New Cherished Number and Retention

dreamypuma

I'm currently looking to buy a cherished plate, both a private agent and DVLA quote the same for the plate.

The Agent can provide the reg on a retention certificate for 12 months but has advised renewal or the certificate will be £80 each year.

In the past I've only paid around £25 to renew retention on other regs.

When I queried the cost of renewal, they suggested that it was because the reg was being bought through an agent and I'd be a nominee for the reg.

If I bought directly from DVLA, will the annual retention renewal be the same price as with the agent or the £25 (or so) I've previously paid on other regs?

Iceweasel

You may not be aware that things have changed a little.

There is now a 'combined' form - V317 has been updated which means that the old V778/1 is no longer required.

The costs are explained on the form.

http://www.ftreg.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/v317-new-style.pdf

In my experience it's always cheaper to deal direct with DVLA - perhaps a tad slower though as the dealers seem to be able to jump the queue a bit.

JJ_Egan

Are you not going to put the plate on a vehicle = £80 to transfer the plate once .
Not putting the reg on a vehicle but keeping it is retention .

dreamypuma

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Are you not going to put the plate on a vehicle = £80 to transfer the plate once .
Not putting the reg on a vehicle but keeping it is retention .

I'd like to put it onto a car immediately, but the wife's car is older than the reg (14 Reg), and I'm currently a company car driver so can't apply the reg to my car.

We'd like to secure entitlement for the future.

force_ten

if the plate is on the DVLA then they own it, what the third party agent will do is buy it on your behalf and regardless of the price on the screen you will end up paying the agent more than you would pay the DVLA

the private agent is in the game to make money not to offer a service to you free of charge

if it is on the DVLA website then buy it from them and you will get three years retention for £75.00 rather than £80.00 a year being quoted by the private agent

dreamypuma

Iceweasel wrote: »

You may not be aware that things have changed a little.

There is now a 'combined' form - V317 has been updated which means that the old V778/1 is no longer required.

The costs are explained on the form.

http://www.ftreg.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/v317-new-style.pdf

In my experience it's always cheaper to deal direct with DVLA - perhaps a tad slower though as the dealers seem to be able to jump the queue a bit.

So previously I think the inital retention fee was £105, which included £80 transfer, and £25 retention for 12month. The 12month expired and a further £25 would extend retention for for a further 12months. The transfer fee used to be pre-paid in the inital fee.

Is this no longer the case?

dreamypuma

force_ten wrote: »

if the plate is on the DVLA then they own it, what the third party agent will do is buy it on your behalf and regardless of the price on the screen you will end up paying the agent more than you would pay the DVLA

the private agent is in the game to make money not to offer a service to you free of charge

if it is on the DVLA website then buy it from them and you will get three years retention for £75.00 rather than £80.00 a year being quoted by the private agent

Thanks appreciate the Agent isn't doing anything for free, just assumed that they would be getting some form of volume discount, hence there ability to match DVLAs inital purchase price.

The agent claims I need to pay the initial cost of the reg, VAT and and compulsory £80 transfer fee.

The issue is that they want to charge £80 per year thereafter to retain the reg as they are the owners and myself the nominee.

Iceweasel

dreamypuma wrote: »

So previously I think the inital retention fee was £105, which included £80 transfer, and £25 retention for 12month. The 12month expired and a further £25 would extend retention for for a further 12months. The transfer fee used to be pre-paid in the inital fee.

Is this no longer the case?

It hasn't changed in that respect - the eventual transfer fee is included in the £105 one year fee and each additional year is £25.

They just want you to select at the outset 1, 2 or 3 years retention, or transfer right away.

I'm unsure what happens after the 3 years is up - I expect it's another £25 per year, but I've never kept a number that long on retention.

I don't know which form you would need to extend it.

The dealer is of course exploiting you - that much is clear.

dreamypuma

Iceweasel wrote: »

It hasn't changed in that respect - the eventual transfer fee is included in the £105 one year fee and each additional year is £25.

They just want you to select at the outset 1, 2 or 3 years retention, or transfer right away.

I'm unsure what happens after the 3 years is up - I expect it's another £25 per year, but I've never kept a number that long on retention.

I don't know which form you would need to extend it.

The dealer is of course exploiting you - that much is clear.

Just called the agent once again to ensure I had not misunderstood their fees. They definitely want £80 per year to retain the plate after the initial 12 months. I guess this covers their admin costs and any profit.

Just done some digging around on the DVLA site and found this which makes their position clear: http://dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk/help/questions-after-a-purchase.html?question=after_purchase#after_purchase

The agent i was looking to use was New Reg, so one of the bigger names in the industry.

[Deleted User]

Number plate agents are only useful for plates you can't buy from DVLA Registrations. If it is available on the DVLA Registration site then it will be cheaper than any of the agents out there.

Iceweasel

dreamypuma wrote: »

Just called the agent once again to ensure I had not misunderstood their fees. They definitely want £80 per year to retain the plate after the initial 12 months. I guess this covers their admin costs and any profit.

Just done some digging around on the DVLA site and found this which makes their position clear: http://dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk/help/questions-after-a-purchase.html?question=after_purchase#after_purchase

The agent i was looking to use was New Reg, so one of the bigger names in the industry.

That seems very clear then - they will write to you before the retention certificate expires - it's £25 a year and no limit to how many times you renew.

I've learned something. :T