disputed personal registration

[Fox-]

paullawrence240 said:

mmmmm, that's where it gets interesting, if the plate belongs to the car, then how come I didn't buy if off a car

Because you purchased the right to assign it to a car.

[quote]
I bought it off a registration site, so I thought my receipt says I own the plate,

No, you own the right to assign the registration number to an appropriate vehicle. From then on, it belongs on that vehicle until such time as somebody applies to transfer it off.

[saaby93]

Remember that the V5C doesnt say who owns the car.
The contract of sale is covered in that piece of paper

If she hasn't satisfied the terms of the contract she doesnt own the car, you still own it .

How much is the plate worth (it could be worth more than the car)?
How much do you want to pursue it?

Edited by saaby93 on Thursday 7th May 09:49

[Sad Ken]

Same thing happened to a mate of mine, sold the car on the promise the plate would be sent back, buyer apparently smashed the car up on the way home and was never heard from again.

Blessing in disguise if you ask me mind, the plate was a bit naff, so naff he had what it was supposed to read spelt out underneath lol.

[imagineifyeswill]

You should never sell a car with a private plate on it, the plate has to be put on retention first, even more important now that tax is no longer transferrable. The minute the new owner applies for road tax the number becomes theirs, I fell heir to a private number that way through buying a car the owner had left with a dealer to sell, the vehicle was 180 miles away from me and untaxed, I bought the car on a Saturday morning, thedealer gave me the paperwork and I went straight to post office and taxed it, number was now mine.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Agree. Not sure if it's worth fighting, but the OP has a pretty strong case despite the doom and gloom on here. There is clearly a contract in place.

I had it written and signed on the receipt of sale. It means nothing, the DVLA confirmed this and it says as much on their website i believe.

Why would you consult DVLA on matters of contract law?

Because when part of your contract with them states that 'You must not sell or get rid of your vehicle until you receive a new registration certificate, as the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration number if they want to.' there is not much more to know really.

You do not have a contract with DVLA. You are confusing regulations with a contract. They have their rules and of course if you sell a car with a personalised number, under normal circumstances, that's that. Unless you have a contract with the buyer whereby they agree to give up the rights to that plate at a later date.

[TooMany2cvs]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Unless you have a contract with the buyer whereby they agree to give up the rights to that plate at a later date.

And, if they don't honour that agreement, the next step is going legal...

[saaby93]

TooMany2cvs said:

And, if they don't honour that agreement, the next step is going legal...

Unless DVLA will act on a late V317
If DVLA did , would the buyer go legal on trying to get the plate back? me thinks not.

If the seller goes legal now, it's initially for the car with the plate, since the buyer hasn't satisfied the contract.
On receipt of a solicitors letter would the buyer back down?


Never mind, I said that already. tomorrows an election and we could be in another world

Edited by saaby93 on Wednesday 6th May 22:17

[R8Steve]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Agree. Not sure if it's worth fighting, but the OP has a pretty strong case despite the doom and gloom on here. There is clearly a contract in place.

I had it written and signed on the receipt of sale. It means nothing, the DVLA confirmed this and it says as much on their website i believe.

Why would you consult DVLA on matters of contract law?

Because when part of your contract with them states that 'You must not sell or get rid of your vehicle until you receive a new registration certificate, as the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration number if they want to.' there is not much more to know really.

You do not have a contract with DVLA. You are confusing regulations with a contract. They have their rules and of course if you sell a car with a personalised number, under normal circumstances, that's that. Unless you have a contract with the buyer whereby they agree to give up the rights to that plate at a later date.

And the regulations state that if you sell the car before you receive the registration certificate back the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration if they want to, written contract or not.

[Ruffy94]

Fox- said:

Why do people do this? It's totally nuts.

The plate doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the CAR. Therefore if you sell a car, the plate goes with it, regardless of what you might write notes about. You rely purely on the goodwill of the buyer to get it back. It isn't your plate, which is how this problem arises. It's owned by the DVLA and assigned to the car.

I will never understand why people don't transfer the plate BEFORE they sell the car. It is the only safe to do it and the only real correct way to do it.

Reminds me of the the odd car advert you see crop up that says 'alloys aren't included, bring your own'. Who in their right mind, sells a car with no wheels.

Also vaguely reminds me of when people selling a house state that carpets aren't included (even though there's no possible chance of you taking carpets to a different house and them fitting)

[Pet Troll]

R8Steve said:

And the regulations state that if you sell the car before you receive the registration certificate back the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration if they want to, written contract or not.

The DVLA regulations can say what they want, it doesn't mean it trumps the law though. They could say 'if you sell a car with a private registration it will automatically become the property of the queen' for all I care, it doesn't make it law.

If you sold a car and wrote on the receipt of sale something like:

Sale of car, excluding any loose contents, to mr bloggs for £500.

If he then found your priceless wedding ring under the seat, told you he had found it, but refused to return it, don't you think he would have broken the contract you had?!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

R8Steve said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Agree. Not sure if it's worth fighting, but the OP has a pretty strong case despite the doom and gloom on here. There is clearly a contract in place.

I had it written and signed on the receipt of sale. It means nothing, the DVLA confirmed this and it says as much on their website i believe.

Why would you consult DVLA on matters of contract law?

Because when part of your contract with them states that 'You must not sell or get rid of your vehicle until you receive a new registration certificate, as the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration number if they want to.' there is not much more to know really.

You do not have a contract with DVLA. You are confusing regulations with a contract. They have their rules and of course if you sell a car with a personalised number, under normal circumstances, that's that. Unless you have a contract with the buyer whereby they agree to give up the rights to that plate at a later date.

And the regulations state that if you sell the car before you receive the registration certificate back the new keeper will be entitled to keep the registration if they want to, written contract or not.

Please show me a link to the words "written contract or not" in the DVLA regulations.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

TooMany2cvs said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Unless you have a contract with the buyer whereby they agree to give up the rights to that plate at a later date.

And, if they don't honour that agreement, the next step is going legal...

Quite right. Which may not be worth the effort, but that's for the OP to decide.

People are confusing regulations with contract law. If I sell my house, the regulations state that at the point of sale everything in the house becomes the property of the new owner. But suppose I have a pond of koi carp in the house I'm selling, and I will be building a pond in my new house to accommodate them. I can draw up a contract with my buyers whereby they agree that 3 months after the sale, I will be back to remove the fish. If we both agree to that, and sign a contract, then the regulations mean nothing.