"Our core business is the recovery of reused parts", explains Laurent Hérail, president of the Surplus Recycling Group (GSR), at the head of a 30-hectare complex that looks like an industrial site processing 24,000 vehicles per year and offering 750,000 used parts on its website.

In the company's car parks on the outskirts of the town of Gaillac, charred harvesters, dented trucks, motorcycles and damaged cars are waiting to be transported to the adjoining sheds where they will be boned, emptied of their reusable parts and, for some, returned. roadworthy.

The company takes care of all types of vehicles, from diggers to Porsches, and is one of the largest approved out-of-service vehicle (VHU) treatment centers in the territory.

Employees dismantle engines extracted from damaged cars in the "Surplus Recycling" company in Gaillac, in the Tarn, on October 6, 2022 Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

They are responsible for taking back any end-of-life vehicle free of charge and carrying out both their complete depollution and their recycling, respecting a rate of reuse, recycling and energy recovery of the vehicle of around 95%. the weight of the machine.

This rate, fixed in 2015 on a European scale, and "the remaining 5% are buried because it is the ultimate waste", assures Patrick Poincelet, president of the recycling branch of Mobilians, the union of automotive professionals.

France late

However, avenues for improvement exist because France remains “late” compared to some of its neighbours, in particular the Nordics, on the second-hand parts market.

"Today, only one ELV center in two makes spare parts", assesses Jean-Pierre Labonne, in charge of the theme of car dismantling for the Professional Federation of Recycling Companies (Federec).

This is the case of the Surplus Recyclage Group, which has even sought to "industrialise" this market, by offering on its website thousands of engines, doors, cylinder head gaskets... "of all brands" and "guaranteed for two years “, details its president, Laurent Hérail.

To do this, the company has forged partnerships with insurance companies in order to buy damaged vehicles from them at a lower price, which may be almost new, but thrown away because they are economically or technically irreparable.

Car wheels in the "Surplus Recycling" company in Gaillac, in the Tarn, on October 6, 2022 Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

In the brand new warehouses, the mechanics slip under cars with broken windows, sometimes completely embedded, hoisted several centimeters from the ground, to extricate the parts.

"We recover 15 to 20 parts per car, and 30 to 35 on motorcycles", explains the boss, "but we could do much more".

Other countries in Europe recover more than forty pieces, and the United States more than one hundred, he points out.

Ecological interest

But in France, demand is lacking.

Until then, private individuals, repairers and insurance adjusters were reluctant to use second-hand parts.

But for economic and ecological reasons, "it's changing", he rejoices.

“Initially, we were on 100% sales to individuals and now we are downright 50-50 with professionals”, specifies Laurent Hérail.

This development is linked in particular to the entry into force in 2017 of the obligation for car maintenance or repair professionals to offer users reusable parts.

In addition, "the market is now of interest to insurers", adds Jean-Pierre Labonne of Federec.

"This allows policyholders who have an economically unrepairable vehicle (with new parts, editor's note) to repair it", confirms Nuno Borges, national expert consultant at Generali France, partner of the GSR group.

An employee dismantles a damaged car in the company "Surplus Recyclage" in Gaillac, in the Tarn, on October 6, 2022 Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

Second-hand parts being "sold at between 50 to 70% of the price of a new part", the interest is to lower the cost of repairs and "to immobilize the vehicle for less time" because "the shortage of materials, and the fact that we have parts that come from the other side of the planet", has made the repair market more complex.

The company goes even further and offers for sale since this year reconditioned vehicles from the used parts they have.

© 2022 AFP