The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Can't you arrange the tax online?

Not if you don't have the reference number from the V5(C), and you are not the currently registered owner/keeper.

silvercar wrote: »

If it helps I think v5(c)'s generally arrive in about a week, if it isn't a busy time eg new reg day.

That's encouraging. If it comes within a week it'll just about be within the time I have left on the hire car.

silvercar wrote: »

Can you still go to your nearest DVLA office to get a replacement, or has that option disappeared?

Haven't seen that mentioned in any of the gov.uk pages I've looked at, but I'll find out about that. I'll keep the NP posted.

ETA Four years too late:

Please note that all DVLA Local Offices were closed by the end of 2013, moving their previously offered services to other channels, such as the Post Office, DVLA Swansea and online .gov sites.

silvercar wrote: »

You have insurance options. Who gets the NCD that you have built up? Is it possible to keep the car in in-laws name and insure it for your son to be the main driver? That may enable you to use their NCD?

I have max NCD of my own. I strongly suspect that insuring any car to have a learner as sole driver is going to be a lot more expensive than insuring both him and me to drive it, with me as main driver. In any case, I'll be the person doing most of the driving of it until I find a replacement car for myself.

CKhalvashi wrote: »

It may need to sit on the drive until you have the new V5C, however that may be a problem additionally as you can't SORN it.

The problem of what to do about it being on the drive without having been SORNed is not worrying me so much as how I'm going to get around for 6 weeks with no car other than one I'm not allowed to drive.

CKhalvashi wrote: »

A much better idea would be for the government to allow it to be done online, a bit like I can do my personal tax return, but I think we're probably a while off that sadly.

The government already allow it to be done online for people who aren't stupid enough to lose their V5(C)s. Naturally they won't just re-register the car in my name without the requisite paperwork from the person who is currently the registered keeper. Otherwise just anybody could go online and claim to have bought a car from a total stranger and get a new V5(C) sent out, without the knowledge or consent of the actual owner. All I wish is that they'd let you tax a vehicle without providing proof of ownership. What skin is it off the government's nose if I choose to tax a vehicle that isn't quite officially mine yet? They'd get their tax money, after all.

GDB2222

What is happening to the car that is being written off, Lydia? The insurers will usually sell it to you for next to nothing. You could use it for local journeys until you get FIL's car sorted out.

LydiaJ

GDB2222 wrote: »

What is happening to the car that is being written off, Lydia? The insurers will usually sell it to you for next to nothing. You could use it for local journeys until you get FIL's car sorted out.

Thanks GDB. That's a good suggestion. However, overnight I have returned to silvercar's suggestion of keeping the ownership in FIL's name, and then insuring it not just for DS as per her post, but for me. This morning I phoned the DVLA, who confirmed that indeed, I can't tax it until I have a V5, and I can't drive it until I tax it, and a V5 could take weeks to arrive. However, a call to MIL went well - they're going to continue to own it while they send off for a replacement V5 themselves. My insurers (and I'll name them because they were so helpful - Direct Line) have happily agreed I can insure it for myself to drive as eventual owner and keeper, with a note on the file explaining that there will be delay in transfer of ownership because the V5 has been lost.

Now just need to get DS's driving lessons and provisional licence sorted out.

silvercar

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thanks GDB. That's a good suggestion. However, overnight I have returned to silvercar's suggestion of keeping the ownership in FIL's name, and then insuring it not just for DS as per her post, but for me. This morning I phoned the DVLA, who confirmed that indeed, I can't tax it until I have a V5, and I can't drive it until I tax it, and a V5 could take weeks to arrive. However, a call to MIL went well - they're going to continue to own it while they send off for a replacement V5 themselves. My insurers (and I'll name them because they were so helpful - Direct Line) have happily agreed I can insure it for myself to drive as eventual owner and keeper, with a note on the file explaining that there will be delay in transfer of ownership because the V5 has been lost.

Now just need to get DS's driving lessons and provisional licence sorted out.

Great result!

Will you take the insurance out in your name or your son's? That may make a difference to whether you put the car in your name or your son's.

Tip - if you are going to play around with quotes online, best to use a fake house number and fake names. Reading the insurance board it is not unknown for people to be turned down for insurance because they have obtained too many quotes for different scenarios and that raises suspicions.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Great result!

Will you take the insurance out in your name or your son's? That may make a difference to whether you put the car in your name or your son's.

Tip - if you are going to play around with quotes online, best to use a fake house number and fake names. Reading the insurance board it is not unknown for people to be turned down for insurance because they have obtained too many quotes for different scenarios and that raises suspicions.

