I recently passed the SVA and registered my car (about 6-7 weeks ago). The SVA was very well organised and ran smoothly enough.

The registration process with the DVLA.....another matter altogether What is it with these people, they seem to hate motorists, especially people with non-normal cars.

I thought i had cracked it when the SVA tester carried out a built up vehicle report and faxed it to my local DVLA office, when i went there they seemed to sort everything out quite quickly. The only thing i had to do was send my insurance cert in and they would send my tax disc. About 2 weeks after i sent the certificate, the DVLA office admitted that they had misplaced the paperwork, but thankfully they found it and as i was nearly at the end of May they agreed to delay it until June, to maximise the TAX period.

I have now got my logbook through the post and all they seem to have done is taken the donor registration and applied it to my car, which means that my car was supposedly built in 1991 and has 5 previous keepers Also the donor is still on my drive, what is to stop that being put back on the road, what is to say it was ever off the road??

Has anyone else encountered this problem and has anyone got any advice??

I am predicting a long and frustrating time trying to sort this out, as you know there is no such thing as a direct phone number for the 'local' office (120 miles away).

Your kind words, advice and experience appreciated.

Cheers.

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble. My registration was straight forward with the Nottingham DVLA people.

Car inspected 6 weeks prior to SVA (all paper work and V5 taken to DVLA on day of inspection).

Drove from SVA test (Derby) to Nottingham DVLA offices.



Handed over MAC cert and a large sum of money for first registration and years road tax.

20 mins later I had reg number (not same as donor) and a certificate allowing me to purchase some number plates.

Less than an hour later plates were bought and on car.

I'm not gloating over the fact I had no trouble, I just think if one DVLA office can sort the process out the rest should be able to as well.

Do you have to register the car with your local office ? or can you call other offices for advice. If so call the Nottingham office.



[Edited on 12/6/05 by givemethebighammer]

The V5 should be for a new registered car with a first registered date of some time after the SVA with no previous owners.

When I did the registration I went in person to the DVLA office. They put up loads of reasons why they could not deal with me , but I just insisited that they deal with me then and there as I had all the documents they had asked for. If they have wasted your time insist that they sort it straight away, if the desk person can't get their manager, if they can't sort it go to his guv'nor and so on. They are there to serve the public and we pay their wages so make them treat you like a customer. I got the old "the person who deals with kit cars is on leave" story! Just image if I said that to one of our customers!

Should have scrapped the doner and sent in the V5 to record this prior to going through the process.
There is a part of te form that you state this on if I remember.
What happens then is you get an age related plate of the year of the doner.
Looks like they are now showing your buid as a modified verion of the doner so it keeps the doner reg and records.
Bummer though

What are the implications of leaving this as it is currently? The main thing i can think of is the requirement to MOT it every year and no 3 year grace period. This is obviously a contentious issue anyway and probably not a bad thing to test it each year anyway.

Are there any other disadvantages other than it makes the car sound older. It is quite clear that the car (the Locost) was built in 2005, as the MAC certificate shows and it is quite clear when i aquired the donor as it shows the date it is transferred to my ownership on the V5.

I am just thinking what the benefits will be of going through all this hassle again.

The thing that worries me slightly is that the DVLA are supposed to be cracking down on this sort of thing. Is this not a classic case of fooling the system , although unintentionally?

They have managed to use my made up chassis number, changed the V5 to show Locost, changed the colour etc, all that is original to the donor is the previous history and the registration number.

I thought at the time that the simpleton in the DVLA office has made a mistake, but i was that thrilled about passing the SVA and get the age related plate that i never bothered questioning it, wish i had now.