New car, tax and private registration

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 12:43

Hi all, slightly complicated question - hopefully someone can provide an answer before I have to phone the DVLA!

Picking up my new car on Wednesday - it's currently on a private plate and the tax expires at the end of the month. I was just going to tax it with the new keepers supplement shortly after purchase.

However, the seller just phoned me to say he cant find the V5 and has submitted a V62 to get a new one. I'm happy with this as I've HPI'd the car and there's nothing ringing any alarm bells for me.

I thought we could just go to the post office locally to him and tax it there with a V10, but wont that tax be against the existing private plate?

Having never had a private reg, the situation is entirely new to me so any advice is appreciated! I'd rather not hold off on picking it up as I've already paid for the train travel and booked time off work etc.

Thanks!

Phil W · 18 Jul 2011 at 12:56

It will tax as private reg but when you go to the DVLA they will supply you with a replacement tax disc with the correct registration on

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:06

Ah ok, so I would drive it off with the private reg on the car? Then when the v5 is done I'll get a new tax disc?

Phil W · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:08

If the owner wants to keep the private reg or you decide you don't want it then you'll have to go to the DVLA to have the private registration removed.

I forgot the form you have to fill in but you'll find it on their website.

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:09

He wants to keep it and I believe he has the transfer process in hand. Not sure what that process is though!

Phil W · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:16

It's a bit of a ball-ache on your part, you will have to go to the DVLA and get it either transferred to his new car for him or put on retention.

IIRC it's £80 to transfer and £120ish to retain it. It's much easier to do it with you both present.

Get him to pay the fee to put it on retention and it will make your life much easier.

NVP · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:17

If he wants to keep his plate then he has to fill out a reg transfer form and provide the V5 and an MOT so they can transfer his to a new car or put it on retention but also so they can issue a new age appropriate reg for the car. This takes a couple of weeks but he needs the V5 to do this.

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:27

OK, so.....

-I pick it up wednesday with the private plate still on the car and tax it that day against the private plate
-He requests a replacement V5 (already done) and when it comes back to him he puts his plate on retention at his local DVLA,sends me the replacement tax disc and I put the correct plates on the car
-He then changes the registered keeper to me (can this be done at the same time as the above)

Would that work?

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:33

NVP said:
If he wants to keep his plate then he has to fill out a reg transfer form and provide the V5 and an MOT so they can transfer his to a new car or put it on retention but also so they can issue a new age appropriate reg for the car. This takes a couple of weeks but he needs the V5 to do this.

Would it be a new registration? He's given me the original one and it comes back as the correct car on insurance sites...wouldnt they just re use that one?

It's all very confusing

NVP · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:33

Registered keeper can be changed at the same time as both changes will affect the V5.

TBH though, I'd rather let him get the replacement V5 and make the reg changes before I'd buy the car off him. But it's up to you.

EDIT: As far as I know it will be a completely new registration as the original will have been declassified (or whatever) but I am willing to be corrected. It does concern me that the original one is still in the insurance databases - how long ago did he put his private plate on?

DRZ · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:35

How did you HPI it without the V5 serial number?

I presume you have the tax reminder letter else you'll be snookered trying to buy tax as well.

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:38

NVP said:
Registered keeper can be changed at the same time as both changes will affect the V5.

TBH though, I'd rather let him get the replacement V5 and make the reg changes before I'd buy the car off him. But it's up to you.

EDIT: As far as I know it will be a completely new registration as the original will have been declassified (or whatever) but I am willing to be corrected. It does concern me that the original one is still in the insurance databases - how long ago did he put his private plate on?

When he got the car - so over 2 years ago now. As I say I'd rather not hold off unless absolutely necessary but am willing to if this is going to get too complicated

DRZ said:
How did you HPI it without the V5 serial number?

I presume you have the tax reminder letter else you'll be snookered trying to buy tax as well.

I'm sure he'll have a reminder, didnt ask.

It wasnt a full HPI, just a "mytextcheck" thing

DRZ · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:45

I'd put the brakes on this until you have a proper HPI check done, have seen the V5 to make sure it isn't hiding something and then have all your ducks in a row to tax it and sort the plate out.

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:46

DRZ said:
I'd put the brakes on this until you have a proper HPI check done, have seen the V5 to make sure it isn't hiding something and then have all your ducks in a row to tax it and sort the plate out.

OK sounds sensible. What else would a full HPI reveal?

