Buying car with personalised plates

[13eth]

My boyfriend has been to view a car today (private seller), the car had private plates on when he got there but when my boyfriend has paid, the seller has taken the private plates off and swapped these for the original plates. He says he has done the online application to swap the plates over. Is this okay? Can we insure and drive the car as it is?

[Richard-D]

What has been done with the V5?

[13eth]

He has filled in the new keeper for the document with the personalised plate, and we have the copy of the previous document in the sellers name with the original plate. I have checked online and the car is now registered as the original number plate which we have on the car (before when I checked gov website for the original plate number it had an error)

[Richard-D]

Suspected that would be the case but wanted to check.

The V5 you have is no longer valid. A new one is in the course of being issued with the original reg. plate and will be sent to the previous keeper at his address. When the DVLA receive the V5 you have they will be unable to process it as it will have the old document reference number.

Pretty sure the above is how it will work but happy to be corrected if anyone knows different.

[Subculture]

Yes the old V5 ( with the private plate) would become invalid as soon as the online application to retain the private plate went through.
You will need to apply for a new V5 yourself or wait for the seller to forward the new keeper supplement when he receives it before taxing it.

[samoht]

For reference, in the case of my recent purchase which I think is how you're 'meant' to do it:

Sat 28 Nov - I viewed the car and agreed to buy it. That same evening the seller applied online to remove his private plate from the car.
Mon 30 Nov - Gov website shows the car back on the original number plate, seller physically changed the plates back to the originals
Thurs 3 Dec - The seller received the new V5 in the post, in his name but with the original (non private) registration plate back on the car
Sat 5 Dec - I met the seller, filled out the V5, paid for the car and drove off with the car and the new keeper slip. The seller sent off the rest of the V5 in the normal way
Tues 7 Dec - I received the new new V5 in the post, in my name with the correct (non private) plate.

So you end up needing two new V5s issued, the first one still in the seller's name but with the plate put back, the second one in the buyer's name.
AFAIK the DVLA doesn't offer a way to 'sell this car, retaining the private plate' in a single step - despite that probably being a very common thing people want to do!

[Richard-D]

I do not understand why people put a car up for sale with a plate they want to remove. It's moronic. Anyone with half a brain removes it and sorts the V5 before they put the car up for sale. It's something that would certainly make me walk away from a purchase.

[colinrob]

Richard-D said:

I do not understand why people put a car up for sale with a plate they want to remove. It's moronic. Anyone with half a brain removes it and sorts the V5 before they put the car up for sale. It's something that would certainly make me walk away from a purchase.

Because some cars take an age to sell so they want to keep there plate on it, it is so quick to get the new v5 these days, also if you talk to the seller nicely they will often keep on theor name until the end of the month saving you a month tax

[alorotom]

colinrob said:

Because some cars take an age to sell so they want to keep there plate on it, it is so quick to get the new v5 these days, also if you talk to the seller nicely they will often keep on theor name until the end of the month saving you a month tax

But it’s not instant - that’s the issue here. The new keepers supplement provided is null and void as the retention process forces a new one as soon as you hit the confirm button.

[320d is all you need]

I would say generally sort your private plate out before putting the car up for sale.

Ownership of plate technically transfers with the car too!

[Legacywr]

I seem to remember taking my plate off of a car whilst waiting for the new owners money to appear in my bank account?