Help needed - Reg transfer from potential write off

[Riccardo1973]

My sister-in-law had a crash last week & it looks like her car will be written off as a result. She has a personal plate on the car that she would like to keep & put on a new car when she gets it.

Does she just fill out the V317 form from the DVLA & send it off with the tax, MOT & fee to put the plate on retention?

The DVLA web site says that she also needs a letter from her insurance company & an engineers report. Is this actually required as the car has not been formally written off yet & no settlement figure agreed?

[sparkyhx]

you can change the reg any time you want. the only thing I can think of is that if its written off it doesn't need another reg for the written off car whereas if it was a driver you would need another reg for that.

[shovelheadrob]

Riccardo1973 said:

My sister-in-law had a crash last week & it looks like her car will be written off as a result. She has a personal plate on the car that she would like to keep & put on a new car when she gets it.

Does she just fill out the V317 form from the DVLA & send it off with the tax, MOT & fee to put the plate on retention?

The DVLA web site says that she also needs a letter from her insurance company & an engineers report. Is this actually required as the car has not been formally written off yet & no settlement figure agreed?

Do this ASAP, once the claim is settled then the insurance company own the car & it is no longer hers to transfer the plate from, they probably won't be interested in the plate anyway, unless it is of a marketable value but better safe than sorry.

[Ozzie Osmond]

shovelheadrob said:

Riccardo1973 said:

The DVLA web site says that she also needs a letter from her insurance company & an engineers report.

Do this ASAP, once the claim is settled then the insurance company own the car & it is no longer hers to transfer the plate from, they probably won't be interested in the plate anyway, unless it is of a marketable value but better safe than sorry.

Yup, a transfer can only usually be made from a car which is roadworthy, this being demonstrated by the MOT. You need to get the ball rolling asap. Presumably there must already be an engineer's report or the insurer couldn't have declared the car a write-off. Should be straightforward to get the paperwork sorted.

[Riccardo1973]

The car has not been written yet, but it is a 10 year old golf that was hit by an HGV so likely to be beyond economic repair. I have told her to get the plate on retention asap, but was wondering if there was anything over & above the normal transfer process that was needed.

[shovelheadrob]

Should have added that the letter from her insurers will be to declare that the insurer does not have an interest in the plate, I assume that is to prevent someone from including the value of the plate in an agreed value policy, then "claiming it back" & getting paid out on it as well. How do I know? I had a vehicle written off on a PP before, that worked out OK as I was able to buy it back & have it repaired.

[Ozzie Osmond]

This thing is binary. either,
a) The car's not written off and you put the number on retention asap. (If the DVLA decide to inspect the vehicle then clearly things might get interesting. Seems unlikely.)
b) The car has been written off and you need to follow the procedures.

[Bungleaio]

I have recently been through this and it's quite simple.

1st wait for them to asses the car, let them decide whether its a write off or not, if they declare it as one tell them you want to remove the plate. My insurance company sent me a letter to send to the DVLA saying they aren't interested in the plate, they also sent me the appropriate form.

Insurance companys take ages to sort things out so you'll have plenty of time.

[3000GT ANT]

Bungleaio said:

I have recently been through this and it's quite simple.

1st wait for them to asses the car, let them decide whether its a write off or not, if they declare it as one tell them you want to remove the plate. My insurance company sent me a letter to send to the DVLA saying they aren't interested in the plate, they also sent me the appropriate form.

Insurance companys take ages to sort things out so you'll have plenty of time.

+1

do keep in mind, the reg plate will/can show up a write off for months maybe years after. for example
i sold my plate, that was on my written off car, to my friend for their motorbike. My friend then went to trade their bike in and a write off was shown on the database, so caused a few confusions. All was fine in the end though :-)

[MitchT]

Bungleaio said:

My insurance company sent me a letter to send to the DVLA saying they aren't interested in the plate, they also sent me the appropriate form.

Suppose you've paid a fortune for a plate and the insurance company decide they are interested in it?