My wife bought a second hand car from a dealer last year. Everything was fine until we realised the tax was about to expire and we hadn’t got the V5 back. Chased dealer, he claimed he’d sent it off, DVLA began process but it took two months during which time we had to SORN the car.

I bought a second hand car from a dealer in July and I’ve just realised I’ve not had the V5 back either so the same thing is going to happen. It’s immensely frustrating and yes I should have chased up sooner but I just forgot about it.

Chased dealer, he says he sent it off and I’ve had no bad vibes from this guy, if he’s a con merchant he’s very, very convincing. Seems totally legit, the car has been great, big garage.

So I reckon the DVLA has cocked up both registrations and I complain but they have said it’s the dealers avoiding compliance.

So my question is, what do the dealers gain by not sending the V5 off?

Don’t you get the V5 or at least your part of it at the time?

I’m sure that’s what happened last time I bought a car from dealer (in summer) and before that (which was 12 years previously..)

Yeah, you get section 10 and I’ve just dug that out which is good so I can at least tax it (I think) and I think it also means I can get the car transferred without having to pay any money but I’m still unsure why a dealer wouldn’t do this.

You have to understand that the DVLA is inept almost to the point of criminality. The dealers will have sent off the V5Cs, I’m 99.99999% certain of it.

See here for my most recent dealings with the charlatans.

just can’t be arsed / needs director signature?

When I looked at the V5 for our car I noticed it was down as a 4 door saloon. It’s a 5 door estate; the salesman (have no reason to doubt him) reckoned it had been like that from first registration, no-one had been bothered with the hassle of correcting it. I can see why – blimey what a palaver – needed to get it signed off by a dealer or get a letter from Skoda UK head office to confirm the VIN referred to a 5 door estate.

All corrected now.

I’ve been in the same boat, all be it with a private seller. You can use the section 10 to tax the car for a limited time only. I was stuck with a van that was supposed to be earning me money off the road for a month because of the the DVLA dragging their heels.

Are you able to tax it online using the ref no. on the section 10?

Ta chaps, I’m going with the DVLA being at fault. I’ll see if I can do it online using that then send it off for registration.

I’ve just realised mine has the wrong engine code too. It says it’s a CAGA which you only get in the 4WD version.

Separate section I think for edits, but you might need it signed off with letterhead from dealer (not just trader).

If it matters to you, otherwise leave that headache for someone else.

I just changed my car and also retained a personalised plate.

When I got the V5 and the MOT back they had different registration numbers. Only one digit out but different.

I bought a new car mid September, dealer said the V5 would take about 14 days to come back. Couldn’t use the online system as the car had just come off a private plate and the system didn’t recognise the new reg, went to the post office with the section 10 and didn’t have any problems.
V5 did take about three weeks from purchase date to arrive back with me though.

Looks like I can only do it by post. I’ve chanced it and sent them the section 10 bit. I;ve got till the end of December.

/touches wood.

/looks at gif thread

/…..

Hmmm – this all seems to coincide with DVLA closing local offices.

I know on the one occasion I went to the large local office it was packed, mostly with dealers and seemed to be generally very efficient.

So now they are trying to do all that work remotely for the entire country – I wonder why it goes wrong?….

Well the wonderful DVLA who are super brilliant and I love them all, have returned my V5 in record time. Aaah, they’re brilliant.