Thanks. At present I've just got my existing policy (for me to drive the written off car) transferred to cover me driving FIL's car. The plan is that when DS's provisional licence arrives, I'll get him added to my policy. When I get a replacement car for myself, I'll transfer my policy to cover that car, SORN DS's car, transfer ownership to him, and get a policy in his name that covers it just for fire and theft while sitting on the drive. When he's passed, I'll tax it and we'll get a proper policy in his name to cover him driving it, and I'll take him off my policy for my car.

Is there anything stupid about that plan that I haven't thought of?

Thanks for the tip about fake names and addresses. I'll remember that when it comes to the point.

michaels

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thanks. At present I've just got my existing policy (for me to drive the written off car) transferred to cover me driving FIL's car. The plan is that when DS's provisional licence arrives, I'll get him added to my policy. When I get a replacement car for myself, I'll transfer my policy to cover that car, SORN DS's car, transfer ownership to him, and get a policy in his name that covers it just for fire and theft while sitting on the drive. When he's passed, I'll tax it and we'll get a proper policy in his name to cover him driving it, and I'll take him off my policy for my car.

Is there anything stupid about that plan that I haven't thought of?

Thanks for the tip about fake names and addresses. I'll remember that when it comes to the point.

You can insure his car in your name with him as main driver and it may be cheaper than insuring it in his name with you as a named driver (adding you a second driver will make the insurance cheaper for some reason). Doing it this way may make it easier for you to 'share' your NCD with your son (if you use the same company they may let you use the one set of NCD cover two policies) making the overall exercise cheaper and it is likely that he will still be earning his own NCD for when he has a policy in his name. The downside risk is that if he has a fault accident under a policy in your name then your NCD will be hit whereas if it is his policy then it won't be.

Hope this make sense. None of this is 'dodgy', as long as you state the real main driver.

Pyxis

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thanks. At present I've just got my existing policy (for me to drive the written off car) transferred to cover me driving FIL's car. The plan is that when DS's provisional licence arrives, I'll get him added to my policy. When I get a replacement car for myself, I'll transfer my policy to cover that car, SORN DS's car, transfer ownership to him, and get a policy in his name that covers it just for fire and theft while sitting on the drive. When he's passed, I'll tax it and we'll get a proper policy in his name to cover him driving it, and I'll take him off my policy for my car.

Is there anything stupid about that plan that I haven't thought of?

Thanks for the tip about fake names and addresses. I'll remember that when it comes to the point.

There may be something on MSE where you can shop around for quotes without getting 'penalised' like that.

They've got one for credit cards, so they might well have one for insurance quotes.

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

You can insure his car in your name with him as main driver and it may be cheaper than insuring it in his name with you as a named driver (adding you a second driver will make the insurance cheaper for some reason). Doing it this way may make it easier for you to 'share' your NCD with your son (if you use the same company they may let you use the one set of NCD cover two policies) making the overall exercise cheaper and it is likely that he will still be earning his own NCD for when he has a policy in his name. The downside risk is that if he has a fault accident under a policy in your name then your NCD will be hit whereas if it is his policy then it won't be.

Hope this make sense. None of this is 'dodgy', as long as you state the real main driver.

Pyxis wrote: »

There may be something on MSE where you can shop around for quotes without getting 'penalised' like that.

They've got one for credit cards, so they might well have one for insurance quotes.

Thanks both of you. These will be useful things to bear in mind when my policy runs out. At present I have a policy that's not up for renewal just yet, so I've just notified them of the change of vehicle.

CKhalvashi

LydiaJ wrote: »

The government already allow it to be done online for people who aren't stupid enough to lose their V5(C)s. Naturally they won't just re-register the car in my name without the requisite paperwork from the person who is currently the registered keeper. Otherwise just anybody could go online and claim to have bought a car from a total stranger and get a new V5(C) sent out, without the knowledge or consent of the actual owner. All I wish is that they'd let you tax a vehicle without providing proof of ownership. What skin is it off the government's nose if I choose to tax a vehicle that isn't quite officially mine yet? They'd get their tax money, after all.

What I meant was a secured login on the same system, even more ideally to completely integrate everything we need of the government under the same login as the tax system now, with a personal account for every person. In effect a full digital government system.

I wouldn't feel comfortable without having logins and proof it is the person, meaning anything less than NI, DoB and passport number ideally as most people have all three.

Pyxis

CKhalvashi wrote: »

What I meant was a secured login on the same system, even more ideally to completely integrate everything we need of the government under the same login as the tax system now, with a personal account for every person. In effect a full digital government system.

I wouldn't feel comfortable without having logins and proof it is the person, meaning anything less than NI, DoB and passport number ideally as most people have all three.

you see, that's the sort of thing I'd baulk at.
Someone somewhere would be bound to find a way to hack into that system, secure login or no secure login.