Freak

Hi
Found a very special limted bmw motorsport edition car. 15 yrs old and 60 ish k miles on the clock (verified) and exactly what im after- especially as its a manual, and they only made a handful of manual ones out of the 250 they made in total.
Problem is, early in its life it was stolen and the numbers ground, and then recovered some time later after insurance had settled.
It was put back on the road but on a Q plate

Is there any (legal) way of getting it off this Q plate, bar a reshell (try finding an E30 bmw convertible shell!!!)

I know you cant put a private plate on it to hide it, and my insurance company have told me they wont cover it on a Q.

Someone mentioned deregistering it and exporting it to southern ireland, then importing it back in and it getting a fresh plate- but this sounds pretty dubious and doubtful of its a) effectiveness, and b) legality.

Clutching at straws here- but if there is any way of getting it off i will buy it. Otherwise sadly i wont be.
Share the info people.

Jerome

Try looking here.

Richard Askew

If it was the right price why would you not buy it just cos its on a Q?

Know its history, buy it at the right price and enjoy it...

Dracoro

Plenty of specialist nsurers(kit cars insurers etc.) to get you round to Q plate issue too.

Richard Askew

I was just about to edit and mention that

Incidentally what is it? Alpina or summat?

GC8

IIRC you may be able to get an age-related plate if there is an owners club or the like that can confirm the year of manufacture (the maunfacturer woould be even better). The DVLA used to be extremely casual about issuing 'Q' registrations but this isnt the case now. Id say you have a reasonable chance of getting it back onto a more acceptable registration number.

Simon

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Are the DVLA not Releasing Q plates in the near Future ?

Brendan Hughes

ISTR something about Q plate means "no declared year of manufacture". If you change the plate, you declare the year of manufacture - and thus have to pay car tax.

Sorry if that's bovine manure...

Freak

325i motorsport convertible. 1 of 250.

I have my plate i want to put on it, and i dont really fancy a q plate and the associated insurance hassles etc- my insurance company said that they could only offer third party only (no theft) on a Q plate.

It is priced accordingly
Just curious if i can get it off the plate or if its stuck with it.

BMW can confirm its is a genuine motorsport edition from the last 7 digits of the chassis number, but im not sure if the original chassis number is present or of its been issued with a replacement when it was recovered. If its the original number, then that proves its year of manufacture was 1990/1991 (it was on an H plate originally).
Ive a feeeling this may be a tough process though.
Ill give the dvla a ring tomorrow.

One highly interesting point, is that Q plates are subject to pre 1971 emissions regulations- which means that only visible smoke is a fail on the MOT.

Cheers guys.

Dracoro

Have you got quotes from specialist insurers? Is there a good reason why you HAVE to stay with your current insurer? I can, however, understand that you don't want a Q plate on the car although it does have it's benefits (emissions, no age snobbery, makes the car more 'special' etc.). If you can get the numbers sorted, it'll obviously give you the choice as to which route to take.

StickyMicky

my first car was a Q plate

i got sick of "routine" traffic checks

Pixxie

no cant change the plate once it's on a q.
It doesnt mean it was an insurance write off- just that it lost it's identity plate!