Driving and Insurance After Taking Private Reg off Car

Lockhart962

Hi,

I have just taken my private reg off my car but I am waiting for my new V5. My question is can I still drive my car with the private reg on the car until I get the V5? Also, when should I tell my insurance? Just now or after I have received my new V5 and new reg plates made up?

Thanks

force_ten

did you do it online?

when you do it online it tells you the plate that has been assigned to your car and tells you to put the plates on as soon as you have the plates made up

Lockhart962

Yes I did it online. My problem is I won't be able to get the plates made and put on my car until after I finish work tomorrow meaning I will have to commute with the private reg still on.

Do I require to tell my insurance company just now that the reg has changed or when I physically change to the old reg?

unholyangel

Lockhart962 wrote: »

Hi,

I have just taken my private reg off my car but I am waiting for my new V5. My question is can I still drive my car with the private reg on the car until I get the V5? Also, when should I tell my insurance? Just now or after I have received my new V5 and new reg plates made up?

Thanks

I did have a reply typed out then realised you must not have kept the old plates, is that correct?

We changed our cars over end of last year (and also the plates) and I'm sure during the process you get a temporary reference to use along with them telling you what you should do now (ie change plates).

Lockhart962

Yes, I got a V948 form that I can take to get new plates made up whilst I wait for the new V5 form. However, as I said above I won't be able to do this until after work tomorrow meaning I will be driving the car with the old private reg still on.

Lockhart962

Is it? To me it seems like a bit of a grey area. How can you go get new plates made up without the V948 form without applying for the reg to be taken off the car?

What I'm asking is if there is a grace period until you receive the new V5 through the post?

unholyangel

Lockhart962 wrote: »

Is it? To me it seems like a bit of a grey area. How can you go get new plates made up without the V948 form without applying for the reg to be taken off the car?

What I'm asking is if there is a grace period until you receive the new V5 through the post?

They wouldn't issue a temporary reference to enable you to get plates made up before receiving the V5 if there was a grace period imo. However I don't know for sure. I'll try see if i can find anything that says one way or another.

ETA: I can tell you the starting point for the offence of displaying an unaltered licence from another vehicle is a band b fine and that long term use is an aggravating factor. But I can't find anything to indicate in what situation they'd enforce it.

Perhaps try calling 101 as a last resort and seeing if they can advise whether it would be an offence or not?

Mercdriver

As it is immediate, you should not have done it before you were ready with plates to change over.

You've put yourself in limbo. The online form does tell you that the change is immediate and that you need to put the plates on immediately. Why ignore that? You could have done it from your phone in Halfords and then notified your insurance company while they made up the plate. Alternatively, you could have done what I did and had kept the originals so you could change them back (assuming that you got your old reg back - you usually do, but not in every case).

unholyangel

Mercdriver wrote: »

As it is immediate, you should not have done it before you were ready with plates to change over.

You've put yourself in limbo. The online form does tell you that the change is immediate and that you need to put the plates on immediately. Why ignore that? You could have done it from your phone in Halfords and then notified your insurance company while they made up the plate. Alternatively, you could have done what I did and had kept the originals so you could change them back (assuming that you got your old reg back - you usually do, but not in every case).

Tbf though, you can't get plates made up without certain documentation to prove your entitlement to use the registration.

When you take plates off a car, if you've kept the plates its easy as putting the original plates back on. If not, you then need to get new plates made up but won't be able to without first removing it with DVLA as you will not have entitlement to make the old registration plates until you do so.

This differs from putting plates on as typically you have the proof of entitlement already so can get the plates made up before changing the cars registration.

Lockhart962

Thanks for all the feedback and advice.

I phoned the DVLA this morning and they confirmed that there is a grace period to allow you to go and get the new plates made up etc. Advised that I should phone the insurance company in the meantime to advise of the situation.