Scrapping an inherited car in Hampshire — an executor's checklist

When someone passes away and their car is heading for scrap rather than sale or inheritance, the executor is the legal person authorising the disposal. Here's the checklist we use with Hampshire executors every week.

What DVLA needs

• Notify DVLA of the death by post — send the V5C with a covering letter naming the executor and the deceased
• Or, quicker: use GOV.UK 'Tell Us Once' when registering the death
• Until DVLA acknowledges, the vehicle is still legally registered to the deceased — but the executor has authority to dispose of it

What we need from the executor

• Grant of probate or letters of administration (a solicitor's letter of authority also works)
• The V5 logbook if you have it — we can proceed without
• Executor's photo ID and proof of address
• Death certificate copy (helps DVLA link the notification)

How we pay estates

Payment goes by BACS to the estate account nominated by the executor — never in the deceased's personal name. If probate hasn't cleared and there's no estate account yet, we can hold payment against a solicitor's client account. We don't pay cash to estates under any circumstances.

Multiple vehicles in one estate

It's common — a family car, a run-around and sometimes an old classic that never made it back on the road. We collect all of them in one visit where practical, generate one consolidated payment and email individual Certificates of Destruction for the estate file.