car registration

Pam Cook (pam snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes, there is. You need to visit a DVLA office to tax it and change the tax class.

You'll get the book thrown at you, though, for driving an untaxed, unregistered car, and quite possibly your insurance will wash their hands of you.

There y'go, then. What's the problem with that? Weren't you planning on putting it through a ticket and taxing it? If so, then the only difference is that you need to change the tax class - a slight pain, yes, but not the end of the world.

Nobody'll want it with no tax or test, either.

She said it's a project. Things may be different in your little world, but in mine, projects need to be registered in the owners name (to prevent the previous owner claiming it's been scrapped) then declared for SORN and kept off the road and untaxed until they've been completed. It's not a good idea to start work until the papers are in your own name, for obvious reasons.

So, the OP needs to try to get their local DVLA centre to register and SORN the car, not tax it.

Pam Cook (pam snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, I think you forgot that bit... Did you mention that bit to DVLA when you rang 'em?

If you can do it, you'll still need visit an LVLO. POs can't change the tax class.

Which is what I would have said, then I noticed it's not tested, which could be a bit of a problem...

There are one or two similarly stupid loopholes in the registration/MOT/taxation rules. My Mini Cubman estate is neither taxed nor SORNed because they won't let me. There was no tax on the car when SORN came into force, so when I send in a SORN notice I get a polite letter back saying I can't do that.

OTOH, if they won't register it in your name , they can't do you for not SORNing it!

You need to insure the car (obviously) and get it MoT'd. Then go to your local DVLA office with the documents and they will sort it out there and then. You will get a new tax disk, and they will post you an amended V5C registration document.

-- Howard Rose

Well, in that case, and off the top of my head, here's a couple of old registration numbers from cars of mine from the 60s and early 70s that were destroyed or scrapped by me, and never reported to the DVLC or whatever it was back then:

KPR 145

Maybe someone can get a new V5 or whatever using them? Seeing as I've been in the YooEss for 20 odd years now and being a bit out of touch with Tony's Britain, I'm curious also to know if it's possible to look up somewhere and find out what they were and who owned them.

They're much stricter than that; you'd need corresponding chassis numbers at the very least!

You can look up whether cars are taxed or not from the reg and model on the DVLA website. I beleive it's possible to find who owns a vehicle if you have "just cause" - quite how you prove that I'm not sure, as it seems to run contrary to the Data Protection Act (though I always wonder just whose data is being protected ;-)

I have lying around an old brown log book for a Herald; I also have the chassis plates for the same car. Now if I wanted to create a ringer from those I think I could just about get away with it!

Just a thought and not sure if it will work but if you get the previous (or according to DVLA current) owner to change the tax class you can then change ownership to yourself.

What I am not sure about is whether or not it is possible to change the tax class without taxing the vehicle.

Malcolm

What? Spend time and money on a car that's still registered to someone else? What happens when the previous owner gets a tax/SORN reminder and ticks the box to declare the car scrapped to keep the DVLA off their back?

Hi New to the group...Just a query .....I have bought an old BMW 1987 great car, not taxed or tested but a project.....now I have tried to register the car in my name but got a letter back from DVLA saying they cannot send a new registration doc. because there is a change to the rate of tax, (the lady who owned it had it on a diability tax) Surely there is a way I can get a registration doc. in my name...or if I choose to drive it and get done for speeding or something then the previous owner will receive the ticket....They say I cannot change the ownership details till I have tested the car and go to tax it...This seems absolutely barmy to me....wot if I want to sell the car????? no-one will want it with no registration docs.....will they???? Desperate for some answers....rang the tax office and the woman was most un-helpful saying i had to tax the car...... Is this true???? If so it could have changed hands (in theory) a dozen times before it could be traced......

Hoping some kind person can shed some light on this weird situation

Pam xx

Hi Willy.......Thank you .Thats exactly what I was saying...I do not intend driving it, I'm a law-abiding citizen...Just saying what could happen....Really do need to have the vehicle in my name while working on it...Is there any way that this can be done????? the rule seems barmy...what if I went to sorn the car in my name (it already has a sorn in previous owners name) at the local PO??? Thanks for all responses anyway............Pam

You have to tax it. It was the same when vehicles changed taxation class from PLG to Historic. They'll give you a disc there and then, and take your V5C away for amendment.

-- Howard Rose

Dean Dark ( snipped-for-privacy@comcast.notthis.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

They're not showing on the RAC's Vehicle Check. Without knowing what marque they were, DVLA's vehicle licence site won't tell you.

But the change from V5s to V5Cs over the last couple of years is intended to do exactly that - to chop all the old dead wood out of the vehicle record. If there's anything lying about without a V5C, one is going to have to be applied for sharpish or risk being deleted off the DVLA database - if it's later found and restored, it'll have to be re-registered.

Well, in case there's amusement value still to be had in this, they were respectively a 1957 Austin A35 and a 1959 Hillman Husky.

Last time I had to do this I needed the V5 and a V70 I think and had to send it to my LOCAL DVLA not Swansea, maybe a phone call to them might help.

I've just had a look at the DVLA website, and I can't see anything there which says either (a) that we need to apply for new documents for old cars or (b) how to do it. Can you give any leads on this? I have a Herald which has been off-road since before SORN ...

Ian

The message from Ian Johnston contains these words:

Just ask them. They changed mine without any problems after I complained.

I have a Mini Marcos which has been off the road since I had it, well before SORN, but I sent off the notification in the usual way and got a new V5. I've since sent that back and got a V5C and I have to declare SORN. That's the one for which they sent me a late licensing penalty notice after I declared SORN on their web site.

The message from Richard Porter contains these words:

Funny that. I haven't been told to do SORN now I have V5Cs for my pre-sorn wrecks.