Car Ownership

PigSick_2 · 22 January 2008 at 11:24AM

Hi All,

I thought I would just share some information that might be useful.

I needed to change the ownership of our car from my OH to me and I rang Swansea to see what date they took legal ownership from when they received the completed form and was told the date on the form. I backdated the ownership to last year and sure enough the documents came back with me as the legal owner from that date.

Just thought it might be useful to know

fermi · 22 January 2008 at 11:47AM

DVLA do not keep records of the "legal owner" of a vehicle.

They record the "registered keeper" which is not the same.

http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/portlets/commonquestions/en_Help.jsp

Registration Document/Certificate

The Registration Document/Certificate, also known as the Logbook, is the vehicle document that shows the vehicle details such as the name and address of the current registered keeper, the previous keeper, the number of former keepers and the date of change of the last keeper. It is not a legal document of title and should not be accepted as proof of ownership.

I believe DVLA also record on their files the details of when the "registered keeper" status was last changed as well as when it is effective from.

From the V5C explanatory notes:

Sections 1 and 5 of the Certificate show the name and address of the
registered keeper (the current keeper).

The registered keeper is NOT necessarily the legal owner of the vehicle.

The registered keeper is:

• The person who is liable for the licensing of the vehicle and declaring the
vehicle off the public road
• The person to whom the police and other enforcement authorities would
direct any enquiries eg about motoring and parking offences.

The legal owner may include:

• The person who bought the vehicle
• The company/legal entity who bought the vehicle eg Finance/Leasing
companies
• The person who receives the vehicle as a gift or prize

You must ensure that the name and address printed on the Certificate is correct.
If it is not, you must complete Section 6 of the Certificate (see pages 5–8 of the
Guidance Notes).

However, the address printed on the Certificate is the Royal Mail preferred format
and may not be exactly the same as the address on your application form.
The registered keeper remains liable for the vehicle until DVLA is notified of
its sale, transfer, scrapping or export.

PigSick_2 · 22 January 2008 at 2:49PM

Hi,

So what's the difference if I'm

"• The person who bought the vehicle"

if the car is not financed, (which obviously my post would not apply to) surely this just means having a receipt or some written piece of paper from the "party" you received the vehicle from?

Personally I don't think this would be necessary because when checks are done they just check who the registered keeper is at the DVLA, especially where bayliffs are concerned anyway, this is how they find out information before they place a distraint order on it to enable them to sieze the vehicle either immediatley or at a later date.

With distraint orders they don't even have to tell you there's an order on it, it could be just parked outside your address, they come along, do the checks and fill out the details which is quite scary:eek: They do also have a way of finding out if there is finance owing of the vehicle, they don't even have to have a conversation with you about it or make you aware they have visited and put a distraint order against it so once the orders on they can just call around and take it and then charge you costs and storage for the privilege. I hate bayliffs!!:mad:

If you do have a vehicle that might be lifted store it out of site at all times or even at another address. Make sure if you park it you have an escape route because they can block you in and they can even clamp it and demand payment. Even if the vehicle is worth far more than the debt they will take it and believe me no one listens to you when you have a grievance against a bayliff, they are a law unto themselves! Unfortunatly I know this through personal experience

When I enquired whether they recorded when the form was received the person I spoke to said no. I did cover all the "angles" but if someone else knows different then I'm sure they'll put me straight on it.

Regards

fermi · 22 January 2008 at 3:12PM

Has nothing at all to do with bailiffs. What they can and can't do doesn't matter.

The OR can (and often will) have a search performed against the DVLA databases with regard to your name and your previous addresses. Apparently the OR is one of the very few organisations that are permitted to search the DVLA records in this way.

It will list any vehicles that are or have been registered to you.

And it will show any date that a request for a change in "registered keeper" status was processed.

People have been chased up by the OR with regard to vehicles that they have "transferred" out of their name.

PigSick_2 · 22 January 2008 at 6:06PM

Hi,

The bayliff info was passing on my own personal experiences, that's what it's all about isn't it, sharing information, other people learning from our mistakes?

fermi · 22 January 2008 at 6:25PM

PigSick wrote: »

The bayliff info was passing on my own personal experiences, that's what it's all about isn't it, sharing information, other people learning from our mistakes?

It certainly is.

Just trying to not get two separate issues confused. I can't stand the unscrupulous types of bailiffs either.:rolleyes:

nigelwal · 13 November 2008 at 3:34PM

What I am trying to establish is if I am the legal owner of a vehicle if I have not been put on the document with the DVLA. I have no record of the sale in the form of a receipt.

Car Ownership

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free