Car tax situation, what do I do?

[TurboHatchback]

So I bought a car at an auction. I was there with my brother and in the heat of the moment as the hammer fell we weren't 100% sure who would keep it so he ended up putting his details on the slip which presumably they use to fill in the V5 to send off. It was decided straight afterward that I would keep the car, I paid all the money for it and it presumably needs to be taxed.

The trouble is presumably there is a V5 winging its way to the DVLA with his details as the new keeper on it so he will receive the new V5 in a few weeks. That can then be filled in with my details and sent off but in the mean time how do I go about taxing the car? It will be at least 6 weeks until I have a V5 officially showing me as the registered keeper. If I do it online now then as soon as the V5 is sent straight back with my details on it will show as a new keeper again and tax cannot now be transferred between keepers? It all seems rather stupid but I'm not sure what the best course of action is.

[TurboHatchback]

Birdster said:

Just keep him as the keeper for now. Tell the insurance company so and all is good.

I have a feeling that would increase the cost or cause them to refuse cover. Family members have had insurance companies refuse to cover cars that were still registered as someone elses.

TooMany2cvs said:

You've got the new keeper slip, yep? Tax it on that.

I think I do yes but what then happens when I am officially made the new keeper in a few weeks time? Presumably I then get a refund minus one month and have to re-tax the car due to the change of keeper even though it was mine all along?

[TurboHatchback]

kambites said:

You don't lose a month when you cancel tax, you lose the remainder of the current month. Surely you can get him to tax it; SORN it and transfer the ownership on the last day of one month; then re-tax it on the first day of the next?

I understood that you lost the remainder of the current month but that only took effect when the DVLA got round to processing the received V5C so timing that accurately would be impossible. If one can SORN and tax online then I guess that could work. So:

• Tax the car online using the new keeper slip
• Wait until brother receives new V5C
• SORN online on the last day of that month, send off V5 with my details on
• Retax car online on 1st of the next month using the new keeper slip from the new V5

It all sounds a mighty faff but hopefully it'll work ok.