DVLA Say My Car Has Been Exported > That's News To Me!!! --RESOLVED

scoot65

I got a surprise this morning in the post..... I received a refund cheque for my car's road tax.

Strange, as I haven't SORN'd the car as I drive it all year round. I contacted DVLA and was informed that according to their records the car has been exported. The call handler said that official paperwork is required to export a vehicle, it's not just a 'phone call to DVLA. 

A case has been made and been passed to DVLA's fraud unit to investigate. I should receive a call from them within 48 hours.  

I assume that there's been some sort of cloning going on. Has anyone experienced this and if so, how long did the investigation process take. I'm guessing it's not a quick process.

   

The problem I now have is that my car can't be used until the investigation is concluded.

daveyjp

Don't assume cloning.  A fat finger on keyboard or a scanner misread, can lead to unintended consequences.

A few weeks ago a friend received a DVLA letter saying their licence was suspended under totting up, stop driving immediately.    It was down to her to find out it wasn't her or her car, but it took weeks to sort out and all down to an incorrect reg entry in a system.

facade

I’ve heard of it, but not directly experienced it (I think it has been reported on here before)

Expect to have your car inspected to prove that it isn't the clone (they obviously can't inspect the clone.....) before your V5 is re-instated.

However, it is difficult to see how it can be a clone, more likely finger trouble at DVLA.

You export a car by filling in the little blue slip on the last page of the V5- "Notice of Permanent Export", and sending it to DVLA. (So they had a V5 with your registration and your address details, which seems unlikely for a clone)

Presumably someone on minimum wage counting down the days to Christmas then reads it and keys in the registration manually. (No possibility of error there )

I can't imagine how they will track down the slip that they typo'd from the box of used slips.

IOWJJBTM2025

scoot65 said:

   

The problem I now have is that my car can't be used until the investigation is concluded.

You have done the correct thing by informing DVLA.
Have they specifically told you not to use your car?
I would print a copy of the information in the car and if challenged just exlain what has happened.
If DVLA want to instruct you not to use a car because a mistake has been made outside of your control - they should compensate you accordingly or sort it out so that if a check is made on your registration there is a note on the account.

scoot65

Thanks for all the comments.

I'd not thought about someone making a typo when inputting data. After considering the comments, that's probably a more likely scenario.

I did think that my car would have to be inspected at some point to prove it's identity.

Yes, the DVLA told me specifically not the drive the car. At the moment it's showing as untaxed as from 20th November 2025.  So if I was to continue to drive I could get pulled over by the police or trigger a camera.

It's going to be an inconvenience not being able to drive the car as it's used daily. 

IOWJJBTM2025 "If DVLA want to instruct you not to use a car because a mistake has been made outside of your control - they should compensate you accordingly or sort it out so that if a check is made on your registration there is a note on the account."

I'll mention that point when the fraud team contact me.

It's not as if the car's a high value motor ............ it's a 2001 Rover 45

Thanks again for the replies.

MyRealNameToo

scoot65 said:

Thanks for all the comments.

I'd not thought about someone making a typo when inputting data. After considering the comments, that's probably a more likely scenario.

I did think that my car would have to be inspected at some point to prove it's identity.

Yes, the DVLA told me specifically not the drive the car. At the moment it's showing as untaxed as from 20th November 2025.  So if I was to continue to drive I could get pulled over by the police or trigger a camera.

It's going to be an inconvenience not being able to drive the car as it's used daily. 

IOWJJBTM2025 "If DVLA want to instruct you not to use a car because a mistake has been made outside of your control - they should compensate you accordingly or sort it out so that if a check is made on your registration there is a note on the account."

I'll mention that point when the fraud team contact me.

It's not as if the car's a high value motor ............ it's a 2001 Rover 45

Thanks again for the replies.

The latest version of the V5c has the document number etc pre-populated on the export slip and the person has to just enter the registration, where its going to and sign but older versions the person had to hand complete all the details. 

Presumably the processing agent is supposed to type in one and double check the other matches so you have multiple points of potential failure from the sender filling in the details incorrectly to having poor handwriting and the agent misreads it to the agent miskeys it. In theory there is the second line of defence of them checking the reg plate also matches but we all know what happens in high pressure minimum wage jobs where people have to do 10 per minute or something equally silly and so corners are cut. 

Suspect human error is much more likely than someone has cloned your vehicle and then decided to submit a V5c form to say it's being exported. 

scoot65

MyRealNameToo said:

The latest version of the V5c has the document number etc pre-populated on the export slip and the person has to just enter the registration, where its going to and sign but older versions the person had to hand complete all the details. 

Presumably the processing agent is supposed to type in one and double check the other matches so you have multiple points of potential failure from the sender filling in the details incorrectly to having poor handwriting and the agent misreads it to the agent miskeys it. In theory there is the second line of defence of them checking the reg plate also matches but we all know what happens in high pressure minimum wage jobs where people have to do 10 per minute or something equally silly and so corners are cut. 

Suspect human error is much more likely than someone has cloned your vehicle and then decided to submit a V5c form to say it's being exported. 

After reading yours and other posters' comments I do now think that it's human error somewhere along the document process.

It's still going to be inconvenient not having to use the car until things get sorted.

Thanks....

diveunderthebonnet

I had a similar thing happen to me ,received a cheque in the post for unused road tax ( i know its called VED ) rang DVLA and asked what was going on,asked if i had sold the car ,said no said they would investigate ,asked what to do regarding using the car on the road,chap said he would cover it till the end of the month FOC till they had sorted it out ,sent a brand new V55 with the same detail on but new reference number and was able to re-tax the car .
Phoned up and asked what had happened and they could not tell me but still have the car and heard nothing since.

scoot65

diveunderthebonnet said:

I had a similar thing happen to me ,received a cheque in the post for unused road tax ( i know its called VED ) rang DVLA and asked what was going on,asked if i had sold the car ,said no said they would investigate ,asked what to do regarding using the car on the road,chap said he would cover it till the end of the month FOC till they had sorted it out ,sent a brand new V55 with the same detail on but new reference number and was able to re-tax the car .
Phoned up and asked what had happened and they could not tell me but still have the car and heard nothing since.

Thanks for that info, very interesting. When I receive the next call from DVLA fraud dept. I'll ask about using the car on the road. Hopefully I get the same response as you. But deffinitely the initial call handler today said do not use the car. In fact he said this before he went on to tell me about the fraud dept will be in contact within 48 hrs.

redux

My first Rover SD1 is still on the DVLA website

The gearbox broke in Belgium in 1991. The car was recovered to a nearby huge Rover dealer and left there. I absolutely definitely sent off the export paperwork

So they do make mistakes, sometimes a different way round

scoot65

Update:- The issue has been resolved!

I received an email from DVLA this morning stating:-

"I have checked the record we hold, and I can confirm that an export marker was updated onto your vehicle record due to a clerical error.I have now amended the record and removed the export marker.

Unfortunatly when an export marker updates a vehicle record it automatically ends the vehicle licence and issues a refund. Please re tax the vehicle as soon as possible if you have not already done so

I apologise for the inconvenience caused"

I've got to say that I'm very pleasantly surprised that it's been resolved so quickly. I was expacting it to be at least a few weeks with an inspection of my car, a reissue of V5 being required. With the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays causing more delay.

Overall, my experience of contacting DVLA has been good. Initial call was answered within two minutes and a successful resolution completed within 24 hours. Good job DVLA!

The car is now re taxed and 'on the road'....... (I did cheekily ask that due to having to tax from 1st of December, if there was a possibility of being compensated for the loss of 16 days. Currently awaiting reply email).