Can’t retain plate online

[Dogbash]

Hi all,

We are currently in the process of swapping my wife’s car. I’ve gone to remove the personalized plate online today and I’m getting a message of “this registration cannot be retained online”. I’ve never had this before and have had to fill out the form to send in the post instead.

Has anyone had to do this recently and if so what kind of wait can I expect?

Thanks

[SeanyD]

Dogbash said:

Hi all,

We are currently in the process of swapping my wife’s car. I’ve gone to remove the personalized plate online today and I’m getting a message of “this registration cannot be retained online”. I’ve never had this before and have had to fill out the form to send in the post instead.

Has anyone had to do this recently and if so what kind of wait can I expect?

Thanks

Yes, My MiL had this a couple of weeks back, and needed to resort to paper forms and posting. Didn't give any reason or explanation online, and nothing we're aware of out of the ordinary re the plate or the transaction.

[Dogbash]

SeanyD said:

Yes, My MiL had this a couple of weeks back, and needed to resort to paper forms and posting. Didn't give any reason or explanation online, and nothing we're aware of out of the ordinary re the plate or the transaction.

How long did hers take to come back?
Cheers

[Vipers]

I shall be doing same soon, so tell me, I understand to retain the plate and put the original plates on is £80 but what does it cost to put those plates on a new vehicle?, guessing same.

[redguy]

Vipers said:

I shall be doing same soon, so tell me, I understand to retain the plate and put the original plates on is £80 but what does it cost to put those plates on a new vehicle?, guessing same.

Free. The £80 is all you pay.

Done it a few times, most recently about 2 months ago.

[Stella Tortoise]

The plate has been on a car in the trade.

[Jefferson Steelflex]

It’s been discussed on here many times. DVLA have this quite ridiculous rule where if the car has, at any time in the past 5 years, been SORN or otherwise untaxed, they will not allow you to retain it online and require paper forms so they can do some checks.

Quite why this rule exists, what checks they actually do, and how many rejections they process as a result, they’ve never disclosed to me (and i’ve asked a few times).

Response times are about 6 weeks currently I think.

[A Winner Is You]

Dogbash said:

SeanyD said:

Yes, My MiL had this a couple of weeks back, and needed to resort to paper forms and posting. Didn't give any reason or explanation online, and nothing we're aware of out of the ordinary re the plate or the transaction.

How long did hers take to come back?
Cheers

I've been waiting more than 2 months, still taxing a car I no longer own and with the V5 in my name.

[Lord_Howit_Hertz]

12 months here, for a car that was sorn'd after an MOT failure, couldnt decide if to fix or scrap the MX5, so Sorn'd decided retain reg and scrap..... DVLA decided they needed to inspect the car physically to prove it exists, but because of COVID they are still working through a back log.

I hate the DVLA. they are taking the mick on another level.

[Dogbash]

Great, so I could be waiting forever then.

Typical DVLA.

[Vipers]

redguy said:

Vipers said:

I shall be doing same soon, so tell me, I understand to retain the plate and put the original plates on is £80 but what does it cost to put those plates on a new vehicle?, guessing same.

Free. The £80 is all you pay.

Done it a few times, most recently about 2 months ago.

Thank you.

[B'stard Child]

Dogbash said:

Great, so I could be waiting forever then.

Typical DVLA.

Has the car recently changed it’s tax status?

Ie was Sorn and now taxed or was taxed now Sorn?

[phumy]

Jefferson Steelflex said:

It’s been discussed on here many times. DVLA have this quite ridiculous rule where if the car has, at any time in the past 5 years, been SORN or otherwise untaxed, they will not allow you to retain it online and require paper forms so they can do some checks.

Quite why this rule exists, what checks they actually do, and how many rejections they process as a result, they’ve never disclosed to me (and i’ve asked a few times).

Response times are about 6 weeks currently I think.

Absolute rubbish ^^^^^^^^^

I have 2 plates that i have transfered from car to car many times (when they get changed over the last 6 years and i always SORN both of my cars every year, I transfered one on line only 2 weeks ago.

Edited to add, that when done on line it is almost done instantaneously as long as you have your V5 and the V778 (Retention Document) in front of you at the time as there are unique numbers on both documents. No cost if you are putting the personal number on a vehicle, but if taking off it costs £80.

Edited by phumy on Wednesday 1st September 08:26

[Dogbash]

It’s strange because we had no issue when assigning the plate to the vehicle a year ago. Also it’s been taxed for that entire time. My mother in law tried assigning her plate recently too to her car and got the same message. We have assigned plates lots of times over the years and never had an issue, then we have had the same message twice in the last few weeks. I think something has changed at DVLA.

Thanks

[Captainfred]

Currently going through the same hell with removing a private plate. I’ve been waiting a month and had to send in the paper application. It’s a complete joke. They shouldn’t be cashing the £80 for the inconvenience they have caused in my opinion.

They are currently on strike and want to impact services which cause the most disruption. They should sack all those involved

[silverfoxcc]

Jefferson Steelflex said:

It’s been discussed on here many times. DVLA have this quite ridiculous rule where if the car has, at any time in the past 5 years, been SORN or otherwise untaxed, they will not allow you to retain it online and require paper forms so they can do some checks.

Quite why this rule exists, what checks they actually do, and how many rejections they process as a result, they’ve never disclosed to me (and i’ve asked a few times).

Response times are about 6 weeks currently I think.

Not in my case

Car has been SORN since Oct 19

Intend selling it (and WBAC DO NOT live up to the name of the company....). and i wanted to keep the plate. On Line requested retention cert, and the old plate was put back and Retention cert in th post within 5 days AND the MOT history is now on the old plate right back!!!

[MGirl]

I would think that the issue isn’t the SORN but if a car has at any point in the past 5 years been untaxed but not SORN and I could think of that happening when you part ex a car to a dealership. It will sit there with no VED until the car is sold. If that lapses over a month end then it will more than likely cause issues further down the line.

[worsy]

I wonder if the checks are on cars with extended SORN - One of the rules is that it must move under it's own power so SORN with current MOT or SORN < 3 years old would be ok.

[waynecyclist]

MGirl said:

I would think that the issue isn’t the SORN but if a car has at any point in the past 5 years been untaxed but not SORN and I could think of that happening when you part ex a car to a dealership. It will sit there with no VED until the car is sold. If that lapses over a month end then it will more than likely cause issues further down the line.

^^^This 100%, I could not do it online with my last car as at some point in its life it had been in the trade and untaxed.

[Xenoous]

Vipers said:

I shall be doing same soon, so tell me, I understand to retain the plate and put the original plates on is £80 but what does it cost to put those plates on a new vehicle?, guessing same.

As someone else mentioned, it's free after you pay the £80 retention fee. I done this only a couple of weeks ago.