car dealer telling the truth re. taxing a new car

MichH

I am doing the same as your friend and purchasing a new car under the scrappage scheme. I have purchased through a main dealer (Toyota) and they have given me 3 days free cover insurance, although I did have to to make the call to get the cover sorted - Toyota needed this prior to me being able to collect the car, thereafter I am responsible to sorting out my own insurance.

Not all dealers have this insurance in place, so the dealer is correct in the fact that he needs an actual certificate to be able to tax the vehicle.

Hope this helps.

donglemouse

quentin seeing as i don't know myself, i am just trying to establish whether they could use their own trade insurance

the view of mrscb above would appear to suggest they could & i know someone who bought a new car a couple of months ago who was not asked for a cover note as the dealer told them he had taken care of getting the tax

the simple reason for me asking is to determine the reality (as i don't know myself), the dealer may be correct but i would consider it prudent to double check what's he saying

Anihilator

If its a 2nd hand or preregistered it will be registered to the dealer likely hence their trade insurance does. A new car is registered to the owner hence it must be their insurance certificate.

Some dealers do drive away insurance to get round this, others have good post offices who do it anyway.

In this case the dealer obviously doesnt and is correct.

naomi1010

Hi,

Up until recently, I was the sales administrator for a Vauxhall dealership.

The rules were/are that for new cars:

Once a new car was issued a registration, the customer has to sign a form saying that they acknowledge the registration and that it is their responsability to provide an insurance document showing the registration number and it has to be an original ie no faxes no photocopies.

It is then for the customer to produce this before the car is collected (although it could be when the car was collected, just meant the customer had to wait for the car to be taxed) and again sign another document saying that they have provided such insurance.

This is due to the nature of the reg being issued by the DVLA and if an audit takes place at the dealership, it has to be proven that original insurance was indeed provided. If couldn't be proven dealership ran the risk of losing their license.

I know over years of doing this job that it can be a pain making sure everything is correct but it is a legal requirement and like said above most dealerships do offer a 7 day free insurance which is emailed to the dealership in a matter of minutes which can be used as recognised by the DVLA as providing an original.

Sorry so long winded but hope it clarifies things

Naomi

floss2

donglemouse wrote: »

quentin seeing as i don't know myself, i am just trying to establish whether they could use their own trade insurance

the view of mrscb above would appear to suggest they could & i know someone who bought a new car a couple of months ago who was not asked for a cover note as the dealer told them he had taken care of getting the tax

the simple reason for me asking is to determine the reality (as i don't know myself), the dealer may be correct but i would consider it prudent to double check what's he saying

It probably depends upon whether they are linked to the DVLA licensing system - when I was sales admin in a Peugeot dealership I was able to tax new cars online if we had a faxed certificate from the insurers, but not all dealers have this facility and would therefore have to have an original certificate to tax over a PO counter.

Premier_2

donglemouse wrote: »

quentin seeing as i don't know myself, i am just trying to establish whether they could use their own trade insurance

the view of mrscb above would appear to suggest they could & i know someone who bought a new car a couple of months ago who was not asked for a cover note as the dealer told them he had taken care of getting the tax

the simple reason for me asking is to determine the reality (as i don't know myself), the dealer may be correct but i would consider it prudent to double check what's he saying

The dealer wants to sell you the car. He wants to sell anyone a car.

The dealer doesn't want to make things more difficult than needs be - it's not good for his business.

If you don't trust the dealer enough to provide him with your insurance certificate/cover note for the car you want to buy, then think very carefully about buying from that dealer at all.

funky_snow

To me this sounds a bit wierd. I buy new cars and the dealers have always been provided 7 day drive away insurance for free... That way they have insurance with which to tax the car - so you can drive it away. Your choice whether to have your own insurance ready from the day you pick up - or wait 7 days and take advantage of the freebie...
Is this not a 'mainstream' dealer but some kind of grey importer???

donglemouse

thanks all for trying to clarify

premier - the friend has no problem giving the dealer the cover note, the issue is they are stuck waiting for the insurance company to send it out (who quote it will take c5 working days) & the postal strike also to do its work

funky snow - it's a mainstream mini dealer, the only bit that might be 'weird' is the 7 day mini insurance option is not available to the buyer, as the '7 day insurer' does not insure northern ireland post codes

flea72

donglemouse wrote: »

the only bit that might be 'weird' is the 7 day mini insurance option is not available to the buyer, as the '7 day insurer' does not insure northern ireland post codes

and herein lies your problem. most people take advantage of 7 day insurance, so the dealer can tax the car (most dealers can tax new cars onsite), but as you are in NI, then this isnt available to you

Your only option is to wait for the dealer to receive the covernote

Premier_2

donglemouse wrote: »

...premier - the friend has no problem giving the dealer the cover note, the issue is they are stuck waiting for the insurance company to send it out (who quote it will take c5 working days) & the postal strike also to do its work...

Sounds like some serious issue with the insurance agent.
I've had some insurance certificates issued in less than 5 days. Cover notes should be able to be issued immediately - that's the purpose of them.
Your friend can either collect direct from the agent, or have the agent arrange alternative delivery not using Royal Mail, or even arrange themselves to have it collected from the agent. There's plenty of couriers out there more than happy to to do the work Royal Mail workers don't want.


Edit: although if the dealer is in NI and the agent issuing the cover note is in mainland Britain, that may complicate matters. Still I'm sure someone like DHL will deliver.