Problem with Owner/registered keeper situation

[lopes80]

Could I please have your opinion.

I bought a vehicle from a main dealer, over the phone without seeing it.

I asked the sales person how many owners the vehicle had, he replied one owner.

I receive the V5 two weeks later, it reads two former keepers.

I was then told it is one owner but registered twice.

Was I misled?

 

[ringway]

Typical DVLA problem I'm sure.

My Omega was one keeper before I bought it in 2000.

The garage I bought from registered me as the keeper but for tax reasons etc it had to be registered in my company name.

DVLA changed the ownership of the vehicle to my company but this meant the car had changed hands and has now had 3 keepers when in fact it has had only 2 -Vauxhall Motors and me.

I wrote to the DVLA and explained the error made by the garage (I didn't register the car) but was told "there's nothing we can do". In fairness, it would be difficult to change the documentation but it is annoying that the car has an extra owner.

HTH.

 

[Oily Rag]

lopes80, I had a similar discussion when I bought my car, though not from a dealer. I was assured 2 owners but the V5 shows 4 former keepers, apparently this was because the registration plate has been changed from original twice, both being personalised plates, the previous mot's supported this along with a call to the dvla.

 

[jaymanek]

The confusion here occurs as if the car has 1 owner, the log book says 0 previous owners.. if its a 2 owner car it will say 1 previous owner.

There was probably miscommunication here.. he may have said 1 previous owner (which it would have been before you bought it)..

either way im not sure it makes a huge difference?

 

[lopes80]

Sales person looks at the V5, V5 reads 1 previous keeper + current keeper = 2 owners (I am now the 3rd). How can he tell me its 1 owner?

I bought the vehicle based on information I was given, and it was inaccurate. Should they not take responsibility?

 

[Chrishazle]

DVLA did something similar to me with my Porsche when we moved house - made the change of address also a change of keeper. Fortunately I have a photocopy of the original V5 when the car was delivered new, a copy of the V5 from my old address - and the new V5 shows me at my old address as the previous keeper, so I can prove that, despite what the V5 says, the car has only had 2 owners from new.
The first owner of my Porsche kept every piece of paper relating to the car in a nice file, luckily this was all passed on to me when I bought the car and I've continued it. It's DVLA mess-ups like this that make the file worthwhile!

 

[Aoraki]

Sales person looks at the V5, V5 reads 1 previous keeper + current keeper = 2 owners (I am now the 3rd). How can he tell me its 1 owner?

I bought the vehicle based on information I was given, and it was inaccurate. Should they not take responsibility?

What difference does it actually make, value wise or other?

Not leading up to a law suit US style is it?

 

[janner]

Not sure if the DVLA still do it but they used to supply a list of all previous registered keepers for a small fee. That way when you sell it you could show the first two keepers were the same person?
Have a rummage on the DVLA website.

 

[Gridlock]

Did you ask "how many owners?" or "how many registered keepers?" specifically? Or use a phrase that could be ambiguous?

 

[johny5_uk]

Sales person looks at the V5, V5 reads 1 previous keeper + current keeper = 2 owners (I am now the 3rd). How can he tell me its 1 owner?

I bought the vehicle based on information I was given, and it was inaccurate. Should they not take responsibility?

I totally agree with Lopes80 here. I bought a peugeot 207 and the sales guy said it had 1 previous owner. It was low mileage along with being cared by 1 previous owner I purchased it over a black 207 (diesel) that had 4 owners.
When the log book came through it showed 2 owners, obviously I will be the third. I was very disappointed to know that the sales guy had misrepresented the car. You cant tell me that a car salesman doesnt know how the "how many previous owners" system works. They will work it to their advantage (obviously not all salesmen are like this).

Of course someone would be drawn to an identical car with less owners even if the car is in the same condition, its just the thought that the more owners of the vehicle, then the less care will be taken further down the line imho.

Anyway, as I was still happy with my purchase I chose not to pursue. They will get out of it anyway but I guess the lesson here is to drill down and question the salesman, even have a look at the log book yourself.

 

[Aswall]

Hi, been a long time since I posted on here, just wanted to point out that the legal owner and registered keeper do NOT have to be the same person. The only way of getting the information you want is to ask for the number of former registered keepers listed on the V5. The salesman knew what you meant but was being a t**t to improve his/her chances of a sale. If you can't get there, another way is to ask them to fax the V5 to you.

 

[Alps]

Paul, can you prove it? it may come back to his word against yours in afraid to say.

i dont think its going to effect the value of your car at all either, i guess its the principle in discussion here! ask the dvla what the actual is and then get some legal advice against the dealer, figure out what you want from the dealer, put it in writing, if they want to take it the legal route, then go there (if you want to take it that far!)

 

[lil.smartie]

1 previous owner, 1 current(named on V5c) and you are (maybe) going to be the new one. How is that difficult!? it DOES have 1 previous owner, it's not a 1 owner car semantics but pretty easy to understand!

I own a car, it has my name on purchase invoice, 1st reg keeper was then BF, car then needed me to be reg keeper so has 2 keepers but 1 owner!
I also have another car (well as of today actually I have 5!) 1st keeper was garage as they imported it & registered it at DVLA, 2nd named keeper didn't actually buy the car but garage had put her name on log book, DVLA doesn't like tip-ex so it was sent with a letter by garage (as advised by DVLA) when I bought it explaining why her name was on log book but needed to be reg to me, so they put her name on it! I then realised I hadn't had logbook so had to get duplicate sent to me so it looks like it had another owner for a year but it didn't!
Good old DVLA!

Kate