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Original poster

Change ‘wrong’ vehicle registration document or not?

29 replies

CaptainWentworth · 15/08/2018 19:35

DH and I bought a second hand car a couple of weeks back, trading in my old car to do so. I changed our insurance and arranged car tax on the assumption that I’d also be the registered keeper of the new car. However I’ve just got home to find the new V5C document has arrived, and the dealer has put DH down as the registered keeper.

I want to change it so that we still ‘own’ one car each (DH already has another car) and so that I can continue to insure it as the keeper and main driver, to keep my no claims discount going etc. However, if we get it changed will that affect the value of the car in future, as it will look like it’s had an extra owner?

So annoyed- wish I could call DVLA and explain it was a mistake, but I imagine they won’t have any of that.

OP posts:
cakesonatrain · 15/08/2018 20:14

Does your insurance company require the "owner" to be the v5 registered keeper?

cakesonatrain · 15/08/2018 20:15

I am the registered keeper of both our cars, but DH insures in his name, the one that he drives most of the time.

cakesonatrain · 15/08/2018 20:17

...and it's owned by your spouse so shouldn't be an issue?

Interested in this thread?

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Driving & parking
Stephisaur · 15/08/2018 20:19

Without going and finding my V5 from upstairs, isn’t there a bit on it where you can notify them that something is incorrect?

Original poster
CaptainWentworth · 15/08/2018 20:21

I’m not sure to be honest - but if I call them to ask and they do have that as a requirement, then the insurance will be invalid and we’ll have to amend it, at great expense no doubt. No going back once you’ve said something to an insurer!

I think I’ll call DVLA tomorrow and see if it can be amended as a mistake - otherwise will prob just change the ownership the normal way anyway.

OP posts:
BrynhildurWhitemane · 15/08/2018 20:21

I'd just go ahead and get the name changed in the usual way.

Original poster
CaptainWentworth · 15/08/2018 20:22

No there doesn’t seem to be anything on the form Stephisaur

OP posts:
cakesonatrain · 15/08/2018 20:24

Redo your insurance application with your DH being the registered keeper and see if it lets you.

namechange2pointoh · 15/08/2018 20:32

How did they manage that?

So annoyed- wish I could call DVLA and explain it was a mistake, but I imagine they won’t have any of that.

You CAN contact the DVLA, in fact the advice is...

When you receive your registration certificate, it’s your responsibility to check all the details are correct. If anything is incorrect, make the changes on the certificate and send it back to DVLA.

That said, I wouldn't be bothered about the X amount of owners when trading it in.

namechange2pointoh · 15/08/2018 20:33

and it's owned by your spouse so shouldn't be an issue?

It would be a huge issue for me that the garage was so presumptuous

BigBlueBubble · 15/08/2018 20:38

Get it amended as a mistake. If you change the name in the usual way it will be worth less because it will effectively have had an additional owner. Plus you’d lose your no claims discount.

SoyDora · 15/08/2018 20:41

We have a second car that has me as the registered keeper but only DH is insured on it (I don’t drive it). It’s not a problem.

namechange2pointoh · 15/08/2018 20:43

Plus you’d lose your no claims discount.

How on earth?!

Original poster
CaptainWentworth · 15/08/2018 20:49

BigBlueBubble why would I lose the no claims discount?

namechange2pointoh I can see why they did it as it was all negotiated over the phone by DH - dealer not local, we just went and picked it up and never actually met the salesman he’d dealt with. However it would have been nice if they’d checked!

OP posts:
cakesonatrain · 15/08/2018 20:55

"It would be a huge issue for me that the garage was so presumptuous"

Well quite, but I was meaning for insurance purposes. But from OP's update, it's quite understandable how it happened, of her DH was the one the dealership dealt with.

BigBlueBubble · 15/08/2018 21:00

Not all insurance companies will cover a main driver who doesn’t own the car. Some will buy obviously it restricts your choice of insurers.

BigBlueBubble · 15/08/2018 21:00

*but

namechange2pointoh · 15/08/2018 21:06

GNot all insurance companies will cover a main driver who doesn’t own the car. Some will buy obviously it restricts your choice of insurers.*

So when you said “you’d lose your no claims discount” that was not actually true. Because even in the event that the OP insurers didn’t allow her to insure a car that she wasn’t the registered keeper of, she could change to a company who did. Maybe best sticking with the facts?

Unicorndiva · 15/08/2018 21:12

I work in insurance here .... so legally to insure a vehicle the vehicle and the insurance documents have to match so if husband is on the registration docs then the insurance needs to be in his name... a lot of insurance companies allow for husband to own the vehicle but wife to be main driver or which ever way around, however, the the main thing to remember is the registration docs and insurance docs needs to match... if you are in an accident, or stolen and the documents don’t match chances are the insurance will cancel the policy and will not pay out, regardless if it is an error from the company you purchased car from, in small print it’s down to the owner to make garage aware of name of registration docs ... so you’re going to have to change something to get them docs to match.

namechange2pointoh · 15/08/2018 21:14

That’s not the case here. Are you in the UK? You can insure a car not registered in your name.

Original poster
CaptainWentworth · 15/08/2018 21:17

Thanks for all the input everyone - was worried I’d get no replies on such a boring topic!

Looking at it again, there is a section on the form where you can tell DVLA about any errrors, but the way it’s worded sounds like they only mean any errors like having the wrong address or the wrong spelling of a name - not having the wrong person down completely. So I’ll call them and get advice.

I think I just needed a vent earlier as I was so annoyed about it - half with them for not checking and half with myself for not making it clearer.

OP posts:
SummerLoving1 · 15/08/2018 21:26

Namechangetopointoh I don't think your correct there (but don't mind learning something new). When you take out an insurance policy you do need to input whether you are the registered owner and then you select who is a main/named driver....

SoyDora · 15/08/2018 21:28

When DH took out the insurance on our second car they asked if he was the registered keeper and he said no, his wife is. They said that was fine.

QuestionableMouse · 15/08/2018 21:28

I looked into this recently. You can insure a car that you aren't the registered keeper of, it just costs you more.

SoyDora · 15/08/2018 21:29

I looked into this recently. You can insure a car that you aren't the registered keeper of, it just costs you more

That’s interesting, DH only paid £160 for the year so it would have been dirt cheap if he was the registered keeper!