I've sold my car today, but the reg is still on and its my personal plate. The chap I've sold it to is picking the car up tomorrow. Do I put the original plate on and inform DVLA? Or do I leave my personal plate on and wait for DVLA to transfer it back to me?

Best get it done before you sell the car......you can go down to your local DVLA and they do it within 3-4 working days, or about 10 by postal service.....cost is £105 to put it on retention...

Its form V778/1 that you need.....its only available from DVLA ie not downloadable etc..

Selling plate with car is risky as technically buyer becomes legal owner, and it will be very hard to get the plate back if they go back on their word.....

You could sell car but retain all the docs, but chances are buyer will be v reluctant to do business this way!

Hope this helps.

Not a bright move. You are going to trust the new owner to give you the plate back?

Did you even tell him the sale didn't include the plate?

Yep, told him plate is not included in car, but I guess legally he will own it?

What is the quickest way of doing the transfer?

go to local DVLA office is quickest......

you have messed up you should of done this before selling car that way its on retention for yourself.

Right, I am going to the local DVLA on Monday to get the transfer across. Do they do it on the day or do I have to wait for some paperwork etc to come through?

You don't always get given the original plate back either. Even if you do, which is more likely you will, it still isn't recognised as a valid number until the transfer has been completed, so the new owner can't give that registration number for insurance purposes.

You need to get to the nearest DVLA as soon as possible and hope the new owner doesn't mind you keeping the paperwork. In the meantime he'll need to insure it under your registration number and change it with the insurance company after the transfer.

Then again, you need the tax disc with you at the DVLA office, so he'll be driving the car without a tax disc.

It kind of gets worse, doesn't it?

They've done all mine, there and then. Not sure if it's changed in the last 24 months.

As you have sold the car though, you'll still need to wait for the paperwork to give to the new owner, who then needs to send it back off to get his details on it.

The exchange of sale hasn't happened. It was due tomorrow. But now I will go to my local DVLA on monday to get the transfer done. Then I will have to wait for the paperwork to come through, so I'm guessing around Weds the lucky guy can collect the car...

Oh right, I was going on the clue in your original post.

I guess the car is sold, but need to do the paperwork exchange.

Sorry for the confusion, but thanks for the input!

Good luck.

Fella.

Bad news.

They don't do this at the DVLA Offices anymore ... you need to post it off! How do I know? I've got the Forms and have just posted them off for my number plate ... sorry for bad news. The Form actually says not to sell your car whilst the transfer is underway. Best thing to do is take a deposit, just don't "sell" until the Forms come back + the plate has been transfered? Will take 3-10 days to work through their system.

They don't need the tax disk, just the End Date and reference nr shown on it.

TX.

and the DVLA Take the p1ss and charge u £25 per year if u still got the plate on retention and not registered to a car!!

Gotta be summin wrong there, £25 to keep your details on a computer, when u own the plate, like buying your car and then them charging u to keep it's Reg details safe

Ahh...but technically the DVLA is always the legal owner of the plkate, they merely sell you the right to assign the plate.....

You will have to send it to Swansea, it takes anything up to 6 weeks, mine took 4. You can still do the transfer of the cherished number from the retention certificate at the local DVLA office though.

They will send the retention certificate to the registered owner at the time so if it is still in your name you are alright. If the car is transferred to the new owner you will have to hope he will agree for you to have the VRM.

Les