Retail & Consumer Goods UK-wide

Sell vehicle parts and accessories

Supplying vehicle parts and accessories — as a motor factor, wholesaler or retailer — brings product-safety duties for safety-critical components and producer-responsibility duties to take back waste batteries and electrical items. You must not place non-compliant or counterfeit safety parts on the market.

Guide summary

You must make sure all safety-critical vehicle parts you sell, such as brakes and tyres, have the correct approval marks and meet UK standards. You also have to take back waste batteries and electrical items from customers. Supplying non-compliant or counterfeit parts is an offence and can lead to prosecution.

  • Check brakes, tyres, lighting, towing parts and glass have correct approval marks
  • Do not sell counterfeit or non-compliant safety parts
  • Take back waste vehicle batteries from customers in-store
  • Take back old electrical items if you sell electrical accessories
  • Register as a small producer if you place less than 5 tonnes of electrical items on the market
  • Join a Producer Compliance Scheme if you place 5 tonnes or more
  • Keep records of where your parts come from and who you sell to
  • Do not make false claims about a part's compliance or approval
  • Inform your environmental regulator within 28 days if you cross the 5 tonne threshold
On this page

Related guides in Environmental Permits

Whether you run a trade parts counter, a motor factor or an accessories shop, two duties go beyond ordinary retail: the safety of the parts you supply, and taking back the waste batteries and electrical items your customers return. The general fair-trading and consumer duties in Run a compliant motor trade business apply on top of these.

Make sure safety-critical parts are compliant

Safety-critical replacement parts — brakes, tyres, lighting, towing components and glass — must meet the relevant approval marks and construction-and-use standards. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) leads on general product safety and market surveillance, and Trading Standards enforces locally. As a distributor you must not place non-compliant or counterfeit safety parts on the market.

Take back waste batteries and electrical items

If you sell vehicle batteries and electrical accessories you must offer in-store take-back of waste batteries, and — depending on your size — take-back of old electrical items under the WEEE regime, passing them on to authorised treatment. The Environment Agency and the devolved regulators enforce these producer-responsibility duties. For the detail of the battery regime, see battery regulations compliance.

Next steps

Make sure the cross-cutting duties for your business are in place — see Run a compliant motor trade business — then confirm everything with the motor trade compliance checklist.