help on transfering person plates

[barty]

Need some advise for a mate who has an old BMW 5, he has owned it for well over 15 years and some time ago he bought some personal plates for it, now the thing is he wants to tranfer the plates to a "new"car but as the old BMW has not been on the road for about 4 years he has been told he cant transfer the plates over as the "donor" car needs to have a MOT. The BMW nees a fair bit of work on it to bring it up to MOT standard which would cost more than the car is worth. Is there a way round this.
He is not really interested in keeping the car and would willingly scrap the car (worth prob £200 in scrap) for a certificate
Id welcome any thoughts or advise

[ScORTED]

no way round this

also if he's tried to transfer you can guarantee the car will be flagged for an inspection prior to transferring the plate... what is the plate? unless it valuable then its probably not worth it

[composimmonite]

Jan 5, 2012 15:54:59 GMT ScORTED said:

no way round this

also if he's tried to transfer you can guarantee the car will be flagged for an inspection prior to transferring the plate... what is the plate? unless it valuable then its probably not worth it

I agree.

It's going to be cheaper to simply buy another plate when you take into account he will need to bring old car up to MOT standard, insure and tax first.
I lost reg 33** in similar circumstances. No way around the problem and illegal routes might just get owner into a lot of trouble if DVLA decided to inspect the car.

Paul H

[barty]

thanks for your advise, the plate is a personal one to him and he wouldnt get another like it. Glad you were thinking along the same lines though lol, i don't think there would be any problems with the donor car as it would be scrapped the next day after a certificate was issued anyway,

[scaryoldcortina]

Getting a car up to minimum MoT standard isn't particularly hard though, and the DVLA inspection is only an identity check. I did this a couple of years ago for someone who had a private plate trapped on a dead mercedes - We took the car for a MoT and fixed the few things that failed the test - It didn't make the car worth having so it still got scrapped after the plate trasfer was completed.

[pantera2075]

Yup, a mate lost "ABC 15 OK" because of this - the council towed it for him before he got time to do the work.

I always wanted "NOB 80X" that was on a Mk3 Eccy around here.

[barty]

looks like his best bet is to find a sympathetic MOT tester who will understand his needs, any one know of one in the Sussex area

[Mystery Machine]

I was always under the impression that the 'donor' car would also need to be taxed (and therefore insured) if it hadn't been taxed within the past 12 months. When I transferred my reg between my two Delicas I was told it needed to have been taxed in the past year if it didn't currently have any on it. Luckily the 'donor' Delica had been taxed 6 months prior to the reg transfer.

[barty]

yes the donor car has to be taxed insured and MOTed but as you can insure a car for a day or two at a time this aint really a problem, as for tax well you tax it for 6 months and then send away for a refund, ok so you lose a months worth of tax but this is peanuts compared to trying to get a car MOTed thats been standing for 4-5 years

[ScORTED]

whats this irreplaceable plate??? they're in the habit of issuing them sequentially.

also if its actually worth any money its worth getting the car through an mot. Also a fact you seem to have missed is that the inspection is indeed only an identity check however you can bet your bottom dollar, a fcuked car turns up in their yard with an mot and they'll be sending vosa an email even if its on a trailer

[Rev. Dick Deluxe]

I'd take it for an mot and s ee what it fails on. Best bet would be to get it tested by someone who doesnt stand to gain anything from failing it. VOSA or your local police garage would be the best bet.

[barty]

i don't understand why the donor car would need to be inspected, if it was MOTed and scrapped the next day why would it be inspected??, in fact if it was crushed how would the inspect it. Just for arguements sake supposing it was all above board and the car was MOTed and involved in an accident and the owner decided not to repair the car but to scrap it, would they ( whoever "they" are) want to inspect the car, i don't think so. The only thing i can think of is the transfer of plates over, but why would that ring any alarms??
Anyway i think he is going to see what it fails on first as you never know he may be lucky and it passes but by the looks of it he needs a bucket load of luck lol, thanks for all your advice anyway

[Mystery Machine]

Jan 7, 2012 16:29:18 GMT barty said:

I don't understand why the donor car would need to be inspected, if it was MOTed and scrapped the next day why would it be inspected??, in fact if it was crushed how would the inspect it.

Because it needs to be 'on the road' - it's to stop a fake MOT/car ID being used or to stop people using a 'similar' car with the donor plates fitted to pass it off as roadworthy.

Basically, if the car has been off the road for a long time and you suddenly get an MOT and book it in for a reg transfer, they will already have alarm bells ringing due to the fact it will have shown up as being off the road for XYZ years. You might not get called for an inspection, but you'll be much more likely to than if you were doing a transfer from a car that has been taxed, insured and MOT'd for a number of years leading up to the transfer.

The DVLA knows all the games people play to try and get a nice reg transferred off an old car. They know all the tricks and the inspection is there to make sure people play by the rules.

If you were to MOT the car and scrap it the next day, you might as well not bother applying for the transfer because if you get called for an inspection, you're screwed. You've lost the plate.

Just play it by the rules and you'll be fine. Don't try to bend the rules or there is a high chance of getting caught. Legit MOT and tax on the car and there will be no probs. Sure you might get an inspection, but it the car is legit and the MOT is legit then you've got nothing to worry about.

Here are the basics in black & white straight off the DVLA website. There is no 'middle ground'....you NEED to ensure that both cars can be inspected if they ask for it.

"To transfer the registration number, both vehicles must be:

* registered at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
* available for inspection
* of a type that needs an MOT or heavy goods vehicle (HGV) test certificate
* currently taxed

However, if the vehicle that currently has the registration number is not taxed, you can still apply to transfer provided:

* there is no break between the date the tax disc runs out and the start of the SORN
* the tax disc run out no more than 12 months before the date you apply"

Also:

"The DVLA local office may need to inspect both vehicles and will contact you to arrange an appointment. If they don’t need to inspect, they’ll approve your application within two weeks."

Hope that clarifies it?

[Ads 19]

you will lose plate if asked to inspect and not available. end off been there done that.
You can get a car inspected in any condition and they will come and look at it if you cant get it there, ie too damaged for trailering. it was common place for minors to be moted and then 6-9months later be buggered, in truth someone moted another minor with wrong plate and vin tag. not so easy on modern cars. one thing i've seen works well. sell on ebay subject to getting plate off. i've done with few older mercs bought them moted, seller gets plate, and then gives me back 300-500 quid and car is free.