Buying car with private plate

Mummy_Bean

So we found the car we want (a BMW 320D), we confirmed a price and paid our deposit (private seller). However the car has a private plate on it which the seller wants to keep - which were happy to do as it his name.

The seller had thought you could still go to the local dvla office and get the plates changed there and then- like you could before, but he just discovered that the office is now closed and even if it had been open they can no longer do it there and then.

He is also buying a new car which he wants to change the plates on to. So he sent of the paper work to do this, this morning to change the plates. - From what I can tell online the DVLA takes about a week to change the plates and to send out new tax/MOT with certificate to confirm change but it says it can take 6 weeks to get the new V5 document.

So how do we go about buying it? Do we have to wait 6 weeks for the new V5, or can we sign the current one and have the new one sent straight to us?

At what point can you take the private plate off - when the certificate received or when the V5 received??

Whilst I am in no hurry to get the new car I dont want to have to wait 6 weeks.

DUTR

When I took the plates off my previous car, it took 2 weeks, then I put the car up for sale, the seller will get a retention certificate for his plate and he will get a registration and tax disc for the car you are buying, it shouldn't take 6 weeks .

jimjames

For mine it took about 2 weeks from viewing the car to the previous owner getting the new V5.

I wasn't prepared to buy it until he had the V5 back. Some people may be prepared to take that risk, I wasn't.

worried_jim

The seller really should have done all of this before putting his car up for sale, should take, as others have said, about two weeks to sort out.

Iceweasel

worried_jim wrote: »

The seller really should have done all of this before putting his car up for sale, should take, as others have said, about two weeks to sort out.

Well the seller seems to have a case of the 'Rip van Winkles' if he didn't even know that local DVLA offices don't exist any more.

Everything goes through Swansea now - even the Northern Ireland offices in Coleraine have closed for transfers.

Lots of folks have lost their cherished plate by leaving it on when the sell the car and trusting that the new owner will allow them to transfer it later.

Not that the OP wants this particular plate - but it's far better to get the plate on retention before selling the car.

Two weeks is about right if you keep clear of year letter code change peak periods for Swansea.

fivetide

jimjames wrote: »

For mine it took about 2 weeks from viewing the car to the previous owner getting the new V5.

I wasn't prepared to buy it until he had the V5 back. Some people may be prepared to take that risk, I wasn't.

I did the same. Wasn't prepared to take a car that I hadn't officially signed for.

It says up to six weeks but in reality it is around two. That said, your seller doesn't sound the brightest crayon in the box so fingers crossed he fills it all in properly.

Plenty out there if you don't want to keep hanging on....

Mummy_Bean

but to give him his due we also didnt realise all the offices were closed, and it had been open when he bought the car and put the plate on it.

and I think he was just trying to avoid having to put it on retention and put the plate straight on his new car...which he could not purchase until he knew he had a buyer.

But thanks for the comments - two weeks not to bad. Will give us a chance to sell our current car.

GabbaGabbaHey

When I bought my last car it had a Private Plate on it which the (private) seller wanted to keep.

I just signed a receipt which said that the number plate was not included in the sale, but that I could use it for (something like) up to 4 weeks.

I drove off with the car on the PP. The seller then filled in all the paperwork to get his PP removed, and emailed me when he knew what the number being reassigned to the car was (it was actually the same as the original pre-PP number on the car, so I didn't even have to get a set of plates made up).

I then took the PP off and put the original plate on the car, and he put his PP on his new car (or possibly a retention certificate - I didn't care). Quick call to my insurance and all done.

Simples.

Mummy_Bean

Phillip-So did you not complete the V5 for a few weeks? Just getting the plate removed isnt really a problem it just waiting for the V5 with the new plate on it that I am worried about.

DUTR

Mummy_Bean wrote: »

Phillip-So did you not complete the V5 for a few weeks? Just getting the plate removed isnt really a problem it just waiting for the V5 with the new plate on it that I am worried about.

You need a registration allocated to the car, I forgot the certificate number, but you take that with the new MOT and V5 to a place where they will make the new plates for you to apply to the vehicle. The story above where the guy run the private plates for a few weeks, may attract 2 lots of admin fees with the insurer.

Mummy_Bean

He already has the old plates...so assuming the car gets assigned those plates again we can swap them over quickly. Just can we change the plates when he gets the certificate of retention and drive away with the car on new plates but with NO V5 then when the V5 comes back a few weeks later sign it and send it off? Or do we have to wait for the V5 with the new reg plate on it to come back before we can drive away?