via Thatcham, is currently undertaking a review of the Salvage CoP & ETC Guidelines, and we look forward to seeing its output. But to be clear, this is the insurance industry reviewing its own interpretation of a ‘voluntary’ agreement, so we should not automatically assume that this will result in any changes for the better.
Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association of Great Britain Office 5, Top Floor,
Charrington House, 17A Market St, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 6JX, UK.
Charrington House, 17A Market St, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 6JX, UK.
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