Car written off, insurer wants documents!!

AdrianC

Strider590 wrote: »

Make sure you tell the DVLA its been scrapped, the insurance company will not and you WILL get an £80 fine (or whatever it is now) for not informing them.

DVLA scum.

In that situation, why is it DVLA who are the "scum", rather than the insurers?

Strider590

Look, my last car was written off and later put back on the road (apparently).

I did as I was told by my insurer, sent them the documents as required. 6 months later I get a fine from the DVLA for not sending them the part of the V5 informing them the car had been scrapped, I explained the situation (the insurer wanted the COMPLETE document), they retracted the fine and sent me a different fine for not informing them of a new keeper, again I contested this and they once again sent me a different fine. This went on for about 3 months, in the end I paid because their reasons for fining me were just getting sillier and sillier until eventually they found something that would stick, I probably paid because i'd failed to write my previous letter in the correct font size.......

So, OP you need to inform the DVLA and keep informing them (preferably by recorded post) until they send you a confirmation letter. Keep copies of any correspondence too.

If they didn't have the govt behind them, they'd have been shut down by trading standards decades ago.

If I can stop one person from getting caught out, then it's a small victory for the hard working tax payers of this country.

Iceweasel

colino wrote: »

As above, but when I had one written off and it had a vanity plate, they had no problem in helping me with the transfer at no extra cost before they took ownership.

I'm sure that you mean a 'cherished plate' referred to by many as a private or personal plate.

A vanity plate is a plate that is not road legal - for a variety of reasons.

It was only correct that they transferred your plate as it is a moveable thing which you had the right to display.

Doing it at no cost to you was a bonus - well done - very MSE.

Car_54

AdrianC wrote: »

In that situation, why is it DVLA who are the "scum", rather than the insurers?

Section 9 of the V5C is very clear: it must be completed and returned to the DVLA by the RK if the vehicle is being transferred to insurers.

If the RK didn't do that, he only has himself to blame. But "scum" is a bit strong.

Strider590

Car_54 wrote: »

Section 9 of the V5C is very clear: it must be completed and returned to the DVLA by the RK if the vehicle is being transferred to insurers.

If the RK didn't do that, he only has himself to blame. But "scum" is a bit strong.

Insurers ask for the FULL document, they're very adamant on this.

AdrianC

If you're transferring a car to an insurer, then it's going into the trade - so the correct procedure would be to give them the whole main V5C, but send the yellow V5C/3 to DVLA.

But if the insurer - or somebody on their behalf - have scrapped the vehicle, it's still not your responsibility to tell DVLA that - because you don't know that's what's happened. It may well have gone into a salvage auction as damaged/repairable. Perfectly legitimate.

None of these scenarios make DVLA scum. If the insurer are requesting you to break the law, rather than there being a misunderstanding through failure to read the letter and/or V5C properly, then some may feel that's a scummy thing to do.

Strider590

The scum part is not accepting that it was not the owners fault and then changing the reason for the fine until they eventually back you into a corner on something trivial.
Beating down on tax paying citizens, just to make a point and quick £80. This ain't communist Russia, we have rights and the DVLA seems hell bent on telling us we don't.

Now if they'd put some of that effort into catching out foreign nationals who don't tax or insure their vehicles (or even have a valid driving licence), then I wouldn't mind so much.

Slamming the whole DVLA is perhaps slightly "off", I have had some good experiences with other departments (although somewhat robotic), but their enforcement department are like the Nazi SS. No such thing as innocence, only varying degrees of guilt.......

DoctorFoster

Strider590 wrote: »

The scum part is not accepting that it was not the owners fault and then changing the reason for the fine until they eventually back you into a corner on something trivial.
Beating down on tax paying citizens, just to make a point and quick £80. This ain't communist Russia, we have rights and the DVLA seems hell bent on telling us we don't.

Now if they'd put some of that effort into catching out foreign nationals who don't tax or insure their vehicles (or even have a valid driving licence), then I wouldn't mind so much.

DVLA have nothing to do with insurance and don't profit from it.

I don't think you like non uk nationals. Is that because you're a racist or a Worcestershire redneck?

colino

No Iceweasel, I meant vanity plate. When you are selling a car you can call it cherished or private if you like, but the reality is there is an industry in appealing to the vanity of (most of) these plate buyers that usually is in inverse proportion to anyone else's reading of the supposed message.
Since the days of buying Irish plates for £45 to conceal the age of middling Mercs and Jags, I've never bought a vanity plate since.

Iceweasel

colino wrote: »

No Iceweasel, I meant vanity plate. When you are selling a car you can call it cherished or private if you like, but the reality is there is an industry in appealing to the vanity of (most of) these plate buyers that usually is in inverse proportion to anyone else's reading of the supposed message.
Since the days of buying Irish plates for £45 to conceal the age of middling Mercs and Jags, I've never bought a vanity plate since.

Fair enough. I agree with you.

Somtimes I think the ones that are supposed to spell out a word or mean something - but it has to be explained before you understand it - would be better described an insanity plates - and they cost a fortune.

Norn Iron plates are still available for around £19.99 if you're interested.