DVLA Fine

TooManyPoints

... but today I've received a fine for £179 from the DVLA.

The DVLA cannot impose fines. What reason do they give for asking you for that sum?

Glitch21

Maybe fine is the wrong word. The word they use is penalty. Basically they can take the period I wasn't taxed and take the total amount owed for that period and X it by 1.5. This gives me a penalty of £174 for an "out of court settlement"

TooManyPoints

The word they use is penalty. Basically they can take the period I wasn't taxed and take the total amount owed for that period and X it by 1.5. This gives me a penalty of £174 for an "out of court settlement"

Ah right.

Your alternative to accepting their out of court settlement is to let them take you to court. You don't seem to have much of defence as although the mistake stems from the dealer's ineptitude you have a responsibility to ensure the vehicle is properly registered to you. I'm fairly sure that a guilty plea in court will cost you more than £174. The DVLA will ask for costs of £100 and the fine and surcharge is certain to come to more than £74. You could try a letter appealing to their better nature (!) and explain that whilst you accept responsibility for the offence it was the dealer's error that was the root cause of the problem. It' will only cost you a stamp and they can only decline your request at worst.

[Deleted User]

If I hadn't received a new V5 in the post say by 6 weeks after purchasing a car, I would be chasing it up. Not just forgetting about it.

AdrianC

So, umm, did you not notice the VED DD not going out of your bank account...?

nyermen

AdrianC wrote: »

So, umm, did you not notice the VED DD not going out of your bank account...?

This. Not realising a V5 hasn't been received is one thing, but not realising the tax wasn't going out will be another thing. Were the payments taken I guess is the question (or did they send nothing off, direct debit form or V5?

tobyjake

In my view a simple case of negligence on the part of Evans Halshaw. Small Claims them for all of your out of pocket expenses. And if you have to go to Court claim expenses from them as well.

SHAFT

tobyjake wrote: »

In my view a simple case of negligence on the part of Evans Halshaw. Small Claims them for all of your out of pocket expenses. And if you have to go to Court claim expenses from them as well.

You don't think any of it's the OP's fault then?

TooManyPoints

In my view a simple case of negligence on the part of Evans Halshaw. Small Claims them for all of your out of pocket expenses. And if you have to go to Court claim expenses from them as well.

You don't think any of it's the OP's fault then?

Quite so.

Supposing the dealer had acted competently but something was lost in the post somewhere? The result would have been the same but the dealer could not be held liable. It's true that we rely on people to do certain things. But there is certainly a responsibility on the customer (in this case the OP) to ensure those things have been done. He received no V5C, had no money taken from his bank to pay his RFL, noticed none of this and it is suggested he simply blames the dealer for a mistake they made six or seven months ago.

Good luck with a claim in the SC court. I think it would fail because people are expected to keep a check on matters such as this. The DVLA guidance is quite clear - if a new V5C is not received within four weeks you should complete a form V62 and submit it with the "new keeper" slip provided by the seller. You cannot just sit back and lay the blame elsewhere if what's supposed to happen doesn't. You have to try to mitigate your losses by rectifying the error. The Small Claims court will know this and will rule accordingly.

AdrianC

TooManyPoints wrote: »

...But there is certainly a responsibility on the customer (in this case the OP) to ensure those things have been done. He received no V5C, had no money taken from his bank to pay his RFL, noticed none of this and it is suggested he simply blames the dealer for a mistake they made six or seven months ago.

Not even that recently.
Feb 2018, so 20 months.