S/H car without a V5

"Clive George" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Depends.

If it's something generic, and worth "real money", then the big question has to be why they've not bothered spending the £25 to make the sale easier.

If it's something more specialist, and otherwise worth having, then do some more homework.

If it's dirt cheap to the point where you're happy to take the risk, then go by your gut feel of the vendor.

Depends. Does the seller, the car or the history look dodgy? If your gut instinct is telling you to walk away then do so, if not follow your wallet :)

I've bought a few cars without V5s, but have never had any problems (well, only the ones I was expecting!!)

Ok, less negative than I'd thought. What if there was no other documentation linking the seller to the car reg? (receipts, insurance).

Depending on what age / money the car is, the main one I'd be concerned about is if there's any finance outstanding on it in this respect; if it's on the insurance register for any other reason... well it should be reasonably obvious when he visually checks it over as to whether or not it's had a bad repair.

As others have said, go with your instincts if the car is something he really wants so long as it's not iffy. :-)

-- JackH

Why has he (the seller) not got a V5?

Lost it? If he doesn't look after important stuff and is not happy to get a new one what else has he forgotten to do over it's time with him? Stolen car? Probably the least likely option unless there is clear signs of damage . Log Book Loan? Now this is quite common at the moment with tight finance, hand over the log book and title to the car as security on finance, the biggest risk here is that if someone is out to con you they can get a duplicate V5 to hand over to you and if they sell quickly enough HPI type checks can miss it.

I've sold a few without V5s. Until I got a wife to take care of such things, I could lose something in a totally empty room. Never had a problem. Bought a couple without V5s too, never had an issue. Just do a vehicle check first as others have suggested.

Mike P

I've bought a couple with just the new keepers slip before because the owner before last never bothered to send it off, and the last owner never chased it, or filled in the new keeper slip.