Autocirc is leading a quiet revolution in the vehicle recycling industry, one that turns waste into value and loss into opportunity. Through its circular service agreement model with insurance companies, Autocirc is moving beyond the traditional end-of-life vehicle (ELV) approach by intervening earlier in the vehicle lifecycle. Rather than auctioning off Total Loss Vehicles for export, insurers now partner directly with Autocirc to keep vehicles within a closed-loop ecosystem. This shift prioritizes reuse over disposal, delivering high-quality OEM parts to workshops, cutting CO₂ emissions by up to 80%, and significantly lowering repair costs. It’s a model built not just for compliance, but for impact, financial, environmental, and operational, replacing a linear “end-of-life” mindset with a proactive, circular solution that redefines what it means to recycle.
From End-of-Life to Beginning-of-Value: How Autocirc’s Insurer Partnerships Are Driving a Real-Time Circular Economy in Vehicle Recycling
Autocirc circular service agreement model is transforming the vehicle recycling industry by creating a value-generating loop between insurers, workshops, and dismantlers, one that prioritises reuse over waste. Instead of auctioning Total Loss Vehicles (TLVs) to the highest bidder, often leading to export and loss of value, insurance companies now enter direct agreements with Autocirc. This new model keeps 100% of the vehicles and their parts within a controlled, circular ecosystem, allowing for efficient dismantling, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. It transforms recycling into an active contribution to sustainability goals, not just a disposal solution.
The model enables predictability, quality, and traceability, ensuring that workshops have access to high-quality, reused OEM parts that are both cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable. It also empowers insurance companies to meet both sustainability and financial targets: reused parts can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 75–80% and significantly lower repair costs.
We believe the value proposition is very powerful: the more cars we source from insurers, the more high-quality OEM parts we can recycle and offer, resulting in greater cost savings for all stakeholders and reduced CO2 emissions for the planet. It is a winning equation: more cars, more parts, more savings – financial and CO2.
What sets this model apart from traditional end-of-life vehicle (ELV) processing is its emphasis on early-stage intervention and the reuse of parts. While ELV processing typically focuses on material recovery at the end of a vehicle’s useful life, Autocirc intervenes earlier, when the parts still hold significant value. This shift extends the lifecycle of components and supports a circular economy in real time—not just at the end.
In short, Autocirc is replacing the linear “dispose and recycle” model with a circular “recover and reuse” model, helping insurance companies move from auctions to long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships that scale environmental and economic impact.
Scaling with Purpose: How Autocirc Maintains Quality, Sustainability, and Integration Across a Rapidly Growing Circular Network
Ensuring consistency across a fast-growing and decentralised group like Autocirc requires a clear strategy, which our teams believe in, shared values, and strong operational tools. One of our key enablers is the Autocirc Way of Operation (AWO), a shared governance model built on five pillars: Leadership, Direction, Processes, Visualisation, and Follow-up. It connects group-wide objectives to day-to-day actions at every local unit, ensuring that every company operates with aligned standards and accountability.
Digitalization is a critical enabler in our strategy. We are consolidating our data repository and architecture to create a unified digital platform that connects all our companies. One evident benefit: all companies can now access all parts in inventory across Autocirc. This improves the availability of reused parts for workshops and car owners.
In terms of sustainability, we’ve implemented a new data platform for ESG reporting, enabling us to track emissions, circularity metrics, and taxonomy alignment consistently and transparently across all companies. We have digital records of all vehicles and parts processed. We will soon be able to provide insurers and workshops with information on individual CO2 avoidance when partnering with Autocirc.
Most importantly, we’re building a culture with shared ambition. The vast majority of the founders and employees from the companies we acquire remain with Autocirc. They bring deep expertise and are highly motivated to contribute to something larger, driving sustainable transformation in the automotive sector together.
Built for Circularity: How Autocirc Turns Regulatory Change into Strategic Advantage
Autocirc is built for circularity, so evolving regulations, such as the ELV Directive, align naturally with our business model. As our CEO, Hugues Delval, emphasized, regulations matter, but the foundation must be a business model that creates real value for all stakeholders: insurers, workshops, car owners, and the environment. Our model achieves this by converting Total Loss Vehicles into reusable parts, thereby reducing CO₂ emissions and significantly lowering repair costs.
