A tale to tell..... a car with multiple registrations

[Capricorn1601]

Thought I might share this tale with you. As we all know a car registration is meant to be the one thing which is unique to that vehicle alone. Well hear this...

 

My husband until August last year owned a Volvo which we had bought from new. On purchase of this car we put on a private plate, so this vehicle was never actually registered as per the 08/58 type registrations of late. I suppose had it been it would have been on a 54 plate as we collected it Christmas Eve 2004.

 

So last year he decided to change his car once again, this time for a 6 month old BMW. We started the documentation and had the private plate de-registered from the Volvo ready to switch to his new purchase. This took about two weeks. We then went along to the local DVLA and re-registered it to his new car. About a week later we received a V5 for the Volvo, but it was on a 04 plate. I was curious at first but thought oh so what its not my car anymore. We duly signed the V5, took it to the garage and thought that was the end of the matter.

 

About 3 months later we received another V5. I was confused what this was but being a busy working mum put it in the not sure what to do with this pile and thought no more about it. If it were for the Volvo then we would have no way of tracing the car now as it had been sold on.

 

So just before xmas we received a letter from the DVLA saying we were being fined for not taxing our car. A car we no longer owned. I rang up the office and tried to explain the the numpty on the helpdesk what had happened. THey wouldnt listen and said it was our fault for not signing the V5 and transferring it with the vehicle. How could we have possibly done this three months after we sold it to a garage in P/x? They simply werent interested in anything we had to say.

 

By this time I was really angry. There was a car on the road with two registration numbers assigned to it. This wasnt our fault, surely the DVLA have records of numbers they have issued and when?

 

So I wrote a rather lenghty letter back to them and photocopied every document I could to support our claim. We also got the garage we sold it to to write also to back up the claim.

 

The outcome.

 

It took about 2 months to resolve, and all we got from them was..... we will not be taking this any further??? No apology for their systems not working.

[MrShed]

I was under the impression (probably wrongly) that even if you put a private plate on a vehicle, it still has a "standard" plate that is just not in use at that time.

 

Otherwise, you end up with exactly this situation, as you have a car new with a private plate, and 5 or 10 years down the line you sell this car. The car cannot be issued with a current plate, as otherwise you are showing the vehicle to be younger than it is.

 

I think that the "multiple plate" thing here is standard and a red herring, to the actual problem that the DVLA have simply pursued the wrong person!

[crem]

I was under the impression (probably wrongly) that even if you put a private plate on a vehicle, it still has a "standard" plate that is just not in use at that time.

 

Otherwise, you end up with exactly this situation, as you have a car new with a private plate, and 5 or 10 years down the line you sell this car. The car cannot be issued with a current plate, as otherwise you are showing the vehicle to be younger than it is.

 

I think that the "multiple plate" thing here is standard and a red herring, to the actual problem that the DVLA have simply pursued the wrong person!

 

I have had several cars from new on which I apply my private plate. These cars, to my knowledge, are not assigned a "standard" number at that time, but are allocated an appropriate number for the year of purchase when I apply to transfer my plate to another car. As it would be physically impossible to exhaust all the available numbers for a given year, it would be impossible for there not to be a number they can give it even 5, 10, 15 years down the line, but still indicate the appropriate first year of purchase.

[Capricorn1601]

no red herring. They chased the second number plate on the 54 plate. but the car is running around still to my knowledge on a 05 plate. Two registrations were issued on the same vehicle, and if the new owner can tax it then there is clearly a flaw in the system.

[Capricorn1601]

oh just for the record. The volvo was brand new, straight from the factory, it WAS only ever registered on the private plate from new.

[patdavies]

The situation is a crem describes. If you register a car from new with a cherished number, then no other registration is allocated.

 

When you retain the cherished number, the car is issued with a new VRM appropriate to its age. Usually, this is the original VRM where the car was previously registered prior to the cherished VRM - but it doesn't have to be. Not so long ago, you had to specifically request this so you could use the original plates and save money. For a car that was not registered prior to the cherished number, it is always a new age-appropriate VRM.

 

When the cherished number is placed on retention or transferred, you are cautioned that you should not dispose of the vehicle until you have received the new V5C - this is specifically stated on the documentation. Once you have the new V5C, you should complete it as normal for transfer of keeper, and send off the V5C or the yellow slip - depending on the status of the new keeper.

 

I think form you post that you are being pursued for non-payment of VED on the second issued VRM/V5C. In which case, I would simply write back by signed for delivery that this vehicle does not exist and that the Volvo with that VIN is registered to the other VRM and that this was disposed of on XXX date and DVLA were informed.

 

When you disposed of the Volvo and informed DVLA, you shuld ahve had a letter of acjknowledgement, enclose a copy of this.