Can I return a car if need be

Shezz

Hi, we brought a car a few months ago, was a diesel, we are looking into trading in for a electric or hybrid car.

We see a car online we liked and decided to see what trade in price they would offer for ours (we did know we would lose a bit of money), the offer was okay so decided to fill a more in depth form about our car.

As soon as the page loaded it told us it could not quote on our car as it shows as it coming from Northern Ireland and would not allow me to fill anything in.

When we brought the car, the dealership never told us that it had been registered in NI, when we asked about the number plate being different we was told it was a private number plate.

Although NI plates are legal in the UK  it seems we may be penalised now if we do try to sell it, if we had any inkling at the start it being a NI plate, we would of looked into in more depth

Ayr_Rage

Will WBAC give you a price ?

NI plates are a completely different format so that should have been obvious when you purchased the vehicle.

Shezz

Ayr_Rage said:

Will WBAC give you a price ?

NI plates are a completely different format so that should have been obvious when you purchased the vehicle.

Hi,  yes  WBAC did quote which was extremely low compared to what others had offered, all online of course.

The one that refused to quote initially gave us good trade in price but then refused when we clicked into filling out a more in depth form, 

we did notice it had a different number plate, and mentioned it, they told us it was a private number plate, we took them at their word that it was, having never dealt with NI number plates no way would we of thought this being one of them and this is a main dealer

Mildly_Miffed

NI is the UK.

United Kingdom is a country.
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland are bits of that country, the UK.
Republic of Ireland ("Southern Ireland" or Eire) is a different country, just as France or Germany are.
Ireland is an island. It contains two countries, all of RoI and part of the UK.
Great Britain is an island. It contains most of one country, the UK.

There's no reason at all for any PX to treat a car from NI any differently to one from any other part of the country.

Yes, the plates are different format - but they can be transferred as any other plate.
If you're really bothered, you could get a "normal" English/Scottish/Welsh format XX99XXX plate on the car, by paying £80 to put the NI plate onto retention.
https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/take-private-number-off
You could then sell it to somebody wanting a cheap "private" plate.

Whenever you see any three-letter-four-digit "private" plate, it'll have an I, J, or Z in it - and have been originally issued in Northern Ireland. They used to have a separate registration authority over there, but not for a decade - it's all DVLA in Swansea, same as every other bit of the UK.

Shezz

Mildly_Miffed said:

NI is the UK.

United Kingdom is a country.
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland are bits of that country, the UK.
Republic of Ireland ("Southern Ireland" or Eire) is a different country, just as France or Germany are.
Ireland is an island. It contains two countries, all of RoI and part of the UK.
Great Britain is an island. It contains most of one country, the UK.

There's no reason at all for any PX to treat a car from NI any differently to one from any other part of the country.

Yes, the plates are different format - but they can be transferred as any other plate.
If you're really bothered, you could get a "normal" English/Scottish/Welsh format XX99XXX plate on the car, by paying £80 to put the NI plate onto retention.
https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/take-private-number-off
You could then sell it to somebody wanting a cheap "private" plate.

Whenever you see any three-letter-four-digit "private" plate, it'll have an I, J, or Z in it - and have been originally issued in Northern Ireland. They used to have a separate registration authority over there, but not for a decade - it's all DVLA in Swansea, same as every other bit of the UK.

Hi thank you for your response, I spoke to the company carzoo, initially they gave a good price but then refused going any further due it coming up as NI, they just said it was there policy and nothing I could do.

I presume that WBAC have given us such a low price due to the car being NI, it's a matter of about 3 thousand pound difference between WBAC and Carzoo and even Auto trader never gave us to bad a price, tbh I am annoyed at the main dealer telling us that it had private number plates,

so is it picked up purely by the Reg ?,  if we got a cheap private registration then it will not be picked up on, i mean 80.00 compared to loosing a possible 3000, it would be silly not to go that way

Car_54

Mildly_Miffed said:

NI is the UK.

United Kingdom is a country.
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland are bits of that country, the UK.
Republic of Ireland ("Southern Ireland" or Eire) is a different country, just as France or Germany are.
Ireland is an island. It contains two countries, all of RoI and part of the UK.
Great Britain is an island. It contains most of one country, the UK.

A pretty good explanation. But some comments.

Great Britain may be an island geographically, but legally (which is what's relevant for motorists) it includes all the offshore islands. But not the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which are also not part of the UK.

The RoI is indeed a different country, but it's not the same as France or Germany.   It has a special status, with the Common Travel Area, and the UK's Ireland Act 1949 specifically says "the Republic of Ireland is not a foreign country  ..".

unforeseen

United Kingdom is a sovereign state. 
England, Scotland & Wales are countries within the UK including Northern Ireland, which is normally considered to be a province

tifo

I thought in the UK the registration plate is an ID marker for the vehicle and has no bearing on anything else, this is why insurers don't usually change premiums when the plate is changed from issued to private and vice versa.

Shezz

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Apparently, it seems if we agree or not, a number plate if shown as a NI plate, does seem to have some sort of implications for someone wanting to sell a car in the UK,  and as a dealer they should know this or inform the buyer of this.

A online dealer completely refused to give a trade in quote on the car even after talking in chat to them, and I believe they deal with NI online also.

WBAC gave us such a low, and I mean low cash trade in price. 
 
Another main dealer who we have seen a car and asked for a trade in price has also picked up on the it being a NI plate and question if it was registered in NI, I did inform them that all NI registrations are done now through Swansea, (hope I was right), I asked what difference it would make, she said that it would reflect on the the trade in price, but would look into it for us.

We have gone back to the dealership (a different branch of it) to get a ball park figure for a trade in price or just them giving us a buy back price , but do not seem to want to get back.

I totally feel that the main dealer we brough it from should of informed us that it was not a Private plate (they knew that was what we thought at the time of buying it, was as we actually had a discussion with the man selling us the car  on what it would stand for).

We do not have any kind of HPI agreement as we paid cash for it. I do not want to sell it privately as it will not be fair on anyone else, we have had this car for less then 6 months (yes I know as soon as we drove it off the forecourt we would loose money)

noh

All registration marks are the property of DVLA. They either allocate one on first registration or specific numbers can be chosen and a fee paid to assign it to a vehicle.
NI number plates have a specific format and are either allocated to cars first registered in NI and some are also available for anyone anywhere in the UK to choose and pay for therefore it may very well be what you describe as a "private" plate or one chosen by a previous owner. For instance we were looking at plates such as LAZ123 as Laz is my wife's nickname.
The selling dealer has no obligation to explain this to you.
https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk/nifixed/?letter=L

Shezz

noh said:

All registration marks are the property of DVLA. They either allocate one on first registration or specific numbers can be chosen and a fee paid to assign it to a vehicle.
NI number plates have a specific format and are either allocated to cars first registered in NI and some are also available for anyone anywhere in the UK to choose and pay for therefore it may very well be what you describe as a "private" plate or one chosen by a previous owner. For instance we were looking at plates such as LAZ123 as Laz is my wife's nickname.
The selling dealer has no obligation to explain this to you.
https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk/nifixed/?letter=L

I understand what you are saying, and I believe I can assign a private number plate to this car then it may not be picked up as a NI Number plate, my problem is that the dealer would of known this is a NI number plate and could of informed us of that, instead of telling us that it was a private number plate, only for us to now have a problem now with selling it.