DVLA legal action advice.

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jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Hi All

I recently sold a car which had a private/irish plate. I didnt get around to transferring the plate off before sale. As part of negotiation with the new owner he advised if I dropped my price by £50 I could keep the plate he didnt care so I dropped my plate.

Long and short I was unsure if I intended to retain the plate initially but since he messed me around a bit I decided to keep it and advised him of this when I dropped it off with him. He was not overly thrilled nor were his parents who were present but i figured who cares I will do so anyway.

I therefore sent off the change of owner paperwork and relevant docs for numberplate retention. I recently got a letter from dvla advising I was no longer registered keeper of the car. No retention certificate.

I have just called and been told it was denied as the car was untaxed from date of sale. I asked if I would receive a refund of tax from point of sale to end of month and was told not. I pointed out that therefore the car was not untaxed as road tax had been paid and until I sent them the paperwork they were unaware of new owner and would have considered the car to be legally taxed until such time as I advised them otherwise and they would have continued to debit my account. Ergo car could not have been un taxed.

I am wondering if any of the legal beagles think it would be worth wasting some of my time launching a small claims court claim against the DVLA for the value of the plate which is not huge only about £3-400 but it pisses me off that they are trying it on like this. I can prove the plates value as I had it on ebay at one point and had bids so can prove what people were/are willing to pay for it.


TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
I recently sold a car which had a private/irish plate.
Northern Irish, I presume you mean? Big difference.

jimmybobby said:
I therefore sent off the change of owner paperwork... I recently got a letter from dvla advising I was no longer registered keeper of the car.

...would have considered the car to be legally taxed until such time as I advised them otherwise
Which you did by telling them of a change of keeper.

They did exactly what you asked them to do - you sent them a V5C with new keeper details and the NI plate still on it - so you've transferred the plate to the new keeper. Their plate now, not yours.

DO THE PLATE TRANSFER FIRST. Completely do it.

harveys

160 posts

123 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Considering the car buyer didn't even want it for £50...it's probably worth less you think

Davel

8,982 posts

257 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
You can now do it on line in minutes but sadly too late in this instance.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
jimmybobby said:
I recently sold a car which had a private/irish plate.
Northern Irish, I presume you mean? Big difference.

jimmybobby said:
I therefore sent off the change of owner paperwork... I recently got a letter from dvla advising I was no longer registered keeper of the car.

...would have considered the car to be legally taxed until such time as I advised them otherwise
Which you did by telling them of a change of keeper.

They did exactly what you asked them to do - you sent them a V5C with new keeper details and the NI plate still on it - so you've transferred the plate to the new keeper. Their plate now, not yours.

DO THE PLATE TRANSFER FIRST. Completely do it.
I sent plate transfer paperwork at the same time as change of ownership which I was advised by a member of staff was acceptable.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
harveys said:
Considering the car buyer didn't even want it for £50...it's probably worth less you think
Ebay auction tends to disagree but thanks for your viewpoint.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Davel said:
You can now do it on line in minutes but sadly too late in this instance.
You would think however it refused to let me do it online hence my sending off the paperwork. When I tried to do it online car was taxed, insured and MOT'd in my name but the system said I had to apply by paper.

Davel

8,982 posts

257 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
That's exactly what happened to me so I stalled on the sale till the paperwork was completed.

DVLA say that it can now mostly be done live on-line though.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Davel said:
That's exactly what happened to me so I stalled on the sale till the paperwork was completed.

DVLA say that it can now mostly be done live on-line though.
Sadly I could not stall on the sale. I needed it gone before its MOT ran out.

BertBert

18,954 posts

210 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
In answer to your question, no not worth it.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
BertBert said:
In answer to your question, no not worth it.
Thanks Bertbert

I assume aside from wasting their time and a little of my money logic has little chance of success against law in this ?

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
Sadly I could not stall on the sale. I needed it gone before its MOT ran out.
Of course you could. It doesn't take long to do a retention.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
BertBert said:
In answer to your question, no not worth it.
Thanks Bertbert

I assume aside from wasting their time and a little of my money logic has little chance of success against law in this ?
The DVLA's money is public money, so by wasting DVLA's time in a pointless claim you would be wasting your own money and that of everyone else. Please don't!

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Breadvan72 said:
jimmybobby said:
BertBert said:
In answer to your question, no not worth it.
Thanks Bertbert

I assume aside from wasting their time and a little of my money logic has little chance of success against law in this ?
The DVLA's money is public money, so by wasting DVLA's time in a pointless claim you would be wasting your own money and that of everyone else. Please don't!
I assumed my above post somewhat answered that anyway. Bertbert advised against and albeit not really in the spirit of PH I decided to take his advice.

jimmybobby

Original Poster:

348 posts

105 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
Roo said:
jimmybobby said:
Sadly I could not stall on the sale. I needed it gone before its MOT ran out.
Of course you could. It doesn't take long to do a retention.
It had two weeks MOT left on day of sale. The online system would not allow me to retain it and said I had to send off the paperwork. I was having a ballache selling it and as such having got a buyer I was not going to ask that they wait till I received the retention certificate before taking ownership as the mot will possibly have run out by then.

I was also advised I did not need to ask the buyer to wait as I could send both documents at the same time and the plate would be retained and the new owner issued a new V5 with a new plate. I now know this not to be the case.

Welcome to the DVLA. Inept and corrupt.

Red Devil

13,055 posts

207 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
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jimmybobby said:
Welcome to the DVLA. Inept and corrupt.
Corrupt, no. Inept, certainly.

The postcode for paper based changes of RK using the V5C is SA99 1BA. That for cherished plate retentions and transfers is SA99 1DS
Dealt with by different departments so, even if you send both in the same envelope, you are relying on the DVLA communicating internally.

Good luck with that. rolleyes

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
Can you clarify something.

Did they take your £80 and then refuse to effect the transfer you had paid for?

V8LM

5,166 posts

208 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
I sent plate transfer paperwork at the same time as change of ownership which I was advised by a member of staff was acceptable.
Staff of the DVLA?

Transfer of reg and transfer of RK can't be done simultaneously - what reg is listed on the V5C that you signed? Who was named as the RK on the transfer document?

You can transfer reg online and is instant, the new V5 arrives a little time (days*) later.

  • usually

Edited by V8LM on Thursday 3rd September 07:05

monthefish

20,439 posts

230 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
Welcome to the DVLA. Inept and corrupt.
yes

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
jimmybobby said:
Roo said:
jimmybobby said:
Sadly I could not stall on the sale. I needed it gone before its MOT ran out.
Of course you could. It doesn't take long to do a retention.
It had two weeks MOT left on day of sale. The online system would not allow me to retain it and said I had to send off the paperwork. I was having a ballache selling it and as such having got a buyer I was not going to ask that they wait till I received the retention certificate before taking ownership as the mot will possibly have run out by then.

I was also advised I did not need to ask the buyer to wait as I could send both documents at the same time and the plate would be retained and the new owner issued a new V5 with a new plate. I now know this not to be the case.

Welcome to the DVLA. Inept and corrupt.
Yes' they are often inept but corrupt? Not really.

I am surprised that anyone, these days, would not know that it's by far the safest way to complete retention of a number before selling a car. It's been that way for years.

If the car was up for sale why not put the number on retention as soon as it was up for sale? It doesn't sound like you decided to sell and sold it that same day or even week?

No, in this case, you got what you deserved. Take responsibility for your own mistake.

As for thinking an eBay auction valuation is remotely accurate........that's your second mistake.