Discussion
bertie said:
I thought if you had the certificate of newness, which you get with a complete kit from Caterham etc, then you got a current prefix reg and didn't need an MOT for the first 3 years as per normal cars?
Pass - Don't know about the bolt together box of bits kit cars, sorry.
Mark B
You only need an MOT if the car is built using parts of an unknown age (for a Q) or age related (donor car reg) plate. A kit car registered as new will only need an MOT after 3 years, like any new car. I have just been through this process so it's still pretty fresh in the mind..
Chris.
Chris.
avocet said:
Southampton DO have a poor reputation. I deal with complaints about them more often than (almost) all the other SVA test stations put together. They really don't like kit cars and as you have to go back to the same test station for the retest, it might be a decision you live to regret!
As for driving it on a public road unregistered, YES, it IS perfectly legal to do so for an SVA and, I also believe, for an MOT AND, to or from any place where work is to be carried out in order to enable the vehicle to pass either test. I can't quite remember the "letter" of the law off the top of my head but the principle seems to be that it's OK to drive it on a public road un-taxed and un-registered (but not un-insured!) for any purpose connected with getting it registered. As you can do this without visiting a rolling road, I doubt you'd be able to make that one work in court but if the place with the rolling road also happened to be booked to do some rectification work for an MOT or an SVA, I feel it would be a legitimate defence... To my mind, that also, therefore, means you can drive it to and from the VRO for their inspection too but I've never been brave enough to try it! One day I'll try to trawl through the relevant legal documents to see if there is any "case law" to set a precedent but it will take ages so until then, I'm just hoping someone will try it and let us all know what happens!
This advice is sound IMO.
Kevp said:
Can you drive to VRO.
I have been reading up on this (old kit car mags) and they clearly state - driving to and from MOT & SVA stations fine (pre booked on chasis no.).
The car must be insured.
Driving to a VRO is illegal.
When I registered my Westfield 10 odd years ago it was acceptable to drive to VRO after the MOT, and many un-registered kit cars were parked on double yellows waiting for inspection.
This is one of those stupid inconsistencies. You CAN drive to SVA but NOT to VRO. Crazy!
Mark B said:
Hang on a minute, I thought I'd got this straight but I could have it completely wrapped round my neck.
I thought the first thign was to get the SVA done and obtain a MAC (Ministers approval certificate)
Then you can take this with the completed V55 and payment to the VRO and get a reg no. and tax disk.
Stick them on and off you go!
So if I'm right, where does an MOT come in?
Hugely confused!!!!
PS, the SVA center here in Derby are booking for Oct 10th so about 6 weeks is right here.
You also need the MoT before visiting the VRO for them to grant you with a tax disk!
Unless you've built your car with all new parts and are getting a new reg no.
bertie said:
I thought if you had the certificate of newness, which you get with a complete kit from Caterham etc, then you got a current prefix reg and didn't need an MOT for the first 3 years as per normal cars?
That's right IMO. However there's also the possibility of collecting lots of certificates. The bill for each bit. Show each bit is new, inc the kit- hey presto - new car - new reg. So it doesn't have to be an official "certificate of newness". You just have to prove it's new. BTW new can include "one used compontent" which can be the engine.
Den
The DVLA USED to make you get an MOT as well as an SVA before they'd let you register any kit thet would get an age-related registration (i.e. now all-new ones and not donor chassis ones). In the last few months they've caved in on this and admited that they have no legal justification for requiring an MOT for a kit built using donor parts and getting a new OR age-related plate. They can still, however, ask for an MOT for a car that uses a complete donor chassis and retains the donor's registration - but these don't need an SVA anyway. There may still be a few local Vehicle Registry Offices who insist on an MOT as well as an SVA but they're simply wrong! If you feel strongly about it, it would be worth fighting but lots of people get an MOT anyway just for the peace of mind of having someone check over their work before taking it all the way to the SVA station. This seems sensible in view of the relatively small cost.
As far as driving to and from SVA / MOT / Registry office I'm currently trawling through the legislation and will (hopefully) post my findings shortly...
As far as driving to and from SVA / MOT / Registry office I'm currently trawling through the legislation and will (hopefully) post my findings shortly...
