It’s that time. Your car has finally given up the ghost and you’ve decided to scrap a car in North London, Hertfordshire or Essex. Perhaps you’ve decided to buy a brand new motor? In which case, choosing ScrapToday to scrap a car is a brilliant idea. We guarantee the best possible prices, and we own our own scrapyard in Herts which means you get all of the profit you’re entitled to. There’s no middle-man involved. We’re also fully licensed and we’ll issue you with your Certificate of Destruction (COD). Enough about us – what about you and your old car? Once you’ve decided to go ahead with our quote, we’d like to offer some advice. Today’s modern cars have lots of data attached to their computers and that means it’s a good idea to wipe your car’s computer clean. For your safety, and especially if you aren’t scrapping a car in Hertfordshire, maybe you’re selling it on instead. In which case it’s even more important that your car gets driven away with all data cleaned up. Otherwise, you could be leaving yourself wide-open to cyber criminals.
When you think about it, you soon realise how much data your car stores. It’s got your list of contacts on its address book and if you have a satnav (and most modern cars have these built-in), you’ve got all your frequent destinations stored. That’s great – your car keeps you connected while you’re on the road and makes it easy to drive from A to B, however, all of that data poses a risk to your security when you sell your car on. When you sell an old iPhone, computer or tablet, you would always wipe its data. The same applies to your car. ScrapToday will walk you through what you need to do to make sure there’s no data security risk to you.
Think About Where Your Data is Stored
Make a brief list. Where is your data stored in your car? Is it just on its computer or do you have a USB stick? Some cars have an SD card. If you’re not sure, refer to the car’s manual or look up your car make, model and year of manufacture to find out. If you have an SD or USB card it’s likely to be in the console which is located in the centre. It might also be hidden inside your glove compartment or sitting on the dashboard. Sometimes, they’re in the middle of the front seats, where you have a little extra storage. Check whether you have more than one because some cars are built with two. One looks after music while the other looks after navigation, for example. Have a look – you will see USB portals. Clear the data from both of these items.
If you’re in a hurry – perhaps you’re reading this, and your car is about to be taken to our car scrap yard in Essex or it’s about to be handed over to its new owner? Then you can quickly perform a factory reset. It’s relatively easy and quick to do but you need to know how. All cars are different. Again, you’ll need your manufacturer’s manual, or you can Google your car make, model and year of manufacture to find out how to do it. A factory reset wipes all data from your car because everything is stored on the main hard drive. It takes it back to its settings when you bought the car before you stored anything new on its hard drive.
What to Do If Your Car Does Not Have Factory Reset
First, consider other connections that your car has to personal devices (and don’t forget – if you have a family, you might have more than one connection, like your partner’s or children’s). Remove any connection setting your car has to devices, including iPads. You’ll need access to your car’s onboard computer. Once you’ve accessed it, delete the connections and go onto any relevant devices and delete the pairing with your car. You’ll find the pairing in “Settings” on your devices.
Deleting Contact Details
It’s fairly likely that your car will have saved your contacts on its hard drive. Remember when you first got your car? It might have asked you to download all your contacts and you probably said yes. In which case, they’re all there on your hard-drive and you need to get rid of them! Go onto your car’s computer and move to the contacts area (sometimes referred to as the phone book). Delete everything in there. Be careful that you don’t connect your phone back to your car (it will happen automatically unless you delete the pairing as discussed above) because then it might automatically upload all your contacts again!
Deleting Maps and Addresses
As mentioned, most modern cars have satnav and if that’s yours – it will have logged favourite addresses as well as the history of your journeys. This is easy to get rid of. Simply open your car’s computer, find the navigation area and read through the instructions to delete your favourite addresses and journey history.
Deleting Entertainment
The same applies to all your media (entertainment, music, podcasts etc.). Follow the steps above but navigate to your entertainment system on your car’s computer. Then, use the instructions to delete your stored media.
Deleting Other Applications
Very modern cars also have immediate access to your Spotify, Apple Music – perhaps even your social media accounts. You’ll find these in your entertainment area on your car’s computer system. Remember to log out of your apps and delete passwords to be on the safe side.
Check your Devices!
As well as your car’s onboard computer, do check your smartphone and tablet. As we’ve already mentioned, delete any pairings but also delete any related car applications. Some cars have their own apps which store data relating to your navigation system, entertainment system and dashboard cameras (dashcam). Additionally, think back whether you subscribed to anything linked to your car, such as a media streaming service or perhaps a Wi-fi hotspot? You might have a map update package. All of these need to be cancelled and deleted.
Hopefully all the above has helped you and given you food for thought. It’s always better to be safe.
For all your car recycling and car scrapping needs in North London, Herts and Essex, get a quote with ScrapToday – we won’t be beaten on price! Click here.