V5C not in Dealer's Name & Tax still valid

rinnin

Bit of a strange one this,

Looking at a car online from an independent trader. Has a few cars for sale and is listed on a few other big Car Supermarket websites. His Ltd company was registered August last year and appears to be working from his home address. 

Checked the MOT (valid till Nov 2021) and everything looks good although seems it was without an MOT for 6 months from May - Nov 2020)

Dealer says he has the V5C but its not registered in his name. Phoned him up and says he has it a few weeks after buying it at an auction. 

Tax is still valid up until May next year and I believed that if the original owner was selling it on, they should have filled in the yellow section of the V5C  and sent it to DVLA and would've got a refund for the Tax. It's only £30 which was his excuse for it not being changed. 

Anything seem fishy here or am I being over-cautions?

Thanks in advance! 

GrumpyDil

Sounds like previous owner has not advised DVLA that they have disposed of the car. It will automatically be cancelled as soon as a new keeper registers the car. 

rinnin

GrumpyDil said:

Sounds like previous owner has not advised DVLA that they have disposed of the car. It will automatically be cancelled as soon as a new keeper registers the car. 

Thanks GrumpyDil
So do you think it's legit? Can cars be passed between auction & traders like that with a full V5C & is that legal? What happens if a dealer is caught speeding? You'd think the original seller would've thought of that. Since they kept the car so well. Unless it was a little old lady not sure what she was doing, or passed away, or had their car & paperwork stolen? 

rinnin

Just following an old thread on Pistonheads website with a similar query. Most people are telling the OP to run for the hills but a couple are saying its ok. It'd be a shame to lose out on this one for a minor technical glitch. Would be good to get other peoples opinions.

angrycrow

When trading in a car the owner has to fill in section 9 of the v5c to notify the dvla that the car has been transfered to a trader. The dealer keeps the rest of the v5c. If this notification was done on line the dealer would keep the full v5c. It would however result in the tax being canceled and refunded to the seller.
The car is then "in trade" and the Dvla do not keep a record of who has the car.

I suspect the seller thought the dealer would do it online and the dealer assumed the seller had notified dvla.

If the dealer has the full v5c that should not be a concern. Just do a hpi search which will show it has not been stolen and no outstanding finance.