Well, I promised I'd try to dig up the legislation and this is what I've come up with:
Driving to and from the SVA test IS perfectly legal. Paragraph 22 of Schedule 2 of the "Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994" gives exemptions from being taxed and registered for any vehicle proceeding to or from a "compulsory test". A "Compulsory test" is defined in Paragraph 22(5)(b) as being "An examination for the purposes of Sections 54 to 58 of that Act" (an SVA test).
Now, given that the wording seems to indicate that there is more than one sort of compulsory test that could be required before registration, I can't see why the same exemptions should not apply to vehicles proceeding to or from an MOT test (if that test is compulsory prior to getting a registration).
To my mind, the same wording also allows you to drive to and from ANY test or inspection required by the State in order for you to get your registration. The only other evidence I have found for this is in Section 42, paragraph 4 of the same Act which states:
"(4) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) [that's not having a number plate on your car] to prove that:
(a) he had no reasonable opportunity to register the vehicle under this Act, and
(b) the vehicle was being driven for the purpose of being so registered.
So as far as I'm concerned, there is a definite, specific exemption for people driving to and from a pre-booked SVA test - no question, and there is a more general exemption for anyone driving a car without it being registered if they can prove that they had not had an opportunity to register it beforehand AND the purpose of their trip was something that they had to do in order to get it registered. (which to my mind means an MOT or a VRO inspection but NOT a trip to the rolling road or the paint shop!)
Obviously, everyone will have to make their own decision and I have to say I'm an engineer not a lawyer but if it were my car, I'd drive it to and from all three (note that the MOT could be a sticky one because unless you have kept the donor chassis -in which case the vehicle is still registered) you do NOT legally require an MOT certificate for first registration.
Any further thoughts anyone?
Driving to and from the SVA test IS perfectly legal. Paragraph 22 of Schedule 2 of the "Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994" gives exemptions from being taxed and registered for any vehicle proceeding to or from a "compulsory test". A "Compulsory test" is defined in Paragraph 22(5)(b) as being "An examination for the purposes of Sections 54 to 58 of that Act" (an SVA test).
Now, given that the wording seems to indicate that there is more than one sort of compulsory test that could be required before registration, I can't see why the same exemptions should not apply to vehicles proceeding to or from an MOT test (if that test is compulsory prior to getting a registration).
To my mind, the same wording also allows you to drive to and from ANY test or inspection required by the State in order for you to get your registration. The only other evidence I have found for this is in Section 42, paragraph 4 of the same Act which states:
"(4) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) [that's not having a number plate on your car] to prove that:
(a) he had no reasonable opportunity to register the vehicle under this Act, and
(b) the vehicle was being driven for the purpose of being so registered.
So as far as I'm concerned, there is a definite, specific exemption for people driving to and from a pre-booked SVA test - no question, and there is a more general exemption for anyone driving a car without it being registered if they can prove that they had not had an opportunity to register it beforehand AND the purpose of their trip was something that they had to do in order to get it registered. (which to my mind means an MOT or a VRO inspection but NOT a trip to the rolling road or the paint shop!)
Obviously, everyone will have to make their own decision and I have to say I'm an engineer not a lawyer but if it were my car, I'd drive it to and from all three (note that the MOT could be a sticky one because unless you have kept the donor chassis -in which case the vehicle is still registered) you do NOT legally require an MOT certificate for first registration.
Any further thoughts anyone?
