Does anyone know the difference between

mountainofdebt

a legal owner and the registered keeper of a car please - and if there is a difference how can you find out who is the owner?

trafalgar_2

most people who are on the documentation for a vehicle are the legal owners .................however I could own a car and allow my son to be the keeper and the only way for you to find out would be for me to tell you as he would be on the documents but not be the legal owner


if you could explain a little more of the circumstances behind your question we may be able to give more help /advice
I

mountainofdebt

I'm asking because the car may form part of someone's estate...so basically if the deceased isn't named on the V5 then we can assume that it doesn't form part of the estate?

vansboy

You should carry out an https://www.hpi.co.uk check for an indication as to whether there is any outstanding finance, or other interest in the vehicle,

VB

Bossyboots

mountainofdebt wrote:

I'm asking because the car may form part of someone's estate...so basically if the deceased isn't named on the V5 then we can assume that it doesn't form part of the estate?

No, you can't. The keeper of the vehicle is on the V5 not the owner. This is the person who keeps it on the road. They may not be the owner. You would have to look at the circumstances of the purchase and use of the vehicle to work out whether it forms part of the estate.

YorkshireBoy

I would imagine that the owner of the vehicle will have a receipt for it in his/her name. This may be a garage receipt, finance information (bank statements may verify this), or private "sold as seen for £XXXX" type receipt.

One other avenue to explore might be the car insurance documents. I believe you have to state who the owner and registered keeper is when insuring a vehicle.

gizmoleeds

YorkshireBoy wrote:

I believe you have to state who the owner and registered keeper is when insuring a vehicle.

That's a good point.

Having different registered owners/keepers is only really used for cars on leases or some hire purchase agreements.

If the car is on either of these there will be regular payments on his/her bank statement.

iluvmylexus

the registered keeper is generally considered to be the owner, however if a car has been bought using hire purchase, technically it belongs to the finance company until the loan has been fully repaid. if this is the case the car should be registered with hpi, a check with them will tell you if money is outstanding with a finance company (they will be the legal owners), you can then get in touch with the finance company to find out how much is owned

waster_2

Would not think applicable in this situation but you could be the registered keeper of a company owned vehicle. A few, but not all company cars are registered in this way.

mountainofdebt

thanks guys for all your replies.

Fortunately we have found the receipt and it was purchased by the deceased who is also on the V5.