Taxed car using v5c/2 logbook still on previous owners name. Who gets tax refund?

Ballistic87

Hi. I purchased a car from a fellow car dealer who just gave me the logbook as I am also a part time motor trader, so I didn’t want to add another owner onto the car. 

The logbook still has the previous owners name /address on it (the guy who sold the car to the dealer) 

I was planning to fill this logbook out and send it off when I sold the car but in the meantime I decided I would use it for myself. Taxed it for 6 months at the post office using the v5c/2. Issue is I’ve got a to go away on holiday and the car will be going into storage. Seems a shame to waste the tax money (paid almost £350 for 6 months). 

Would it be possible to cancel the tax and get a refund for 5 months? I paid at the post office by card. The car is not in my name I used the v5c/2

LightFlare

  Very very silly of the original keeper 

WellKnownSid

Sounds like it'll be a pleasant surprise for the current registered keeper.

paul_c123

LightFlare said:

  Very very silly of the original keeper 

Why?                  

facade

paul_c123 said:

LightFlare said:

  Very very silly of the original keeper 

Why?                  

Because if it isn't marked as "in trade" (and AFAIK, it is not possible to tax a vehicle "in trade"- that is what trade plates are for) then they are still down as RK and in the frame for any speeding tickets, parking tickets, congestion charges etc. that the vehicle clocks up until it is registered to someone else.

The silver lining to that particular cloud is that if someone put £760 tax on it, and then later transferred it to a new keeper, they would get the refund of £63.33 for every unused month.

Usually when you sell a car to a trader, he transfers it to "in trade" while you are hopping from one foot to the other in excitement about driving off in your "new" car (which does not add another keeper) and prints you the notification of the transfer and then you get a letter from DVLA that says you are no longer the keeper.

When "in trade" the vehicle can only be driven for the day to day business of the trader (test drives for customers, off to get it resprayed etc.) while it carries trade plates - in theory they should be attached to the front & rear so that they can be read from 20m not chucked on the parcel shelf & dash top like a Yoof in an Audi, then any PCNs etc would go to the trade plate.

To use the vehicle for personal use or as a staff runabout, the vehicle has to be registered to someone (or some entity) and taxed, which obviously adds another keeper. When sold any tax refund would go to the keeper who taxed it.

Mildly_Miffed

The doc ref from the V5C/2 new keeper slip should only be used to tax the car in conjunction with a keeper change.
It's not taxed by the old keeper - it's taxed by the new. But the car doesn't have a new keeper.

Least worst option now is to do the keeper change.

As a trader, you should know that you can't tax a car that's in trade... If you want to use it in the course of your business, then you need to use trade plates - test drives, etc.
If you want to use it outside of trade plates, then you need to be the keeper and tax it.

WellKnownSid

Mildly_Miffed said:

As a trader, you should know that you can't tax a car that's in trade... If you want to use it in the course of your business, then you need to use trade plates - test drives, etc.
If you want to use it outside of trade plates, then you need to be the keeper and tax it.

As a trader, they should also know that their trader's insurance won't cover social domestic and pleasure use either!

paul_c123

facade said:

paul_c123 said:

LightFlare said:

  Very very silly of the original keeper 

Why?                  

Because if it isn't "in trade" (and AFAIK, it is not possible to tax a vehicle "in trade"

WRONG, it IS possible to tax a vehicle "in trade" - using the V5C/2 (new keeper slip) as explained and done in the OP.

paul_c123

Mildly_Miffed said:

As a trader, you should know that you can't tax a car that's in trade... 

See above 

paul_c123

WellKnownSid said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

As a trader, you should know that you can't tax a car that's in trade... If you want to use it in the course of your business, then you need to use trade plates - test drives, etc.
If you want to use it outside of trade plates, then you need to be the keeper and tax it.

As a trader, they should also know that their trader's insurance won't cover social domestic and pleasure use either!

WRONG       

Mildly_Miffed

paul_c123 said:

facade said:

Because if it isn't "in trade" (and AFAIK, it is not possible to tax a vehicle "in trade"

WRONG, it IS possible to tax a vehicle "in trade" - using the V5C/2 (new keeper slip) as explained and done in the OP.

Shouting "WRONG" doesn't make it so.

OK, so how is the car then traceable in use...? Who would get speeding/parking/whatever tickets?

Because the plates come back to the previous keeper - who may well have no idea who has the car now, because changes within trade aren't tracked.
Trade plates wouldn't be in use, so the car can't be tracked via them.

It is *possible* to do it - because the keeper change may be coming back by post. That doesn't mean it's permissible. There's a rather humongous clue in the V5C/2 being the New Keeper slip and saying "To Be Used By The New Keeper" on the top.