Can you collect a car with no keys at all?

Usually yes. With no keys the steering is often locked, so the car goes on with skates under the wheels rather than being winched straight up. We do ask for something showing you are entitled to move it, such as the V5C or a purchase receipt.

The car has been on the driveway for years and the tyres are flat. Is that a problem?

No. Flat or perished tyres are normal on these jobs and skates deal with wheels that will not turn. What we do need to know is whether the car is on grass or gravel, because a soft surface changes how we pull it out.

Do I need to insure or tax a non runner for the journey?

No. It is being carried, not driven, so it does not need to be taxed, insured or MOT'd. If it has been on a SORN on private land it can go straight onto the truck.

Can you get a non runner out of a garage or a lock up?

Often, using a winch through the door or by hand rolling it out to a point the truck can reach. Measure the door width and tell us how far the car sits from the opening, because that is what decides it.

It Does Not Have to Start

Non Runner and Non Starter Vehicle Transport

For project buyers, salvage buyers and anyone with a car that has stopped for good

A non runner is the most common thing we are asked to move that is not an emergency. Somebody has bought a project off a marketplace listing, inherited a car that has sat on a driveway for six years, or had a garage tell them the engine is not worth rebuilding. The car is going somewhere, it is just not driving there. Winch loading makes the state of the engine irrelevant.

Get a transport quote Talk it through: 0734 950 9268

Goods in transit cover · Fixed price before booking · Condition photographed at both ends

What the booking covers

Winch loading for vehicles that will not start, drive or brake

Skates for cars with seized wheels or no wheels fitted

Collection from driveways, garden gardens, lock ups, farms and yards

No keys required in most cases, subject to proof you own the vehicle

Flat tyres, missing bumpers and stripped interiors are all fine

Delivery to a restoration shop, breaker, storage unit or your own garage

What makes a non runner harder than a runner

Not the fact that it is dead. It is where it is sitting. A car that has not moved in years is usually parked in the most inconvenient place on the property, often behind something else, frequently on grass that has grown up around the tyres.

So the questions we ask are about access, not about the engine. How far is it from a hard surface, can a truck get within a rope length of it, and is there anything blocking the route out.

Project cars, salvage and end of life

Project purchases go to home garages and restoration specialists. Salvage goes to repairers or breakers. End of life vehicles go to authorised treatment facilities. All three load the same way, but the paperwork differs, so tell us which it is.

If the vehicle is being scrapped, keep your certificate of destruction from the facility. We move it, we do not issue that.

Price up your non runner transport

Two postcodes, the vehicle and whether it drives is all we need for a fixed price. No obligation and no deposit taken.

Non Runner Transport: your questions

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Broken down right now rather than planning a move? Go to emergency recovery.

Ready when you are

Planned transport is booked to a date, priced before you commit and photographed at both ends. Send the two postcodes and we will come back with a number.

Request a quote Call 03300 435121