Dodgy paperwork on used car purchase

Emergency Breaks

Emergency Breaks

Emergency Breaks

Associate
Joined
26 Aug 2021
Posts
10
Location
London
I’ve managed to buy myself a great car with dodgy paperwork from Gumtree. Yep I was slack when I bought it. There were a pair of private sellers together for this car.

1.Turns out the new keeper slip number doesn’t work when registering the vehicle online.

2. I drove away having seen logbook and service record but hadn’t inspected in close enough detail. Car was and is currently SORNed and should not even have been test driven.

1&2 mean I can’t tax or register the vehicle

3. the VIN doesn’t match the license plate

The car is very nice and drives very well - no complaints about that - and I’ve found a few references to the sellers online; they’ve started a new limited car sales company this month and have another vehicle for sale on Gumtree suggesting viewing at a different location from the one I went to, and I have found a few addresses for them none of which was place of purchase which was quite an anonymous place, not outside a house - but before I contact the seller today, I thought I’d seek some advice. What would you do next? How would you approach seller?
 
Err just explain the problem, but if it's your car shouldn't you just contact the dvla and sort it out?
 
Emergency Breaks said:
I’ve managed to buy myself a great car with dodgy paperwork from Gumtree. Yep I was slack when I bought it. There were a pair of private sellers together for this car.

1.Turns out the new keeper slip number doesn’t work when registering the vehicle online.

2. I drove away having seen logbook and service record but hadn’t inspected in close enough detail. Car was and is currently SORNed and should not even have been test driven.

1&2 mean I can’t tax or register the vehicle

3. the VIN doesn’t match the license plate

The car is very nice and drives very well - no complaints about that - and I’ve found a few references to the sellers online; they’ve started a new limited car sales company this month and have another vehicle for sale on Gumtree suggesting viewing at a different location from the one I went to, and I have found a few addresses for them none of which was place of purchase which was quite an anonymous place, not outside a house - but before I contact the seller today, I thought I’d seek some advice. What would you do next? How would you approach seller?
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I’d like to know if DVLA will have me for driving without tax when I test drive and brought the car home. Didn’t find out till going thru papers last night.

Slam62 said:
Err just explain the problem, but if it's your car shouldn't you just contact the dvla and sort it out?
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Not if they’re gonna have me for driving untaxed
 
Armageus said:
Does the car have some front end damage and need a new windscreen?
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No it’s a great car as far as I can tell so far

Armageus said:
Technically yes, as you should have taxed it at point of sale before driving home
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Exactly, so I’m asking for advice here before contacting the seller, dvla or the police!

Slam62 said:
Err just explain the problem, but if it's your car shouldn't you just contact the dvla and sort it out?
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And how is it my car? I don’t have any proof that it’s mine. I can’t register or tax it. However insurance online was straightforward.
 
Is the car displaying a cherished registration? If not, the VIN not matching the number plate is the issue here. If this is the case then the car needs reporting to the police as potentially stolen surely?

The other aspects are not too bad, i bought a car recently without a V5, i just applied to the DVLA via an "apply for a V5" form for a new V5 and it came through approx 2 weeks later. I taxed the car using the same form, instead of the V5.
 
Emergency Breaks said:
No it’s a great car as far
Jez said:
Is the car displaying a cherished registration? If not, the VIN not matching the number plate is the issue here. If this is the case then the car needs reporting to the police as potentially stolen surely?

The other aspects are not too bad, i bought a car recently without a V5, i just applied to the DVLA via an "apply for a V5" form for a new V5 and it came through approx 2 weeks later. I taxed the car using the same form, instead of the V5.
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no cherished plate, yes I see I may be able to get V5 in 2 weeks. I bought the car hastily as I have urgent need of wheels! Like urgent! Vin says 2005 model, plate says 2003. I can report, yes just looking for more advice before doing so as I might lose my money.
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Hmm if I’m not the registered owner, I can drive thru every speed cam in Britain and the registered owner will get all the fines :)
 
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The issue here as i say really is the VIN not matching the registration. The car could be cloned from a legitimate crashed one or something (ie displaying the plates of another car).

You must get to the bottom of the registration against the VIN. I would contact the DVLA and explain that you have purchased the chassis number and ask them for next steps as to which VRM must be displayed.

Forget the lack of the V5 or Tax at the moment, these are easy to sort once you work out whether the car is legitimate.
 
Jez said:
The issue here as i say really is the VIN not matching the registration. The car could be cloned from a legitimate crashed one or something (ie displaying the plates of another car).

You must get to the bottom of the registration against the VIN. I would contact the DVLA and explain that you have purchased the chassis number and ask them for next steps as to which VRM must be displayed.

Forget the lack of the V5 or Tax at the moment, these are easy to sort once you work out whether the car is legitimate.
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Thank you.
 
my money is that its a dodgy car. If you put the veh reg in dvla veh checker does it come up with the right model and colour even?
 
decto said:
You joined a computer forum to ask about a clearly stolen, dodgy car where the VIN doesn't match.

Troll
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I Binged Used Car Forum and this was top of the list. Trolling my post eh? Are you old enough to drive?

Greebo said:
my money is that its a dodgy car. If you put the veh reg in dvla veh checker does it come up with the right model and colour even?
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Yes it does, just 2 different years. There can be legitimate reasons for a mismatch, fingers crossed.

Thanks everyone for your help, as above I joined to ask question in a car forum but ended up here. I’ll duly move on, though I’m always up for a flaming scrap :)
 
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Emergency Breaks said:
Yes it does, just 2 different years. There can be legitimate reasons for a mismatch, fingers crossed.
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In very very rare occurrences for newish modern cars to have a different chassis number on the v5 compared to the vehicle itself. 99.99% of the time its because its a ringer. Good luck
 
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