Retaining a Reg No

[l5foye]

I have a vehicle which is currently on a SORN. I have someone wanting to buy it but I want to retain the Reg No (ie have it put on a retention certificate) Does anyone know if this is possible given the current circunstances?

 

[KennyN]

Yes , did it last week with the boys car. New V5 dropped through the letterbox four days later , the retention cert a day later.

K

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Should be fine provided the vehicle the reg is being transferred FROM has a valid MoT

 

[l5foye]

No the vehicle doesn't have a valid MoT and I cannot get it MoT'd. I don't want to let the vehicle go with its current reg.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Took the reg. off one of our old Imp's but we had to MOT it beforehand so this may still be a condition.

Might be worth it if it is a very good plate otherwise probably not.

 

[l5foye]

Is it 100% correct that the car needs to be MoT'd? The DVLA in listing the eligibility rules, states 'It must be of a type that needs a MoT'.
Do they mean it must have a current MoT? Stating it must be of a type.... is not the same thing.

 

[clk320x]

Do they mean it must have a current MoT?

Yes

 

[DoberMan]

I would phone DVLA rather than do it online.

It was a few years ago so things may have changed, but when I phoned to enquire about retaining a Reg no. they allowed a period of a few months with an expired MOT.
Can't remember how long but in my case it had expired as the car had been off the road for repairs for a long time. This was all pre SORN days.

Might be worth a try.

 

[nyssa7]

I would try and do it online and see what happens. If it completes, job done. Otherwise phone DVLA for a steer

 

[flowrider]

In the time it's taken to create this thread you can have gone on line and tried it.

 

[400ixl]

Yes it does have to have a valid MOT as I assume it is a modern passenger vehicle (less than 40 years old) which is more than 3 years old. Under that age the vehicle does not need an MOT.

You can see the other types of vehicles that do not need an MOT at Getting an MOT

The choice really is get it MOT'd and put the plate on retention and sell, sell it with the plate, or don't sell it.

One other option is you sell it with the plate and they MOT it and then transfer the plate to retention to you. More risky as once they own the V5, they own the plate and could renege on the deal. Also relies on them getting it back on the road and not using it for parts and scrapping it.

 

[flowrider]

What I dont understand is why does the donor car have to have an MOT, what difference does it make?

 

[400ixl]

Because those are the rules laid out by the DVLA.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

It may be to stop people finding an old car, getting a V5 for it and then transferring the plate and selling it on for profit.

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

I have a vehicle which is currently on a SORN. I have someone wanting to buy it.

Will the buyer/new owner be putting the car back on the road and therefore have the car MOT'd?

I know it's a bit of a risk, but I'm sure if you had a nice word with the buyer/new owner then they could transfer the cherished plate back to your ownership.
Private (personalised) number plates
This may be your only option, however this is down to trust, unless you draft up a contract.

Warning: Unfortunately I learnt the hard way that not all people of this world are as honest as they say they are. Quite a while ago when I was young and naive, I sold a car with a cherished plate (nothing expensive, but was personal to me), I even gave the buyer the money to transfer the plate back to me.................. I never saw that plate or buyer again. I also lost the note with his name and address .
Plenty of School boy errors, but if it helps one person not to make the same mistake, I don't mind sharing my downfalls.

 

[nyssa7]

What I dont understand is why does the donor car have to have an MOT, what difference does it make?

Dates back to the old days where people were less scrupulous- some dealers would have a shed full of old mopeds for which they would swap around chassis plates etc, sometimes even the chassis plate from a scrapyard was enough to get a number transferred

now everything is held on computer, this cuts down the fraud. Bit of a b&gg&r if you have a very valuable plate stuck on a car which hasn’t been taxed or MOTD since the mid-90s. Waiting for the plate value to exceed the restoration costs

 

[nyssa7]

Dates back to the old days where people were less scrupulous- some dealers would have a shed full of old mopeds for which they would swap around chassis plates etc, sometimes even the chassis plate from a scrapyard was enough to get a number transferred

now everything is held on computer, this cuts down the fraud. Bit of a b&gg&r if you have a very valuable plate stuck on a car which hasn’t been taxed or MOTD since the mid-90s. Waiting for the plate value to exceed the restoration costs

and not so long ago you’re still had to have the donor car inspected at a LVLA to ensure you weren’t trying it on

 

[John]

I guess it makes sense if it is to stop fraud but I would think for the money the DVLA are losing, they could put in place some kind of chargeable DVSA examination to look into the history of the car and to ensure all is legit and then they would allow the plate to be transferred off.

 

[tonysmb]

DVLA doesn't stipulate that it must be Mot'd, just the 'type', however, they are quite specific about tax/SORN. That doesnt necessarily mean that it doesn't have to be MOT'd, or age-exempt, of course, just that it doesn't say so.

The easiest thing is to try it online, OP would know within 2 minutes whether it works of not.

 

[219]

What I dont understand is why does the donor car have to have an MOT, what difference does it make?

It proves that the vehicle exists , and not just someone who still has the V5 for a long scrapped vehicle : I still have the V5s for a few vehicles I scrapped many moons ago , as well as the old pre-V5 'logbooks' for some of my dad's old cars which no longer exist .