Wrong registration on car.

Leanne1812

Hi forum,

I'm hoping for some advice here. Took my car for a service today and when I returned to collect I was told there had been a complication. When they entered the chassis details it did not match with the registration. They've changed the car over to the reg it should be and gave me a free service for the inconvenience.

I've changed my insurance to the new registration with no charge but now I'm thinking I'll need to inform the tax office in the morning about the mishap and of course get the correct reg on the disc or at least updated on their system. Also reg documents are wrong. I'll phone the garage in the morning where I purchased the car and see if they will chase that up. Hubby is also saying the finance documents have the wrong details too.....
Should I be concerned? The car is nearly 2 years old, I bought it about 6 months ago from Mercedes official dealership.

Any advice or thoughts please?

Cheers.

AdrianC

Does your V5C match the plates and/or the VIN?

Leanne1812

AdrianC wrote: »

Does your V5C match the plates and/or the VIN?

Hi Adrian,

The V5C has the wrong reg on it. Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what the VIN is?

I just phoned the garage I bought the car from and they got me to read out the last 6 digits of a long number under the windscreen and then told me the old reg was incorrect. The problem is I had the service at a different mercedes garage than the one I bought the car from.

molerat

Does the VIN (long number) on the car match the number on the V5C and is the registration number on the car (as you bought it) the same as on the V5C ? You can bin the tax disc - they are no longer required. I would like to know why a merc dealership is selling cars with mismatched information. The garage cannot just go round changing number plates to suit what their service system says.

Leanne1812

Ah gotcha now.

No they do not match. The problem arose when during the service they checked the details and discovered the chassis/VIN did not match the registration. They have changed the registration to the correct one which I assume matches the VIN. Our documents & road tax both have the registration which is the wrong one now removed and replaced today.

When I contacted the dealer tonight he said they had 2 identical mercs being prepped for sale at the same time and this is where the mistake arose. They now have to contact the owner of the other one as they have our registration and we had theirs by the sound of it. Is this fishy?

lovinituk

This all sounds very dodgy on the garages part!

Gloomendoom

A similar thing happened to me years ago. Only the car had the wrong number on the front and the correct number on the back.

All down to a distracted apprentice, apparently.

AdrianC

Yep, if your V5C matches the VIN, but the plates are wrong, then they put the wrong plates on the car when it was new. Two identical (silver?) Mercs, two plates. Easy mistake to make without checking the VIN - chassis number, the actual serial number for your car.

Simple solution? Swap the plates back. You keep the "same car" - the one you've had all along. But the plates it should have had get put on it.

But when you got the V5C back from Swansea, with a different reg to the plates, did you not think "Hold on a mo... That's not my car?"

SuperAllyB

Gloomendoom wrote: »

A similar thing happened to me years ago. Only the car had the wrong number on the front and the correct number on the back.

All down to a distracted apprentice, apparently.

My uncle had this happen after an accident repair once. It was 6 months before anyone noticed. Garage had put *368*** instead of *386*** on the replacement plate (not sure why i asterisked as its bound to be in the great scrapyard in the sky by now - you don't see too many Sierras running about these days lol)

Ectophile

It sounds like there is something very fishy going on here.

The DVLA is the official government body that issues registration numbers for cars. The V5C will have both the VIN (chassis) number and the registration number. Your car should have the registration number that is stated on the V5C.

If you have a problem, you'd be better contacting the DVLA, not letting some motor dealer start swapping number plates.

Bear in mind that the police now have access to the DVLA database. If they ever stop you for any reason, they may start asking awkward questions if the number plates on the car don't match the database.

topdaddy_2

The garage just put new plates on? !!!!!!?