DVLA - incredible hassle trying to tax my car

Marvel1

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

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.

Learn from the OP and chase it up.

Polly_Leadbitter

cjdavies wrote: »

How are we suppose to know?

Well there might be a common reason for people finding themselves in this situation. Data entry errors have been mentioned above, another poster mentioned pre-registered cars... maybe there are potentially other reasons. Everyone who's contributed to the thread has been very helpful.

Marvel1

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

Well there might be a common reason for people finding themselves in this situation. Data entry errors have been mentioned above, another poster mentioned pre-registered cars... maybe there are potentially other reasons. Everyone who's contributed to the thread has been very helpful.

Sorry, I aplogise.

Flyboy152

Polly_Leadbitter wrote: »

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.

Not specifically so, but it might have explained why there was a change of ownership on the same day. If the car had been registered to the dealer on, for example, the thirty-first of December and then transferred to you on the same day, that would give rise for the DVLA's query.

Happytohelp

I think it is highly likely the change of keeper entry (which is coincidentally on the same date you bought the car) is the record of you buying the car. As someone else mentioned there has probably been an input error, or the name is mis-spelled.

If your name is Polly Leadbitter and the DVLA record for the car shows the owner as Dolly Leadbitter, the DVLA representative (without revealing the name of the registered keeper) would say you are not showing as the registered keeper. For data protection reasons they probably can't tell you that it is a close match to your name.

This doesn't explain why you didn't receive the V5C at your address though. The V5C could have got lost in the post, or it may have been registered to the wrong person completely.

If I was in your position I would go to my nearest DVLA Local Office - dft.gov.uk/dvla/contactus/localoffices/findnear.aspx on Tuesday with any evidence of ownership you have (such as the green slip) plus the documents you are required to produce when taxing a car (insurance certificate, MOT etc.) and photo-id. The vehicle record can be accessed by the DVLA Local Office staff.

Depending on how helpful the DVLA representative is, you may be able to tax your car there and then. If you don't get the response you want, ask to speak to a manager in private. There are separate interview rooms at the DVLA Local Offices and you have the right to speak to a manager if you feel your request has not been dealt with correctly.

Let us know how you get on.

Flyboy152

Happytohelp wrote: »

I think it is highly likely the change of keeper entry (which is coincidentally on the same date you bought the car) is the record of you buying the car. As someone else mentioned there has probably been an input error, or the name is mis-spelled.

If your name is Polly Leadbitter and the DVLA record for the car shows the owner as Dolly Leadbitter, the DVLA representative (without revealing the name of the registered keeper) would say you are not showing as the registered keeper. For data protection reasons they probably can't tell you that it is a close match to your name.

This doesn't explain why you didn't receive the V5C at your address though. The V5C could have got lost in the post, or it may have been registered to the wrong person completely.

If I was in your position I would go to my nearest DVLA Local Office - dft.gov.uk/dvla/contactus/localoffices/findnear.aspx on Tuesday with any evidence of ownership you have (such as the green slip) plus the documents you are required to produce when taxing a car (insurance certificate, MOT etc.) and photo-id. The vehicle record can be accessed by the DVLA Local Office staff.

Depending on how helpful the DVLA representative is, you may be able to tax your car there and then. If you don't get the response you want, ask to speak to a manager in private. There are separate interview rooms at the DVLA Local Offices and you have the right to speak to a manager if you feel your request has not been dealt with correctly.

Let us know how you get on.

I don't think the DPA applies to V5s in that way. The V5s for my cars all have the previous owners' names and addresses on them.

Happytohelp

That is a very good point. The Data Protection Act definitely applies to data held on DVLA's computer records, but I'm surprised DVLA has not been challenged about supplying previous keeper information on V5C logbooks before now.

Polly_Leadbitter

Happytohelp wrote: »

If I was in your position I would go to my nearest DVLA Local Office - dft.gov.uk/dvla/contactus/localoffices/findnear.aspx on Tuesday with any evidence of ownership you have (such as the green slip) plus the documents you are required to produce when taxing a car (insurance certificate, MOT etc.) and photo-id. The vehicle record can be accessed by the DVLA Local Office staff.

Depending on how helpful the DVLA representative is, you may be able to tax your car there and then. If you don't get the response you want, ask to speak to a manager in private. There are separate interview rooms at the DVLA Local Offices and you have the right to speak to a manager if you feel your request has not been dealt with correctly.

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks for the advice. I went to the DVLA local office today and whilst they seemed like they wanted to help their hands were tied. They couldn't tell me why the two dates of purchase were the same, they couldn't tell me what the previous keeper's details were, they couldn't tell me when it would be processed and they wouldn't let me tax it until it's processed. They did at least say they'd received the letter I sent them back. I will say they were more helpful than the customer service line that I've been phoning, though, so I'll certainly take the face to face route next time.

Sometimes I honestly feel like we're living in the film "Brazil" - you wouldn't think something like voluntarily paying your taxes would be difficult, but in this case it seems to be more complicated and more secretive than advanced rocket science. All this from what was probably just a typo.

Happytohelp

It's a shame things didn't get resolved today, but it sounds like progress is being made.

I think there are some serious questions to be answered by DVLA and you need an explanation as to what exactly has happened. As a result of what has happened the car may incorrectly have an extra keeper showing on the V5C. Once you have received the V5C and taxed your car, you can apply to have the incorrect keeper information removed. An additional keeper can lower the value of your car.

As one of the earlier posters advised, DVLA is supposed to scan all documents as they arrive at Swansea. Hopefully this will uncover how the problems started. The mystery of the unknown keeper should also be revealed when you eventually receive your V5C.

Marvel1

Happytohelp wrote: »

I think there are some serious questions to be answered by DVLA and you need an explanation as to what exactly has happened. As a result of what has happened the car may incorrectly have an extra keeper showing on the V5C. Once you have received the V5C and taxed your car, you can apply to have the incorrect keeper information removed. An additional keeper can lower the value of your car.

Do you have any evidence of this to support this theroy.