DVLA unwilling to tax my car...any advice?

[colin.c43]

I posted a similar thread on this (Am I mad - what is going on here) The actual offence, were you to be stopped is "failing to display a valid disc"

I think it unlikely, given your efforts that you would be prosecuted. As long as you can demonstrate that you have made every effort to tax the car and are not attempting to avoid payment.

It would be a petty officer who issued you a £60, non-endorsable, ticket, but a lot would depend on your attitude!

 

[219]

I'm sure you realise that there's no way you should have parted with a penny for the car until you had the V5. For all you know the car may have been stolen, which could have been why he didn't have the V5. Far too many people have been caught out like this. Hopefully it was all genuine in your case and it all gets sorted without problems. In the meantime for your own peace of mind I would suggest you phone the DVLA to confirm that the person you bought from was the legal owner.

While there may be some merit in what you say if buying from a total stranger , the seller is the son of a MB Club member I have known for some 35 years , and also a longstanding friend of another club member who tipped me off about the car . Although I had never met the guy face to face before he brought the car down ( other than I vaguely remember him as a kid when I had visited his dad some 30+ years afo ) but had bought other items from him before and spoken to him many times on the telephone over a number of years , I know he is not a crook , albeit a somewhat disorganized individual , and certainly not a stranger .

Moreover , the car in question was bought for pocket money ( as are all my cars nowadays ) with total expense thus far , including purchase of car , new parts , tyres , insurance , MOT still under £1K , so not a matter for great concern . Late (1999) W124's don't turn up all that often , so not a good idea to hang about since if I hadn't bought it , someone else would have .

As far as phoning DVLA , that will not be required since I have a written reply from them that the V5 is being processed and will be with me in a week or two . I also have photocopies of the V5 showing the previous owner prior to his acquisition , service book , various invioces for work done on the car ( some with sellers name on them ) , now have MOT history dates of which tally with his and previous owners invoices so no reason to suspect the car is anything other than genuine .

 

[Johnjo]

Yeah, dvla can be very unhelpfull. I, perhaps cynically, think dvla invent rules to create problems to enable them to create and raise fines therebye convincing the assholes in government the dvla is a viable low cost government organisation, you and I both know the dvla similar to companies house only exists to keep welsh employment levels at agreed levels.good luck
Johno

 

[219]

DVLA won't confirm who the current owner of a vehicle is, you would need to do a HPI check to see if it has been reported stolen etc.

Quite , and not worth the bother on a £500 car .

 

[tlbham]

We have progress.

The chap I bought the car from has been honest and said he's just realised he forgot to send the V5 and has finally done so this morning.

I have asked if he can send me the tax reminder in the mean time, on the assumption the post office won't care if the names and addresses don't match (or the local DVLA will be reasonable).

Hopefully it will all get sorted (however that might happen) before the end of the month. I was beginning to make 'worst case' plans for buying a £500 banger for August!

...my faith in humanity is slowly restoring. :bannana:

 

[brucemillar]

You could always tax it in the previous owners name and address then change the address when you have the docs back from the DVLA.

 

[Haylands]

As stated earlier, the offence is "failing to display a RFL"... You CANNOT be convicted of failing to display something you don't have.... The offence was to ensure people displayed there RFL correctly when they were checked by enforcement officers, this was before the advent of the computerised system of checking if vehicles are taxed. The serial number of the tax disc was used to positively identify your car in parking infringement cases, so they had to have them displayed properly, they now use cameras.

No RFL and failing to display are dealy with by the DVLA, when/if a policeman/traffic warden fills out a form and forwards it on it ends up at the DVLA. By the time it gets there you will have taxed the car, as long as there is no gap in the taxation then no further action will be taken against you.

The DVLA are a tax collection agency, they are not interested in wasting money prosecuting you if you have paid your tax....

Above is how it SHOULD work, you will always find horror stories of DVLA etc making a right mess of any aspect of tax collection....

If you have sent the forms off and are waiting on a responce from DVLA then just use the car....

 

[tlbham]

You could always tax it in the previous owners name and address then change the address when you have the docs back from the DVLA.

Except he'd get the £400 tax disc. I don't trust him to send it on rather than cash it in!

I would need to do it in person at the post office or a local DVLA office in order to obtain the tax disc.

 

[tlbham]

As stated earlier, the offence is "failing to display a RFL"... You CANNOT be convicted of failing to display something you don't have.... The offence was to ensure people displayed there RFL correctly when they were checked by enforcement officers, this was before the advent of the computerised system of checking if vehicles are taxed. The serial number of the tax disc was used to positively identify your car in parking infringement cases, so they had to have them displayed properly, they now use cameras.

No RFL and failing to display are dealy with by the DVLA, when/if a policeman/traffic warden fills out a form and forwards it on it ends up at the DVLA. By the time it gets there you will have taxed the car, as long as there is no gap in the taxation then no further action will be taken against you.

The DVLA are a tax collection agency, they are not interested in wasting money prosecuting you if you have paid your tax....

Above is how it SHOULD work, you will always find horror stories of DVLA etc making a right mess of any aspect of tax collection....

If you have sent the forms off and are waiting on a responce from DVLA then just use the car....

That's just what these people love to listen to.... logic and sound reasoning...