BMW car recycling facility

[Homer J Simpson]

[rrinker]

 Oh my, I just can't watch this... <goes to garage to comfort my baby>

[Augustus]

Bah, propaganda. In reality it is more like this:   

[JPortici]

 

[SeanB]

Mostly just exported to the third world, and then run until they fall apart. driven onto a car carrier, then it exports the vehicles as scrapped vehicles ( here they are not allowed to be driven on a road, as they are both vehicles scrapped in the original country as well as being non approved here in the most part, plus most are either patently or latently unroadworthy) for transport on a deadhead run (a car carrier from Europe mostly will have this, along with a few dozen high end vehicles for delivery, but will be going to the major producers like Australia, Korea, Japan, China, India and South Africa mostly empty, so load up with scrap vehicles that can at least be towed) at a low rate.

The ones in the first original video look like they are very low use vehicles, either the ones off of a short term lease or those that were either demo models or rental cars. Might also be ones that were unsold on the dealer floor, or that were built to be test vehicles along the production line.

[System Error Message]

At the very least all the bits are recycled and its only the chassis that is crushed and then recycled. But arent BMWs made of plastic nowadays?

[Jeroen3]

But arent BMWs made of plastic nowadays?

They are most definitely not. They are heavy!

Meanwhile, this looks like a very expensive process.

[SeanB]

The parts that break the most are plastic. The parts that rarely fail are mostly made from metal, though there are a lot of parts that are apparently made from pure gold instead of pot metal and mystery ABS recycled scrap.

[System Error Message]

But arent BMWs made of plastic nowadays?

They are most definitely not. They are heavy!

Meanwhile, this looks like a very expensive process.

Its a joke as people now complain that everything in BMW is coated with plastic such as the engine for instance making maintenance difficult. The chassis isnt 100% metal either, there usually would be plastic mixed in for the softness and light weight.

[VK5RC]

Quite a bit of the unsprung mass in a new car are alloys.  The second video looks far more realistic,  the first video looks like a test program (or propaganda!).
If original design included repair-abilty (perhaps mandatory)  I am sure a lot of recycling wouldn't be needed.

[nctnico]

The ones in the first original video look like they are very low use vehicles, either the ones off of a short term lease or those that were either demo models or rental cars. Might also be ones that were unsold on the dealer floor, or that were built to be test vehicles along the production line.

The cars don't look old but in the image of the cars waiting outside I spot a BMW Z3 convertible which is a very old model (almost 20 years IIRC). Maybe they gave the cars a thourough wash to reduce the amount of dirt on the factory floor.

BTW: I like the Ludolfs but most scrap yards are (slightly) better organised nowadays and sell their stuff on Ebay.

[zl2wrw]

[SNIP]
The ones in the first original video look like they are very low use vehicles, either the ones off of a short term lease or those that were either demo models or rental cars. Might also be ones that were unsold on the dealer floor, or that were built to be test vehicles along the production line.

Planned obsolescence?
In that part of the world have cars got so cheap (relative to people's incomes?) that they are disposed of when they are merely outdated, as opposed to actually worn out, or broken and not economic to repair? (IMHO most computers are disposed of because they are outdated, not because they are broken).

[eugenenine]

seemed quite wasteful to me.  They poked a hole in the gas tank instead of removing it.  They poked a hole in the shocks, they left the hubs on, the glass, the interior when they crushed it.  Plus the cars all looked somewhat newer.
Kind of like the cash for clunkers they did here where people turned in decent cars and went out and bought disposable crap with the credit.

[SL4P]

Very simple maths.

Those rims that sell retail for $800+ each, can be recycled and replaced for $30 each - skipping the need for removal, testing, refinishing and packaging.
The glass and other parts have road rash to varying degreee.
Putting any of these parts back on the market (even somewhere like eBay) requires a warranty and taking liability - unless they are sold as scrap.

No problem to solve !

[System Error Message]

the glass adds to the furnace that melts and recycles the car bodies.

Its funny how plastic the cars look. BMW coating everything with plastic nowadays

[Brutte]

Those BMW cars do not look like the ones beyond economic repair to me.

Usually body repair, even after minor crash, is a labor intensive process. Replacing a module, a bearing or a window glass is not, especially with a developed market of used/replacement parts.

As of reselling used cars and warranty - of course used car does not have to include same warranty as a new car. It does not even have to be roadworthy to be traded.

[CJay]

In the UK as a trader you have to accept liability for second hand cars, they have to meet certain expectations and you have to offer a warranty.

There is a thread elsewhere on the forum about sales of second hand test equipment where it's explained about liability for second hand electrical equipment, basically it works out to be less problematic from a liability point of view to crush the test gear, I can't imagine it's any less onerous to sell second hand car spares for a company like BMW.

Then you have the government incentives to trade in an old car to reduce pollution and stimulate the car market, those incentives attempt to ensure the old cars cannot be resold in any form and require assurances from the dealers.

All of which combined, even though it's a ridiculous waste, make it a little more understandable why they're de-polluted and crushed.

[Brutte]

In the UK as a trader you have to accept liability for second hand cars, they have to meet certain expectations and you have to offer a warranty.

Interestingly, in EU where I live  you can buy a second hand car that excludes a warranty on all or some parts. The seller does not have to accept any liability if that is what the selling agreement states. For example here you can trade a car with a broken windshield (that damage excludes "roadworthiness" and you are not even allowed to drive it), if that is your will.

[Jeroen3]

However. If the seller knows something is damaged or near the end of it's life and does not tell the buyer. The seller has to provider warranty to the buyer if the part he didn't mention breaks down.
This is not limited to companies. You might need lawyers though.

[Lord of nothing]

haha a lot of that cars got foundet by the German Government. 

[bitslice]

Kind of like the cash for clunkers they did here where people turned in decent cars and went out and bought disposable crap with the credit.

All the people with older polluting cars couldn't actually afford to buy new crap even with a discount, so it was just handing free money to the middle class to swap their kids Corsa for a new Daihatsu.

So much for being ruled by the elite, they are all stupid plonkers from Dudley