Buying a car that's on a private plate and transfer.

[carter711]

Afternoon All,

I am going to look at a car this evening with the intention of buying it.

The owner has told me it is on a private plate that he wants to keep, he tells me that he is going to need to keep the V5 and MOT certificate to put the plate on retention but will provide me with a copy of each, and sent the actual documents to me when the plate has been put on retention.


Is this common practice?

Thanks,
Carter711.

[oobster]

Yup, although the sensible thing would have been for him to get the plate put on retention before he put it up for sale.

I recently sold my car and didn't follow my own advice though. Sold the car & forwarded on the MOT, tax disc and V5 onto the new owner once the DVLA sent them to me.

[carter711]

Cheers for that. So he will need to keep the tax disc as well?

[Shaw Tarse]

Tax disc stays with the car until one with new reg' is issued.Then you send off the origional.

[pdV6]

If you want to get pedantic, he needs to transfer the plate off before selling the car to you. If he doesn't, then the plate is technically yours.

Personally, I'd be very wary of forking over the cash and letting him keep the V5.

If he knew he was selling the car in the near future, there was nothing stopping him sorting out the paperwork asap and then doing it "right".

[Roo.]

pdV6 said:

If you want to get pedantic, he needs to transfer the plate off before selling the car to you. If he doesn't, then the plate is technically yours.

Personally, I'd be very wary of forking over the cash and letting him keep the V5.

If he knew he was selling the car in the near future, there was nothing stopping him sorting out the paperwork asap and then doing it "right".

This is what I did. Dropped the paperwork at the local VRO and got all the new stuff back 3 days later. New V5 arrived a week after that. Then I put the car up for sale.

[zcacogp]

When I bought the 944 it had a private plate on it which was transferred back to the previous owner. Yes, posting off the V5 and other documents was a bit of an anomaly (and made me more than a little nervous), but I trusted the guy, and had been to both his home address and work address (he owned the business) as part of the sale, and I trusted him.

It worked out OK. Just make sure you trust him, get everything in writing, and stay on top of him in terms of progress ...

(Agree about it being easier if it had been done before the sale tho'. Disorganised car sellers .. tsk!)


Oli.

[kentmotorcompany]

When I take PX's that have private plates the customer wants to keep, I just retain a small amount (normally £250) until I recieve the new V5 back.
Its just enough of an incentive for the seller to make sure it gets done pronto.

[monthefish]

zcacogp said:

When I bought the 944 it had a private plate on it which was transferred back to the previous owner. Yes, posting off the V5 and other documents was a bit of an anomaly (and made me more than a little nervous), but I trusted the guy, and had been to both his home address and work address (he owned the business) as part of the sale, and I trusted him.

It worked out OK. Just make sure you trust him, get everything in writing, and stay on top of him in terms of progress ...

(Agree about it being easier if it had been done before the sale tho'. Disorganised car sellers .. tsk!)


Oli.

+1 pretty much. Same scnario - same outcome.

Bit of a hassle, but I assume the seller doesn't sort it upfront as it costs to put it onto retention, and then costs again to get it assigned to a vehicle. (Cheaper to transfer it once).

Also, my experiences of dealing with these things is that it takes ages, due to vast amounts of incompetence and a severe lack of communication/co-operation between DVLA Swansea and DVLA local office.

[carter711]

Thanks for the help!