DVLA - incredible hassle trying to tax my car

Polly_Leadbitter

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I purchased a car in January and I never received the new V5C logbook from the DVLA. As the tax for the car was up at the end of March, I was anxious to get it sorted, but I thought as a last resort I could tax it with the green slip. Unfortunately when I went to tax my car with the green slip they told me that: 1) the green slip had expired and could only have been used in the first two months after purchasing the car and 2) that I wasn't shown up as the registered keeper on the computer system so I had to fill in a V62 form and just wait until it got processed before I could drive my car again. That was about five weeks ago and I've not been able to drive my car for the last four weeks.

Aside from the fact that I'm completely dismayed that the DVLA operates a system like this - how on earth did they think it was acceptable to just force people off the road on this basis without any backup plan? - it seems they're also having a problem processing the form. They sent out a letter asking for basic details (pretty much the same details as on the original V62 form I sent in) and when I phoned to ask what it was all about they said that "the date you put down as buying the vehicle on the V62 is the same as the date the previous keeper has for buying the vehicle". Does anyone know why this might be the case? They gave me no answers and wouldn't even let me confirm my date of purchase over the phone - all they would say is that until they get the form back (which of course is being held up in all the bank holidays) they can't do anything.

Does anyone know why the previous keeper would have the same date of purchase on their registration as the date I actually purchased the car? This is causing me an unbelievable amount of hassle - I need my car to get to work so I've either been getting taxis every day or using up my holidays (I've used up almost all of my annual leave just to cover for this). To top it off, I tried to turn the ignition on the other day (just to check if it still works...) and my battery has now gone flat because the car hasn't been driven for four weeks. I'd get the AA round to jump start it, but what's the point when I can't actually drive it anywhere? I can't believe they find it acceptable to put people in this position all because, basically, the name and address field on a computer system needs to be updated.

Dippypud

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I purchased a car in January and I never received the new V5C logbook from the DVLA. As the tax for the car was up at the end of March, I was anxious to get it sorted, but I thought as a last resort I could tax it with the green slip.

Why did you not 'phone DVLA earlier in the year when your V5 didnot turn up?

Polly_Leadbitter

Dippypud wrote: »

Why did you not 'phone DVLA earlier in the year when your V5 didnot turn up?

I phoned them about two weeks after purchasing and was told that I had to wait as it can take 4-6 weeks to process a new logbook. The DVLA don't even let you discuss it with them until 4 weeks have passed, as far as I can tell. I didn't phone them after that because, to be perfectly honest, I thought you could use the green slip to tax it and I thought it was just a matter of time until the V5C turned up anyway.

clever_username

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

I didn't phone them after that because, to be perfectly honest, I thought you could use the green slip to tax it and I thought it was just a matter of time until the V5C turned up anyway.

To be fair you can use the green slip to tax it, unfortunately it has to be done within a certain amount of time.

asbokid

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I purchased a car in January and I never received the new V5C logbook from the DVLA. As the tax for the car was up at the end of March, I was anxious to get it sorted, but I thought as a last resort I could tax it with the green slip. Unfortunately when I went to tax my car with the green slip they told me that: 1) the green slip had expired and could only have been used in the first two months after purchasing the car and 2) that I wasn't shown up as the registered keeper on the computer system so I had to fill in a V62 form and just wait until it got processed before I could drive my car again. That was about five weeks ago and I've not been able to drive my car for the last four weeks.

Aside from the fact that I'm completely dismayed that the DVLA operates a system like this

I sympathise.

Thankfully I have had few contacts with DVLA over the last 25 years of motoring. Yet, even in those infrequent encounters, the Agency has still managed to make some major errors and blunders.

What is perhaps more annoying that the errors themselves is the breathtaking arrogance of the Agency. The DVLA as with all government agencies, would do well to remember that it is a servant of the citizen.

- how on earth did they think it was acceptable to just force people off the road on this basis without any backup plan? - it seems they're also having a problem processing the form.

The DVLA just doesn't care less.

The Agency "lost" my full entitlement to drive a m/c during a licence update after moving home. The licence was returned with provisional entitlement only. I returned the licence to the Agency, pointing out that it was wrong and told the DVLA to correct it.

Weeks later, the Agency demanded that I send proof of passing my test (i.e. by providing a certified copy of my original pass certificate). By now it was some 20 years after I took the bike test!

I was lucky - I discovered an ancient photocopy of my old paper driving licence from a decade before, and posted that to DVLA as "proof" of passing my test. It was accepted but, in reality, what sort of "proof" is a photocopy of anything?

However, for the two months I spent waiting for my entitlements to be correctly recorded on my licence, I was advised not to drive.

Other motorists have been less lucky. Some have even had to take their driving test all over again, after the Agency lost proof of their driving test pass. Worst, the Agency adamantly refuses to accept its errors.

In the last few months, the DVLA has managed to make another error. I returned my licence for update with a new photo. I enclosed the correct fee (£20). Nevertheless, my application was returned a few weeks later with a standard letter claiming that I had enclosed the wrong fee. I checked and double checked but, once again, it was the Agency that was in the wrong.

I sent the licence to DVLA in mid-February. I still haven't heard anything, except for the letter that wrongly claimed that I had enclosed the wrong fee.

That has been my limited experience with the Driver Licensing department of DVLA.

The Vehicle Licensing unit has been equally shoddy.

Over the years, the Agency has issued several V5 certificates to me that have contained glaring errors, usually typographic errors in my name but also in one case, a completely bodged address that amazingly still found its way to me.

