How long to transfer a reg number?

[Davo]

I have a private plate on my W215, which I am looking to part ex for a W220 S320 diesel (sick of having to save up for long journeys / take the wife's Skoda diesel). Sod all to the gallon is fine when 'm working from home, but tiresome otherwise.

When I bought my car, the rapacious insurance company charged me £45 once for changing the policy to the new car, then another £45 when I put my private plate on.

The dealer I want to use offers 7 days free insurance, so I am tempted to apply to transfer the number as soon as we do the deal, explain to the seller I want to keep the number, then drive the new car on the old number for 7 days on the free insurance. I then tell the insurance company I have changed cars, but not registration, and only pay the £45 once.

The down side is that once the 7 days are up, my choices are to be technically illegal until the paperwork is processed by DVLA or lay the car up. I'm guessing that the dealer I p/x with will wait until I send him the new number, all his ads he takes the plate off anyway, but what if he wants to bang it out at auction?

How long do they usually take, and is there a more painless way of doing this?
Should I just pay the £45 twice, as well as the £80 transfer fee of course, for an easy life?

 

[MOCAŠ]

Should I just pay the £45 twice, as well as the £80 transfer fee of course, for an easy life?

Yes. Your other plan has failure written all over it.

 

[MB E63AMG]

I sent my plate retention documents off almost two weeks ago and am still waiting for the retention documents to come back, last time I changed the plates over I went to a DVLA office and had everything back within 7 days.

I would suggest doing it as soon as poss and if you talk nicely to the insurance company they may waiver the £45, mine did for me.

Have to be honest I wish I'd never gone down the cherished plate route, it ads up each time you change your car!

 

[mirras]

I went to the DVLA in Glasgow today to put a number on retention and was told the documents would be back in "about a week". So, it's really a gamble whether you would get the documents in time. Why not speak to customer services at your insurer to explain the £45 charge, sounds excessive to me.

 

[supra dan]

i changed mine over at the DVLA office, they did everything there and then. got a new mot, tax disc and a document to let you get plates made. only had to wait on the reg document but you dont need it to get plates on

 

[wobbly]

i changed mine over at the DVLA office, they did everything there and then. got a new mot, tax disc and a document to let you get plates made. only had to wait on the reg document but you dont need it to get plates on

Getting a plate assigned to a vehicle, can be done same day, but getting it removed takes 7 to 14 days.

 

[Jeremytucker]

I have recently moved plates around on my cars (via post, but i have done it in person before too)

I find that assigning a plate to a vehicle from retention is same day (+post, so 3 days start to finish) but taking one off onto retention does indeed take as long as 2 weeks.

In this case i would not expect a plate change to happen within 7 days (5 working days), so you will have to lay the car up for up to a week to avoid the extra £45.

On a side note, what is with £45 to change a policy detail!? My insurer Admiral do it for free for example.

 

[Davo]

On a side note, what is with £45 to change a policy detail!? My insurer Admiral do it for free for example.

My insurer IS Admiral. They even charged £45 so the wife could downgrade from a 2.0l Peugot to a Skoda. Clearly I need to have a word in advance.

From whats been said above, my best bet seems to be to take the W220 with the number it has now, then go to the DVLA office in Trafford, with the docs for both cars, and get the transfer done and a new number for my old car while I wait.

 

[Jeremytucker]

I am not sure re changing cars, but i have changed a reg with them only last week for no charge. £45 is a tenth of my whole policy, thats a crazy high charge for such a simple change Definitely dont suck that up, that is extortionate.

 

[jaymanek]

My insurer IS Admiral. They even charged £45 so the wife could downgrade from a 2.0l Peugot to a Skoda. Clearly I need to have a word in advance.

From whats been said above, my best bet seems to be to take the W220 with the number it has now, then go to the DVLA office in Trafford, with the docs for both cars, and get the transfer done and a new number for my old car while I wait.

Is the dealer going to be happy letting you have docs for a car that now belongs to him?!

Let the dealer do the transfer for you, if he's anything like me he will be able to fill the forms whilst snoozing upside down in a fish tank.

 

[Davo]

Let the dealer do the transfer for you, if he's anything like me he will be able to fill the forms whilst snoozing upside down in a fish tank.

Fairs do's, I'll try and get a picture of that to post online...

 

[mdk1]

Have to say, my Skoda dealer changed my plate over for me, drove the old car in and picked up the new one.

When i put my cherished plate on my bike on retension, took the doc's in to my local DVLA office on the thursday, had all doc's back by the following Friday.

Just depends on how busy they are.

 

[jaymanek]

If the DVLA office arent busy they may even do the transfer over the counter.. but there arent many times that they dont have a queue out the door.

 

[mjrennie]

I took my plate off when I sold my BMW and put it on retention. Took less than a week. Really easy process, I found.