Exporting a car from the UK

[Finlandia]

My plan is to export and drive the car from Greater London to Sweden. The car is MOT'd, insured (by a Swedish insurance company on the VIN, all documents will be with me in the car), tax is a bit trickier though, as I haven't got a UK address.
Risk it driving 60 miles to Harwich and on the ferry, try sorting tax on it somehow, or do I really have to trailer it to the ferry?

What could possibly go wrong?

[Finlandia]

Tax expired last year, so I guess it will be listed as non taxed on all databases.

[Finlandia]

TooMany2cvs said:

To be legal as a temporary import to another country, it has to be legal in the country it's registered in. So MOT, tax, UK insurance on a UK-reg vehicle.

Are you a Swedish resident? If so, the Swedish government may restrict you from driving a foreign-registered vehicle on Swedish roads, as there would be if it was all happening the other way around.

Who's it registered to currently? Clearly not you. They're the ones who are going to get a stroppy from any ANPR you trip.

I am a resident in Sweden, there are no restrictions on driving foreign cars in Sweden, or registering foreign cars even if they technically would be illegal to drive in the country of (previous) registration. The car is at a dealer, they will MOT it before the sale. It's just the tax bit for the 60 mile drive to Harwich that is slightly iffy.

[Finlandia]

AndrewEH1 said:

How is the V5 getting dealt with at the dealer? Being posted straight to the DVLA saying it's been exported?

Problem is that you don't have a UK address. I guess you could maybe use dealer plates? I don't know how legal that would be though, or how willing the dealer could be to that.

All paperwork, with a permanent export notification, would be sent to the DVLA on the day I pick the car up. Dealer plates would be one option, if the dealer would agree on it. Maybe pay the dealer to drive the car to the port would be another option.

[Finlandia]

It's nothing special, a Volvo C70 T5, but they are >6x the money over here, plus they are rustbuckets compared to the UK ones.

I can show you a photo of the one I've got now, it blew its bloody engine recently

[Finlandia]

I can't remember the exact Vs, 5s and letters now
When I have done this before everything has worked fine, filled in the documents, sent off the export notification to DVLA, dealer had taxed the car for half a year in advance (which was later sent in for refund), but as I understand it you can't do this under the new tax rules.

That would of course be another option, pay someone to drive it 60 miles and take the risk for me

[Finlandia]

Roo said:

CDB1983 said:

German transit plates,

http://www.transit-plate.com

Fill out all the online forms before you leave your home country, Arrive in the UK, remove UK plates and put the transit plates on and your good to go

Isn't that just for Germany?

That's how I understand it too, brilliant idea though.

[Finlandia]

KevinCamaroSS said:

It will also come up as uninsured on the insurance database.

IMHO you should tax it by month, pay the first payment, then cancel it when you arrive in Sweden. Take out some short term insurance and it is all legal.

I can't do that though as I don't have a UK address. It is insured on the VIN, so as long as I get stopped by a real police, I can produce all documents, except for the tax. I've done this before, the insurance, but the new tax rules make it impossible for me to tax it.

Will have another look at the German transit plates.

[Finlandia]

Le TVR said:

Finlandia said:

but the new tax rules make it impossible for me to tax it.

As I said, once you apply for a certificate of permanent export the tax is cancelled anyway. Even if you manage to get it taxed it will be cancelled as soon as the certifcate is issued.

Missed this bit

Once the document confirming permanent export arrives at DVLA the tax is cancelled, but what happens before that? The paperwork would be posted on the day I pick up the car, so basically I would be driving an untaxed car, or am I missing the point entirely?

Looks like the German transit plates or dealer plates would be my best option, or then risking it in the dark, the ferry leaves Harwich at 11pm.

[Finlandia]

Now we are getting somewhere, the above things could actually work, slightly bending the law but not really breaking it either.

[Finlandia]

solo2 said:

You can tax a car as a new keeper but not change the address on the V5C. use the document reference number to tax it on the green new keeper slip of the log book. It's one digit longer than the main document number.

DVLA will know that a new keeper has taxed the car and then you can driver it legally and export it. You just won't get a refund of the remaining tax

Cheers, that sounds best so far.

[Finlandia]

Thanks for the ideas and help. All went well, even if I ended up buying a different car than the one I initially had set my eyes on