DVLA number plate change time frame

MataNui

I am buying a car from a dealer. It was on a private plate that the previous owner is keeping. So previous owner has sent the docs off to put his plate on retention and get the old plate assigned back to the car.

Problem is that i cant pick up the car until the dealer has the new correct v5. Looking online it says it can take anything from 4 days to 6 weeks. So far i think its been about 10 days or so.

Just trying to get some idea of how long this might take really. I have looked on the DVLA check tax status page for both registrations and for the private plate it returns that no details can be found but for the original plate (the one i will be getting it on) it returns a proper record. Does this mean the change has been done and really i am just waiting on the royal mail? Or is there more DVLA bureaucracy that could still mean a wait of several weeks?

BeenThroughItAll

If the DVLA online records have been updated, the new V5 shouldn't be long in coming.


Shame really, if the previous keeper had just used the online plate change it'd have been done in under a week. I did one a couple of weeks ago - used the online system on the Wednesday morning, changed the plates over immediately, and had the new V5 in my hand in Saturday's post.