Selling car and retaining number plate. (Help!)

[RJSLK]

Hi all, wonder if you can help. I am selling my car with personal plate which I am going to keep. The buyer wants to buy my car and put his personal plate straight on, can we do this? I don't want to keep him waiting for the dvla to first put the original plate on the car, (when I bought it), seems daft to have to prolong the process.
Any tips, experience, guidance gratefully received.

 

[Rose Chap]

Not sure you'll be able to do this. To transfer the plates from one car to another generally means you need to own them both, as it will take at least a couple of weeks for all the paperwork to go through.

What generally happens is..

You have your plate on your car, you put your plate on retention and an appropriate age plate is issued to your vehicle which you then get made up and attach.

You sell your car with the DVLA issued plate.

You buy your new car.

You apply to the DVLA to transfer your plate on retention to your new car.

The paperwork comes through, you get the plates made up and slap them on.

 

[c240yaz]

Not sure you'll be able to do this. To transfer the plates from one car to another generally means you need to own them both, as it will take at least a couple of weeks for all the paperwork to go through.

What generally happens is..

You have your plate on your car, you put your plate on retention and an appropriate age plate is issued to your vehicle which you then get made up and attach.

You sell your car with the DVLA issued plate.

You buy your new car.

You apply to the DVLA to transfer your plate on retention to your new car.

The paperwork comes through, you get the plates made up and slap them on.

Have to agree on this. I went through this last year and it took a few weeks to complete.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Easiest way is to put yours on retention first.

An alternative and this one takes co-operation from the new owner is to sell the car to the guy and then apply for retention or transfer of your plate afterwards.

It is possible to do a 'double transfer' i.e. new plate onto your car and your existing plate onto another car (or retention). However, I've only ever done this where both cars were ours.

Is the plate that the other guy has on retention or is it on a car already? I think that this may make a difference.

You could try calling the DVLA Local Registration office, they may be able to guide you.

I know that you can assign a registration to a car if you have the tear off slip of the V5/C (i.e. you're not shown on the full V5 as the owner) but again I've only ever done this with a registration on retention.

 

[recycled]

what you can do is apply for the dvla age plate now and put it on your car when you get it, if you do not mind driving around in age plates and put your personal one on retention.
Then put the car up for sale and let the new owner deal with DVLA

 

[television]

You can get the time limit down to 6-7 days by taking the documents to a DVLC local center, whilst they cant do it on the spot it does help.

Yes you have to pay the £25 retention fee

 

[RJSLK]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think the plate the guy wants to put on my SLK is on one of his present cars. I think you are correct about a 'double transfer' being possible. I will speak to local dvla office for further advice. I was told it could be between 4-6 weeks for my retention and new registration to be completed!! The car was on a 51 plate when I bought it. I can't see it would take that long, but who knows?

 

[glojo]

I will speak to local dvla office for further advice.

I would definitely contact your local office. Ours were extremely helpful when we transferred our son's registration number. It was all done in a day or two and what took the time was getting all the relevant documentation, MOT, insurance etc

John

 

[television]

I would definitely contact your local office. Ours were extremely helpful when we transferred our son's registration number. It was all done in a day or two and what took the time was getting all the relevant documentation, MOT, insurance etc

John

As John, talking to MB SW today they drop theirs off at the local office and get them back in 6 days, this includes new registration

 

[barryj]

They do it same day or next day at the very latest in Cardiff currently.

 

[Brian WH]

They do it same day or next day at the very latest in Cardiff currently.

Don't hold your breath.

At the moment due to new car changes taking place at 1st Sept, and the high retentions being requested due to the recent flood damage (mine included) they are taking about 4 weeks.

 

[stats007]

I got my V5C back within 2 weeks - normally it's about 4 in my experience - and that's using Wimbledon DVLA.

 

[glojo]

They do it same day or next day at the very latest in Cardiff currently.

You cannot beat the good old fashioned personal service of going to the local DVLA office, standing in the queue and then carrying out all the required procedures.

It will save you time if you first speak to the DVLA and find out EXACTLY what documentation you need to take with you. My son has just reminded me that he went to the Exeter office on the Friday, but his insurance cover note commenced the following day.... Saturday. The assistant he spoke to told him to come back the following morning, go to a side door and they would give him all the required documentation. Rules are rules and they needed to see a current certificate of insurance. The car he was buying was being picked up on the Saturday morning, thus the insurance commencing on that day.

John

 

[davidpavey]

It`s easy, go to the DVLA local office with V5, M.O.T, Valid Insurance Certificate, and a photocopy of tax disc, all of these for both cars. You also need a transfer certificate and a retention certificate. Both you and new owner will need to sign these, they are downloadable from the DVLA website. If you can get the new owner to go to the DVLA with you do that, if not, get him to print off the forms, sign and complete his part, mail them to you, you fill in and sign your part and pop down the DVLA. It`ll all be done in about 2 weeks with a bit of luck