Buying a car with no V5

[ianlea73]

My mate has offered me his car which he has owned for nearly 2 years. When he bought it he never received any v5 documents from the dvla.
I now want to buy it but unsure if it's a simple process as he has no proof of ownership himself.
Any advise please.....

[rattlecan]

Pretty sure a V5 is £60. If he’s a good mate, what I would do is agree a price & then apply for the V5 before you pay him. Then agree between yourselves that if you have an issue, you don’t buy the car. If the worst happens, all you’ve lost is £60

[oilyt]

If he's a good mate see if he'd let you apply for the v5 before collecting and handing the cash over . any issues there wont be any wasted time or falling outs. :-)

[oilyt]

lol was typing and didn't realize rattlecan had posted the same advise

[xbl]

It's £25 for the V5C, get him to apply for one in your name then hand the funds over.

[Dez]

A v5 doesn’t signify ownership anyway.

[Midland Performance & Retro]

A V5 is no proof of ownership. It states that on the document.

It's £25 to apply for a new V5, but nowadays when you transfer a V5 online you get a new one through in a couple of days, whereas applying for a new one will take a good few weeks.

[EmDee]

as above, print out a v62 and knock 25 quid off the price.

the main issue is that once bought you'll need to go straight to a post office before you can tax it.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Dec 16, 2020 9:42:35 GMT Midland Performance & Retro said:

A V5 is no proof of ownership. It states that on the document.

What exactly does constitute proof of ownership of a car?

[pseudonymous]

Dec 16, 2020 11:01:40 GMT Waxoyling Lyrical said:

Dec 16, 2020 9:42:35 GMT Midland Performance & Retro said:

A V5 is no proof of ownership. It states that on the document.

What exactly does constitute proof of ownership of a car?

A registration document (V5) is not proof of ownership. The registered keeper should be the person who is actually using / keeping the vehicle and this is not necessarily the owner of the vehicle or the person who is paying for it.

That person is the person responsible for the vehicle so far as official communications from the police/DVLA etc., but the owner is the person who put up the cash (or was given it as a gift).

The DVLA make a point of saying that the person named on the registration document is not necessarily the owner.

This is particularly true with a company car which is owned by the company, however the registration document should show the registered keeper, i.e. the day to day user (this may be an employee who has it as a permanent perk with his/her job).

In the case of a car used by a married couple, ownership of any property is usually classed as joint and if the husband/wife was stopped driving the vehicle without insurance the police would probably accept that he/she was the joint owner and not look to the other partner for additional offences, such as owner permitting no insurance.

A registered keeper will usually be regarded as responsible for parking tickets etc. so it would be wise to have the registration document changed if you are the owner, but not the user/keeper. Additionally, as the owner/registered keeper of a vehicle, there might also be some circumstances where you could be prosecuted for an offence, e.g. if you are permitting someone to use the vehicle knowing full well it is not insured or roadworthy.

[Soopahfly]

Even says on the top of th e V5

[astranaut]

Don't do it... OK my bro should have done more checks but he bought a car (actually off here but we won't go into that) with just the green slip as the guy hadn't had it long, turned out it had been written off twice, not mentioned anywhere. He's learnt his lesson. Unless you're positive its legit of course, which case just apply for the log book.

[fogey]

A little pedantic I know, but a V5 is no longer valid, current doc is a V5C

[datman]

if the car is registered in his name, he might be able to phone dvla and get them to send a duplicate document out. have done this before. He can just say he never received the docs. Worth a go.

[Mercdan68]

On the flip side I’ve bought a lot of cars since I started
driving in 1985 without log books and never had a problem.....but I’d never sell without filling out a log book
My mistake trusting a buyer from here who caused me a good few weeks aggravation

[kevins]

Dec 16, 2020 13:11:51 GMT astranaut said:

Don't do it... OK my bro should have done more checks but he bought a car (actually off here but we won't go into that) with just the green slip as the guy hadn't had it long, turned out it had been written off twice, not mentioned anywhere. He's learnt his lesson. Unless you're positive its legit of course, which case just apply for the log book.

I don't think a V5C will tell you if it has been written off anyway, that would need to be a sperate hpi check wouldn't it?

[xbl]

The new V5C has an S for salvage on it if it's been Cat N or S, no change to A or B.

[hairdoo]

if he has no v5 how has he been taxing the vehicle, assuming its been on the road? does he have a green slip?

[ChasR]

A V5 may not be a proof of ownership as the smart arses will like to point out, but it does attach responsiblity as a registered keeper.

If you get speeding points, they tend to default to the chap on the V5, not the owner. Likewise, if it's been reported stolen, that will go back to the keeper.

Given that you have no means of checking for it
-being rung ; a V5 can provide some info there ; Yes, a friend did get caught out on this, quite badly (It was an E30, plate was a CAT D as was the V5, but the shell allegedly should have been scrapped years ago. You can guess who didn't cross-match the VIN Nos.

-being stolen or part of a family dispute ; this is what happened to a chap on here, who I'm obviously not going to mention;it's best to leave things be. Those who have been here long enough may know who I am referring to. He came very close to having the car taken off it

As said, if he's a good mate, just arrange to get the V5 done, and collect it with that being well.

[ianlea73]

Thanks for all the information guys. I'll have a chat with my mate & see if he would apply for the v5c.