Can anybody help me. I am trying to access the link in the kit car section to detr sva however I keep getting "page cannot be found"
Has anybody got it and can they send me the doc
I currently own an incorrectly registered Triumph Herald Based Spartan which used the herald chassis so I don't think I need SVA but when this one is on the road I want to do a Seven type for me as a fun car. The wife wants me to do the spartan for "family days out" so it will be a good idea to understand SVA. Anyway kitcarman thinks I don't need SVA, Notts LVLO told me I dont need SVA, but Peterborough tell me I do need it and they have my docs
>> Edited by spartan_andy on Friday 19th September 11:04
>> Edited by spartan_andy on Friday 19th September 11:06
Has anybody got it and can they send me the doc I currently own an incorrectly registered Triumph Herald Based Spartan which used the herald chassis so I don't think I need SVA but when this one is on the road I want to do a Seven type for me as a fun car. The wife wants me to do the spartan for "family days out" so it will be a good idea to understand SVA. Anyway kitcarman thinks I don't need SVA, Notts LVLO told me I dont need SVA, but Peterborough tell me I do need it and they have my docs
>> Edited by spartan_andy on Friday 19th September 11:04
>> Edited by spartan_andy on Friday 19th September 11:06
Not sure what link you're refering to. Can you let us know what the article was about? maybe it can be found somewhere other than the detr website. By the way, this week's name for DETR is now DfT so you could try looking in www.dft.gov.uk or www.dvla.gov.uk or www.vosa.gov.uk
As far as the Spartan is concerned, do you still have the V5 (or a copy of is) for the Herald and is the Herald chassis unmodified? If so, you needn't go anywhere near an SVA station. You can go straight to your local Vehicle Registration Office (these are operated by the DVLA, the SVA stations are operated by VOSA (used to be called "Vehicle Inspectorate" and register it as a "kit conversion". Have a look at www.totalkitcar.com in the "SVA and Registration" section. There's an article on registering a kit car that keeps the original, unmodified donor chassis - they don't need SVA.
As far as the Spartan is concerned, do you still have the V5 (or a copy of is) for the Herald and is the Herald chassis unmodified? If so, you needn't go anywhere near an SVA station. You can go straight to your local Vehicle Registration Office (these are operated by the DVLA, the SVA stations are operated by VOSA (used to be called "Vehicle Inspectorate" and register it as a "kit conversion". Have a look at www.totalkitcar.com in the "SVA and Registration" section. There's an article on registering a kit car that keeps the original, unmodified donor chassis - they don't need SVA.
Avocet said:
Any further thoughts anyone?
Just thought I'd add my tuppence worth, seeing as I've just gone through SVA process with my Tiger.
I took my car on the road for an MoT whilst not registered. THe MoT was done and car identified by it's chassis number instead of the as yet unknown Reg number. The MoT was a pre-arranged appointment and the MoT station had the Chassis number they were expecting to test. (Admittedly the MoT tester was actually Paul Dudley at Tiger, so he knew better than most about MoTing unregistered Tigers!)
Then took it to SVA (twice) and drove it home.
Took paperwork to local VRO but didn't drive the unregistered car. They wanted to inspect the car, so I drove it down there for the agreed appointment time.
After all that I got the paperwork to allow me to get the plates printed up and the V5 sent in the post.
So on all of those occasions above when I drove the car on the roads I always had a pre-arranged appointment and they had my chassis number. I assume this helps because if you are stopped by the fuzz you can always suggest phoning through and they will confirm the chassis number of this car.
In addition on all of those occassions I carried with me a copy of an e-mail another Tiger Owner got back from the DVLA that was published on the Tiger Racing Forum which states that it is OK to drive un registered is you have such an appointment.
HTH
Ta.
Thanks for that,
I'm especially interested in the issue of driving to and from the VRO. The way I read the law, this IS actually an offence (unlike going to and from an SVA) but the law then goes on to say that it's an acceptable defence to say that you were making the trip for the purpose of getting a registration! (huh?) As I said, if it were me, I'd drive it but it's an interesting one! Thanks again!
I'm especially interested in the issue of driving to and from the VRO. The way I read the law, this IS actually an offence (unlike going to and from an SVA) but the law then goes on to say that it's an acceptable defence to say that you were making the trip for the purpose of getting a registration! (huh?) As I said, if it were me, I'd drive it but it's an interesting one! Thanks again!
Just spoken to Peterborough DVLA office (my local office) and recieved some clarification NO SVA
. Car only needs MOT and registration inspection to confirm details of vehicle. Best bit of news I can drive to dvla office for inspection as long as the car is insured, and MOTed the office is about 40 miles away approx 25 of it on dual carriageway the rest on windy country roads What a shakedown run
. Car only needs MOT and registration inspection to confirm details of vehicle. Best bit of news I can drive to dvla office for inspection as long as the car is insured, and MOTed the office is about 40 miles away approx 25 of it on dual carriageway the rest on windy country roads What a shakedown run 
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