DVLA refusing to tax car because of "random check" !

Chrisitme

My son in law recently purchased a Fiat Punto grand 56 reg . He sent off to tax it and the DVLA has told him he can't tax it, its a "random Check" He has to take the car off the road immediately, can't even park it on the road , he has to provide the DVLA with numerous photos of the car and it will take up to 4 weeks to sort out!
This is devisating news to them, they spent all their savings on this car so have no free cash to buy another one, they live out in the Welsh valleys so transport is awful and he has to be in work for 5.30 am when there is no transport at all. His work over a mountain away so cycling for 4 weeks is no option. They have no drive or garage so just parking the car off the road is a problem . Can the DVLA do this? Has anyone else ever experienced this ? Anybody any ideas to speed this process up before he looses his job .

a.turner

What do you know about the vehicles history?

silverwhistle

I'd want rather more detail from the DVLA. Presumably they want things like the VIN details? Perhaps the car was scrapped? I'd look at previous MOT history, if you hadn't done so before purchase.

waamo

Who did he purchase this vehicle from?

forgotmyname

Sent off to tax it? He should have taxed it before he drove home.

Speed up the process, comply with any requests quickly, other than that you need to sit it out.

How did he get to work before he bought it?

Never spend all your money on one car. what will he do when it breaks down or needs to go i for repairs or just basic servicing? How will he pay for that?

Did he HPI it or buy from a dealer?

prowla

A "random check" which had your car off the road for a month - crikey!

Nasqueron

If he can't cycle over a mountain then get a better bike (or taxi, or lift share...)

Chrisitme

Thanks everyone for your suggestions,
We have been back in touch with DVLA and been told going in to speak to anyone is not helpful, it all has to be done via email.
We bought the car off a private add but we did the DVLA mot checks etc before we bought it , we paid the car tax immediately on line but they have now returned that payment and told him the car must come off the road now. As for cycling 15 miles before and after an often 12 hr physically hard shift its a bit too exhausting. Also they live in a very small hamlet and his shift starts at 5am so lift sharing is imposable . When you are on minimum wage you have to spend all you've saved /borrowed on a car (£550) when your old car dies. Saving enough for garage bills taxi fares etc is a luxury that comes with above min wage unfortunately . We have been told it might just be that it was previously on private plates and 1 in 10 of these are randomly picked for this sort of check :O

facade

Chrisitme wrote: »

We have been told it might just be that it was previously on private plates and 1 in 10 of these are randomly picked for this sort of check :O

Hope so, but I've never heard of that, and I can't think why they would check the car that the plate has come off, they just won't transfer the plate off it without an inspection if they have any doubts.