They sent out a letter asking for basic details (pretty much the same details as on the original V62 form I sent in) and when I phoned to ask what it was all about they said that "the date you put down as buying the vehicle on the V62 is the same as the date the previous keeper has for buying the vehicle". Does anyone know why this might be the case?

Is there a slim possibility that you filled-in the V62 form incorrectly, rather than they processed it wrongly? The DVLA scans every document that is sent to them, so you could submit a Data Subject Access Request to obtain the scan of your V62 form, if it hasn't been "lost".

Have you kept your own photocopy of the V62 form you submitted? That's one thing I learned about dealing with the DVLA: always photocopy every single document you send to them. Certificates of Posting are important, too.

They gave me no answers and wouldn't even let me confirm my date of purchase over the phone - all they would say is that until they get the form back (which of course is being held up in all the bank holidays) they can't do anything.

Does anyone know why the previous keeper would have the same date of purchase on their registration as the date I actually purchased the car?

That sounds suspiciously like a data entry error at DVLA. A clerk has mistaken your date of registration for the date of the previous owner's acquisition.

This is causing me an unbelievable amount of hassle - I need my car to get to work so I've either been getting taxis every day or using up my holidays (I've used up almost all of my annual leave just to cover for this). To top it off, I tried to turn the ignition on the other day (just to check if it still works...) and my battery has now gone flat because the car hasn't been driven for four weeks. I'd get the AA round to jump start it, but what's the point when I can't actually drive it anywhere? I can't believe they find it acceptable to put people in this position all because, basically, the name and address field on a computer system needs to be updated.

It's pathetic. About 15 years ago, the day-to-day running of the Agency was handed over to Capita plc, the notorious outsourcing darling of New Labour. Much of the data processing today has been outsourced by Crapita, as Private Eye calls it, to partners in India. That "special relationship" that Capita enjoys with the Ruling Party has mysteriously continued into the Tory administration.

Dippypud

The V5 is probably in a name that may vaguely resemble yours, at an address that may vaguely resemble yours.

DVLA will do what it does but in it's own time...

Good luck...

Polly_Leadbitter

asbokid wrote: »

Is there a slim possibility that you filled-in the V62 form incorrectly, rather than they processed it wrongly? The DVLA scans every document that is sent to them, so you could submit a Data Subject Access Request to obtain the scan of your V62 form, if it hasn't been "lost".

Actually this is probably one of the silliest parts of the whole experience. They could tell me the date they have down for me purchasing the car (i.e. what I put on the V62), I could tell them over the phone that this was indeed the date I purchased the car; yet they can't process it until they get the letter I sent back in to them - which says the same thing. I'll try and be fair and say that they just need the signature on the form to confirm it (for some legal reason). I'm just hoping they or Royal Mail don't lose the form.

That sounds suspiciously like a data entry error at DVLA. A clerk has mistaken your date of registration for the date of the previous owner's acquisition.

To be honest, that seems like a plausible explanation. The only thing I could think of before is that the garage did actually send the documentation in when they sold me the car and the DVLA simply put the wrong information into the system - the wrong name/address (maybe the name of the garage instead of my name - who knows) and that it was just registered with the wrong details. Maybe you're right about the dates though, I hadn't thought of that. Is there any other likely reason?

I sent the licence to DVLA in mid-February. I still haven't heard anything, except for the letter that wrongly claimed that I had enclosed the wrong fee.

That has been my limited experience with the Driver Licensing department of DVLA.

The Vehicle Licensing unit has been equally shoddy.

Over the years, the Agency has issued several V5 certificates to me that have contained glaring errors, usually typographic errors in my name but also in one case, a completely bodged address that amazingly still found its way to me.

I can accept some administrative errors now and then, but these sorts of stories are really cases of drivers paying the consequences for the DVLA's own errors. I've tried complaining about this system, asking why it is the way it is, trying to find out more information about how the system works and you just hit a brick wall. The customer service team seems to have the primary aim of getting callers to go away rather than actually solving their problem.

Flyboy152

Was the car pre-registered?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

hasnt anyone had no difficulties in getting something done with the dvla. come to think of it its been 7 weeks since i bought my car, still havent had the V5c but my tax isnt up untill july so no problems with taxing it like you OP. i think the v5c/2 you can use to tax the car at a local dvla office still you will have to check with dvla site though.

Marvel1

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

They sent out a letter asking for basic details (pretty much the same details as on the original V62 form I sent in) and when I phoned to ask what it was all about they said that "the date you put down as buying the vehicle on the V62 is the same as the date the previous keeper has for buying the vehicle". Does anyone know why this might be the case?

Does anyone know why the previous keeper would have the same date of purchase on their registration as the date I actually purchased the car? .

How are we suppose to know?

Polly_Leadbitter

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Was the car pre-registered?

It wasn't a pre-reg car, no. Out of interest, is this a particular problem with them? Maybe it would give some clue as to what's going on here.

hasnt anyone had no difficulties in getting something done with the dvla. come to think of it its been 7 weeks since i bought my car, still havent had the V5c but my tax isnt up untill july so no problems with taxing it like you OP. i think the v5c/2 you can use to tax the car at a local dvla office still you will have to check with dvla site though.

Well, my advice would be to start chasing them up about it well in advance (months) of your tax being up! The V5C/2 can only be used in the first two months so you could find yourself in the same situation if you leave it until June/July.