Unlike many industry players adapting to stay compliant, circularity is Autocirc’s DNA. We are circular by nature, not by obligation. We don’t force sustainability into our operations; it drives them. This gives us a natural advantage as regulations increasingly demand sustainable practices.
With operations in seven European countries, we recognise that regulatory maturity varies across different markets. Our decentralized yet unified structure allows us to adapt quickly to national requirements while scaling best practices across borders. This flexibility is crucial as new rules emerge.
Autocirc is proactively aligning with the EU Taxonomy and CSRD. In 2024, 65% of our turnover was taxonomy-aligned. We’ve also deployed a group-wide data management platform to ensure transparent, high-quality ESG reporting. This helps us anticipate compliance needs while demonstrating accountability to investors and partners.
Charging Ahead: How Autocirc’s Norwegian Expertise is Powering Circular EV Recycling Across Europe
Autocirc has been at the forefront of EV dismantling in Norway, one of Europe’s most advanced EV markets, giving us a unique head start in managing the complexities of electric vehicle recycling. We’re now leveraging this experience to scale the best practices across Europe.
The Norwegian market has been a crucial learning ground for Autocirc. Through our leading dismantler, GBD Grønvolds Bildemontering, we’ve built deep expertise in handling electric vehicles, including safe dismantling, battery assessment, storage, and component reuse.
We’re now scaling that know-how across Europe. By combining hands-on expertise with digital tools and partnerships, we’re setting the standard for circular EV solutions across our entire ecosystem.
Collaboration Over Consolidation: How Autocirc Empowers Recyclers in a Growing Circular Ecosystem
Autocirc has grown by partnering with the best local dismantlers, many of whom are family-owned businesses with decades of experience. Our goal isn’t to replace their identity, but to amplify it.
We believe in a very decentralized model. The best evidence is our current footprint of 69 companies, growing in proximity to their markets and customers.
Joining Autocirc means gaining access to shared resources, a large inventory of reused parts, technology, and a broader customer base, while maintaining a decentralised operation. We believe the future of circularity relies on collaboration, not displacement. Recyclers bring local knowledge, skilled teams, and entrepreneurial drive. We bring scale, tools, and strategic partnerships. Together, we create an ecosystem that’s stronger than the sum of its parts.
Building Trust in Reuse: How Autocirc is Shaping Consumer Perception and Mainstreaming Circular Car Parts
Autocirc absolutely plays a key role in making circularity visible and understandable to car owners. While our main partnerships are with insurers and workshops, we know that consumer trust is critical to accelerating change.
Our job is to make reused parts not just acceptable, but preferable, by ensuring professional operations, consistent quality, full traceability, and clear communication. All our reused parts are original equipment manufacturer (OEM). We also invest in transparent labelling, educational communication, and partnerships, such as our ambassador program with motorsport driver Hedda Hosås, who brings attention to performance and sustainability.
By expanding access to reused OEM parts and working with industry partners, we help car owners see that choosing reused doesn’t mean compromising; it means contributing to smarter, more sustainable repairs. As well as better financial affordability.
From Elevators to End-of-Life Vehicles: Bringing Scalable Service and Innovation to the Heart of Auto Recycling
What impressed me most is the entrepreneurial spirit and deep expertise found in the many independent companies that now make up Autocirc. This industry may not always be in the spotlight, but it’s incredibly dynamic, with massive potential to drive sustainability at scale. The fact that we can take a single Total Loss Vehicle and turn it into parts that help repair ten others, while reducing costs and emissions, is a powerful concept.
Coming from a highly structured, service-focused industry like elevators, I aim to bring a strong focus on quality, scalability, and customer-centric innovation. At Autocirc, that means building a consistent customer experience across Europe, investing in digital tools, and ensuring that circularity isn’t just a technical process, but a service mindset that creates real value for insurers, workshops, and ultimately car owners. At scale, with speed.
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Images courtesy of Autocirc