[TW]Fox · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:47

Remember that in theory there is no such thing as a private reg. It belongs to the DVLA and is assigned to the car, not an individual.

Currently, A1 AAA belongs to the car you are buying just as much as AB51 ABC belongs to the car parked beside it. Once you take ownership of that car, the plate is also yours - the previous owner has no legal right to it as a matter of course. He will be relying on your good faith to return the plate.

The car itself is taxed, under whatever its current VRM is. When you apply to transfer the plate off, you will be assigned a new registration (Normally the cars previous reg) and your tax and MOT/V5 will be re-issued with the new VRM on.

NVP · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:48

iaind said:
As I say I'd rather not hold off unless absolutely necessary but am willing to if this is going to get too complicated

Nah it's not complicated at all, it's just simpler if one person does it all. But if you know the procedures to follow (which it looks like you do) it shouldn't be a problem. There are some pamphlets available to download from the DVLA website regarding reg changes, they should help clarify all the steps necessary.

What I would do:
- Wait for him to receive his new V5
- Get him to take/send the V5 and MOT along with the registration transfer/retention form to the DVLA (take about 2 weeks to receive the new V5, modified MOT & new tax disc)
- Then buy it off him with the new plate.

In regards to the tax, I recall there being a note or separate section on the form to fill out if it is about to expire within a certain period but I cannot recall what it states. The thing is, the Tax renewal form he has will be for the current plate so when you do renew the tax you will have to use the reference number off the front of the new V5 (not the old one or from the tax renewal form).

EDIT:

[TW]Fox;19608773 said:
When you apply to transfer the plate off, you will be assigned a new registration (Normally the cars previous reg)

Ah ok, my bad

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:49

[TW]Fox;19608773 said:
Remember that in theory there is no such thing as a private reg. It belongs to the DVLA and is assigned to the car, not an individual.

Currently, A1 AAA belongs to the car you are buying just as much as AB51 ABC belongs to the car parked beside it. Once you take ownership of that car, the plate is also yours - the previous owner has no legal right to it as a matter of course. He will be relying on your good faith to return the plate.

The car itself is taxed, under whatever its current VRM is. When you apply to transfer the plate off, you will be assigned a new registration (Normally the cars previous reg) and your tax and MOT/V5 will be re-issued with the new VRM on.

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying.

So the plan above (I take it with the private reg and get him to sort everything out) would work, in theory?

A fairly sound receipt signed by both parties seems like a good way forward here, regardless of when I take the car

DRZ · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:51

iaind said:
OK sounds sensible. What else would a full HPI reveal?

I don't trust those text check things, afaik they backdoor the info using a loophole in Scotland. HPI have proper access and seem to give you lots and lots more data.

TBH you can satisfy yourself with the reg/v5 serial and an MOT cert as you can find out a lot about the car with just that info that would be relevant such as looking through the MOT history online. If you're happy that there is no chance of it being a writeoff or having outstanding finance then you can go ahead or for peace of mind just run the HPI check - compared to the cost of the car it is totally worth it.

I went to view a car with a friend and it checked out, was in hugely impressive condition etc etc but the HPI check showed the true history etc and we walked away. It was hiding over 100,000 miles!

iaind · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:54

DRZ said:
I don't trust those text check things, afaik they backdoor the info using a loophole in Scotland. HPI have proper access and seem to give you lots and lots more data.

TBH you can satisfy yourself with the reg/v5 serial and an MOT cert as you can find out a lot about the car with just that info that would be relevant such as looking through the MOT history online. If you're happy that there is no chance of it being a writeoff or having outstanding finance then you can go ahead or for peace of mind just run the HPI check - compared to the cost of the car it is totally worth it.

I went to view a car with a friend and it checked out, was in hugely impressive condition etc etc but the HPI check showed the true history etc and we walked away. It was hiding over 100,000 miles!

Although its nowhere near watertight, i've got scans of the service history and old MOTs - so I'm pretty happy that its a legitimate car, especially given that the mileage is higher than average for the year anyway. But its not worth taking a risk over.

I'll give him a call later to clarify a few things and see what we can do from there

DRZ · 18 Jul 2011 at 13:56

iaind said:
Although its nowhere near watertight, i've got scans of the service history and old MOTs - so I'm pretty happy that its a legitimate car, especially given that the mileage is higher than average for the year anyway. But its not worth taking a risk over.

I'll give him a call later to clarify a few things and see what we can do from there

The car I was talking about had MOT certificates, service history, bills etc etc. All fake.