Used vehicles and parts reveal the complex routes of global reuse

Used vehicles and parts rarely follow a simple path from use to waste. As they move through auctions, ports, repair networks and recycling systems, they can be reclassified as assets, parts, materials or environmental risks. For recyclers, this makes traceability, accurate classification and responsible reuse essential to legal, circular value recovery.

Sébastien Jacquot and Marie Morelle, geography researchers examining how used vehicles and parts move through global reuse markets. — L-R Marie Morelle & Sébastien Jacquot

Sébastien Jacquot, Assistant Professor in Geography at Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University, and Marie Morelle, Professor of Geography at Lyon 2 Lumière University, examine how second-hand goods, including used vehicles and automotive parts, move through global markets, changing value, status and purpose as they circulate.

Their work highlights a central issue for the vehicle recycling sector: end-of-life does not always mean the end of use. Cars, parts and materials are repeatedly reclassified as they move between countries, markets and regulatory systems. A vehicle considered waste in one country may become a valuable used import, a source of parts, or a platform for repair and reconstruction elsewhere.

Beyond a simple supply chain

The global trade in second-hand goods is often described in terms of supply chains or value chains. However, Jacquot and Morelle argue that these models are too linear to explain what actually happens to used cars and parts.

Vehicles do not simply move from manufacturer to first owner, then to second owner, and finally to a recycler. They pass through auctions, ports, workshops, customs systems, repair networks, dismantling yards, informal traders and online platforms. At each stage, their value and legal status may change.

For auto recyclers, this matters because the same vehicle can be viewed in several ways at once: as a damaged car, a repairable asset, a source of spare parts, a recyclable material stream, or an environmental risk.

How used vehicles gain new value

The authors explain that second-hand objects are shaped by their journeys. Movement itself transforms them. Cars and parts can shift between categories such as merchandise, waste, repairable vehicle, imported vehicle, component stock or recyclable material.

In the automotive sector, this is especially visible in the trade in used and salvage vehicles. A damaged vehicle sold at auction may be uneconomic to repair in one market but commercially viable in another. Parts removed from one vehicle can support repairs in a different country, while materials may eventually enter recycling streams.

These flows are supported by technical knowledge. Mechanics, dismantlers, traders and repairers all play a role in restoring, adapting or reclassifying vehicles. Examples include vehicles rebuilt from parts of different origins, hybrid vehicles converted to combustion-only use, or imported cars modified to meet local driving conditions.

Logistics and digital platforms shape the market

The movement of used vehicles and parts depends on infrastructure. Ports, roll-on/roll-off ships, containers, warehouses, free trade zones, marketplaces, customs systems and logistics networks all support the circulation of second-hand goods.

Digital systems are also becoming more important. Online auction platforms allow salvage and used vehicles to be assessed, priced and sold across borders. They connect insurers, fleet managers, dismantlers, traders, and small repair businesses, often creating routes that are more complex than those in traditional export models.

For authorised recyclers, this underlines the importance of data, traceability and classification. The ability to identify a vehicle’s condition, legal status and parts value is increasingly central to how value is recovered.

Regulation can both control and accelerate flows

The article also shows that regulation does not always stop the movement of second-hand vehicles. In some cases, it can encourage it.

Rules on emissions, inspections, or vehicle age can push vehicles out of one market and into another. A vehicle that no longer meets standards in one country may still be legal, useful and affordable elsewhere. At the same time, importing countries may restrict the import of older vehicles to reduce pollution or to support domestic vehicle assembly.

This creates tension between environmental policy, industrial policy, tax revenue and access to affordable mobility. Governments may want to limit imports of older vehicles while also relying on import duties and the economic activity linked to repairs, resale, and parts trading.

Informality, fraud and enforcement challenges

Jacquot and Morelle also point to the grey areas in global second-hand vehicle flows.

Some actors manipulate documentation, vehicle identity or age to move goods across borders. Vehicles may be reclassified, rebuilt or disguised to meet regulatory requirements or avoid restrictions.

The authors note that used vehicle markets can intersect with informal or criminal activity, including document manipulation, stolen vehicles, receiving stolen goods, and money laundering. These risks make traceability and enforcement increasingly important for the legitimate recycling and dismantling sector.

For compliant operators, the challenge is not simply competition. It maintains trust in reuse and recycling while ensuring that vehicles and parts are handled legally, safely, and transparently.

What this means for auto recyclers

For the recycling sector, the research is a reminder that vehicles and parts operate in a global reuse economy long before they become materials for final recycling.

Authorised treatment facilities, dismantlers and parts suppliers sit within wider international systems of valuation, logistics and regulation. Their work is affected not only by local ELV rules, but also by export demand, online auctions, parts markets, repair economics and global mobility needs.

The key lesson is that second-hand vehicle flows cannot be understood as a simple route from use to waste. They are a web of reuse, repair, reclassification and recovery.

For professional recyclers, this makes traceability, accurate classification and responsible parts recovery essential. As regulations tighten and circular economy expectations grow, the sector’s role will be to ensure that reuse remains both economically valuable, legally robust and socially just. It is also important to recognize the presence of numerous small-scale operators (entrepreneurs, importers, repairers) operating along these routes and the significant resources that their activities generate within the context of the informal economy.

Read the full paper here.