DVLA HELP - Transfer a numberplate

Rowee

Rowee

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Mark
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Hi all

I'm really confused about this transferring your numberplate thing, apparently it's easy!?

So I bought a new car from a garage (it's not taxed) and am part exchanging my old car. I want to move a private plate from my old car to my new car, once done, I will take the old to the garage, and drive away in the new (after swapping the number plates, moving the insurance and putting the new tax disk in).

So here's how the garage told me it would work.

1 - I take the new keeper slip for the new car (which I have paid for) along with the V5c for the old car and number plate transfer form with the payment.

2 - I also take the MOT Cert for the new car to get it taxed while i'm there.

3 - Once taxed, DVLA can transfer the reg to the new car and get reg for old car.

4 - take old car to garage to swap for new car whilst putting tax in, moving insurance and swapping number plates.

5 - send tax disk from old car for refund and complete V5c for old car to register to garage (Yellow slip)

The problem is, without insurance, I cannot tax the new car, meaning no plate transfer. Also, if I move the insurance to the new car I would have to keep the old car off road and declare sorn.

I cannot do this as the old car needs to be taxed. I cannot swap the old car for the new car first, because that gives the garage the right to my private reg.

So my only option will be to insure both cars simultaneously, which surely cannot be true?

Help please :bang:
 
Surely you can just get a new reg for your old car, have the private plate on hold, then once you've got the new car transfer private plate to the new car :thumbs: not that hard really, you can own a private plate but not have it registered to a car all of the time :thumbs:

Matt
 
Go to the dvla office. They will transfer your old car back to its original number plate and give you a certificate for the private plate. You can hold this for up to two years. Go a n d pick up new car and then you can revisit dvla office. And transfer the cherished number to the new car.
 
Hi Matthew
DVLA will provide a new reg for the old car after transferring the private reg to the new car. putting the private plate on hold also costs an extra £100+.

I just dont understand how you are supposed to be able to transfer an number plate when you not only have to own both cars at the same time, but also have to tax, mot and insure both at the same time as well. Surely it isnt uncommon to transfer a reg straight from 1 car to the other when you buy it?
 
Rowee said:
I just dont understand how you are supposed to be able to transfer an number plate when you not only have to own both cars at the same time, but also have to tax, mot and insure both at the same time as well. Surely it isnt uncommon to transfer a reg straight from 1 car to the other when you buy it?
Click to expand...

Hi yes you can do, a friend bought a new car and they transferred the number from their old one to the new one. They drove there old one to the garage with their plate on and the new one was there waiting with new plates (their plate) on, taxed and ready to go ...

I haven't a clue what / how they did it, I can find out if it's a help (will be tomorrow evening at earliest), best bet is to phone your local DVLA office and they'll be able to tell you what you need to do.

A
 
Hi Andy

If you could ask that would be very helpful. I have been trying to call 3 local DVLA offices since last tuesday, all of which return a "Sorry we're too busy to answer your call at the moment, please visit our web site" message, then the call is cut off, all very frustrating.

I'm hoping to visit DVLA on Tuesday evening, so if you do manage to find anything out before then it would be very much appreciated :)
 
Not being one for worrying about registration numbers I don't know the procedure, but I do know (from the MBClub.co.uk) there is something called a 'retention certificate' which sounds promising.
 
You can indeed put it on retention. They will put your old vehicle back to its original number, put your private plate on retention, and then when you get the new vehicle they transfer the private plate to it. Its pretty straightforward, and I dont *think* you have to visit a DVLA office in order to do it (which id advise against...because those places are a nightmare...I used to import cars and have spent FAR too long in them!)
 
So I have set my insurance to move on Friday, then I will be able to tax the new car on friday, then over to DVLA to move the reg to the new car, then I can go and swap cars :)

As I said, I dont want to spend an extra £100+ to put the reg on retention for a day or so, so I think this is the way to do it. Will let you know on saturday though :)
 
But you then won't be insured to take old one to swap?
There are loads of short term insurance policies, for a day to a month, for this very reason.
Not cheap but then being legal often isn't, we don't get to choose the price unfortunately, either pay the 100 retention cert or get temp insurance.
 
Rowee said:
Hi Andy

If you could ask that would be very helpful. I have been trying to call 3 local DVLA offices since last tuesday, all of which return a "Sorry we're too busy to answer your call at the moment, please visit our web site" message, then the call is cut off, all very frustrating.

I'm hoping to visit DVLA on Tuesday evening, so if you do manage to find anything out before then it would be very much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Hi

I asked and they had no issues, but were buying a brand new car, so it wasn't already registered.

They did say it was a simple process to swap it over ...
 
Having been through the process recently the only way the DVLA will do this is by post! You have to send the documents for your old car off to nearest DVLA office with correct form downloaded from their website and include a cheque. They will then allocate a new reg number for your existing car (usually the reg the car had before you put private plate on it) and they will transfer your reg number to a retention.

You can then use the retention certificate to transfer the plate to your new car once you own it.

The whole process took about 2 weeks. I could not sell my existing car until the reg had been transfered off it. I took delivery of the new car with its original plates and then transfered private plate onto it.

I think that some dealers will organise the transfer for you if you do a part exchange but does still take a fair time to sort out.

PS whatever you do don't sell the car with the old plate still registed to it....the plate will become the property of the new owner, not you.
 
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can't you cut one issue out. If it's a garage they will have an insurance policy that covers all cars. Just give them the money for the tax and get them to tax it.

When I purchased last car it needed tax, as my documents wouldn't come for a day or two the garage sent me to the post office they use as it has a copy of their cover note. Showed them the MOT and the part of the log book that shows the garage currently keeps car. Walked away with tax.
 
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