The present work aimed at giving a review of the end-of life phase for motor vehicles, providing accurate process modeling, indicating critical aspects, and finally suggesting improvements. For the study, one of the principal dismantler in Sardinia (Italy) was considered. The main innovation is the bottom-up approach to the problem; this was carried out by field observing the process activities and sharing the criticalities identification with the actors. The study has confirmed that the simplicity of disassembling the components and the ease of identification of the different materials to be separated is fundamental for an efficient dismantling of motor vehicles. It is finally crucial that the dismantling processes, being highly complicated, mainly involve the same manufacturers.