Car written off with personal plate. Adivice please!

[notax]

I recently parted company with my TVR Chimaera and sold it to a friend with my personal plate still on the car, but on the understanding I would take the plate back when I bought a car to stick it on. Sadly he wrote the car off yesterday

I have been going round in circles with blasted DVLA call centres and got nowhere. Does anyone know how I can keep the plate? Or technically how he can keep it as the car was registered as his? Thanks.

[jdw1234]

notax said:

I recently parted company with my TVR Chimaera and sold it to a friend with my personal plate still on the car, but on the understanding I would take the plate back when I bought a car to stick it on. Sadly he wrote the car off yesterday

I have been going round in circles with blasted DVLA call centres and got nowhere. Does anyone know how I can keep the plate? Or technically how he can keep it as the car was registered as his? Thanks.

Yep. If it had an mot just send off the paperwork now to transfer it off.

Do this before paperwork goes to insurance company or they will take ownership.

[MrReg]

Get the paperwork over to the DVLA now to get it transferred.
Alternatively get your mate to speak to his insurance company to ensure it will come off when he gives them the V5C.

[McSam]

As said, send off the retention form as usual. You need to send the MOT certificate with it, so make sure he makes a copy of it in case his insurers want the MOT number to confirm its validity or anything like that.

Definitely do not give any paperwork to the insurers until the registration is sorted, though, or you could come into difficulty. The MOT, tax disc and V948 (authorisation certificate to use the registration) should come back within a week, the V5C will usually take another week after that.

[Pontoneer]

Cant he simply place the mark on retention ?

Although he crashed it yesterday , it won't actually be written off the insurance books until he accepts and receives their payout .

In the meantime the car is still taxed , MOT'd and even insured so legally nothing to stop putting the plate on retention , or transferring to another vehicle . The physical state of the car does not matter as long as all the paperwork is in order .

[mercfunder]

Ask the insurance company to tell you they have no interest in the plate, then pop down to local DVLA office and put it on retention.
Tell the insurance company to save any hassle later on.

[notax]

Thanks for the advice, i'll get it sorted. We hope that he can buy the car back from the insurers in which case there won't be a problem, but no idea what they'll value it at...

[calibrax]

notax said:

Thanks for the advice, i'll get it sorted. We hope that he can buy the car back from the insurers in which case there won't be a problem, but no idea what they'll value it at...

Be aware that if he buys it back, the insurance company will have written it off cat C or D, and informed the DVLA, which may cause problems. Get it transferred before that happens.

[Powderpuff]

Have just had to do this for my mother.

I spoke to DVLA and they confirmed they would want a letter from the insurer to confirm they had no interest in the plate and confirmation of the condition of the car as they would not be able to inspect it (as they sometimes wish to do). The insurer happily issued a letter and a copy of the full engineers inspection report and repair quotation.

I went to my local DVLA with the signed retention paperwork, V5, MOT and the insurance documents and they confirmed it was all in order and put it into the system. A couple of weeks late new V5 was issued as was an MOT with the revised registration. Once I had these they went to the insurance company.

The insurer was Aviva who actually have a 'cherished number retention team'....all handled very well indeed.