555-Shaggy

Ok so here's the thing, I'm just in the process of buying a new car and want to swap the reg plates from the scoob to the new car. Maybe I'm being really stupid and think but I'm struggling to understand.

Can someone who has done this recently please explain in simple terms what I need to do and how long it takes?

When can I get the new car - do I have to wait until the whole transfer process has been completed?

TIA.

gazza_howard

I did this a while back when I bought my Scooby. I first of all had to provide the dealer with a new insurance certificate for the Scooby with the plate on which I was going to transfer onto it, so he could prove to the DVLA that the car was going to be insured under its new reg number. The dealer filled out all the relevant transfer forms for me in and I just had to sign them. I furnished him with an £80 cheque for the transfer and he went to the DVLA office in Nottingham and did it all there. The new tax disk and all the paper work came through in a couple of days. Just had to pick the log book up when it arrived back at the dealers from Swansea. Not sure if Joe Public can do this at the DVLA offices or whether it is just open to dealers. On a bad note though they wouldn't let me pick the car up till the transfer was complete, still only had to wait a week though. Hope this helps

555-Shaggy

Hmm, I'm having to sort this out myself

I assume you had to give him the reg doc and MOT etc for your old car so that he could sort it out? I think I need the documentation for the new car to send in, I'm just concerned that it's going to 4-6 weeks before I get the new car because of the length of time it takes the DVLA to send out new V5's.

D.O.M

iTrader: (4)

Rather than transfer, you could retain the plate, and then put it on the car once you pick up the new car, and have the new logbook in your name.
That way you can pick up your new car sooner.

I'm in the process of doing this too as buying a hawkeye.

Find your nearest DVLA from here
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) contacts : Directgov - Directories

Then you have to fill in a form V778, bring your MOT and V5C, and a fee of £105 (includes transfer onto new car) and then they should be able to retain it for you there and then

Hope this helps.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

The above also has the advantage that if you remove the plate in the future, the original number will be normally be put back on the car. Keeps the history looking nicer rather than some random plate.

I'm assuming here this is for a brand new car.

Allan

555-Shaggy

If I do this, do I then not need to wait until the V5 for the existing car turns up with the new reg on it before I can trade it in?

This is so I can put my current plates on to my new, although second hand, car being sold by a trader not a private sale.

Drift_King

iTrader: (1)

Swapping plates can be done the same day, but as you rightly said - the V5 being posted back to you is the pain. I did this for my missus the other day, here's the scenario:
Her car part exchanged with private plate left on it.
I filled out papers for plate retention and gave them £105 cheque for DVLA.
We took new car with it's own reg.
V5 for new car arrived after 4-5days (delivered to our house).
Retention certificate took 3weeks! But I don't know how long the dealer took to go to DVLA?? (it was delivered to our house)
I went to DVLA office with new car V5, retention certificate, new car tax disc and they swapped it there and then and gave me a new tax disc for the private plate.
V5 for old car came through to us with it's normal plate on it and I took it to dealer so they could then sell it on.

This obviously relies on the dealer allowing the part ex car to be in their posession without being able to sell it on until the V5 is given to them. I have done this twice before (one Ford main dealer, the other small independant trader), so it may be OK.

Best thing for you is to go to DVLA with your V5, tax disc and £105, fill in the form and hopefully you get the car's V5 back in under a week like it did for us. In the meantime you can look for a car, put deposit down, etc and hopefully have the V5 before you need to go back to collect car.

PS. £105 includes the transfer fee of £60. so you are paying £45 for this luxury. Otherwise you really need to own both cars at once OR have a dealer that will do everything for you but may mean you being without a car for a few days??

555-Shaggy

Ok, this is starting to make a little more sense now.

Since I've already found a car and paid a deposit I've asked the trader for the documentation for the new car so that I can take everything to the DVLA office in Nottingham. doesn't help with him being 70 miles away either. Hopefully, they can reassign the plates quite quickly, then I can swap the cars and plates whilst waiting for the new V5's to turn up then we can sort those out when they arrive - hopefully he won't mind holding onto the car for a couple of weeks.

I think next time I do this, I'll be putting the plates on retention, while I'm looking for a car - seems to make things much more simple, even though it costs a little more.

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

its an absolute *** ache mate ive only just got mine done after nearly a year.
dvla are a bunch of useless *****. losing ret documents and cheques that i sent and then the plate completely .

they ballsed up so many times i couldnt count it on 2 hands and ive ended up paying out hundreds just to get my plate back that i owned in the first place.


DVLA if u are reading this go suck my f*cking *****

Scooby23

iTrader: (1)

LMAO

555-Shaggy

Oh good, wish I'd not read this now.. hope mine goes more smoothly, sorry for your pain M444GY

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

hope it goes smoothly mate

Distinguished Gentleman

Transfered mine yesterday. It took the DVLA about two weeks to issue the retention document. I went to our nearest DVLA office (Chelmsford)yesterday. Straight in, no waiting, out of door in 5 mins with new documentation. Can't fault that for service

Mind you M444GY, I didn't f and blind at them

DG

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

neither did i at first but after all the dramas i had i was close to driving up to swansea and massacrein some people