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Original poster

HELP, Car hasn't been registered for two years?!

101 replies

WinterWarmer19 · 02/01/2022 13:01

Hi there,
This month i realised i have never received a car tax reminder since getting my new car 2 years ago. the car dealership arranged road tax, car insurance etc before i drove away that day and assured me that all paperwork would be dealt with by them. last year, 2021, i road taxed my car online and thought everything was fine.

i called up dvla last week to ask about not getting a reminder. they said i was not registered to the vehicle and the dealership who sold me the car must have failed to pass on my details.

my car is taxed, ive been taxing it online as stated and have been paying my insurance, even although i dont have a logbook. now im worried that once all my details etc are updated, that a stream of old speeding tickets or fines will come in, as it said online that thats how theyre able to contact you.

i asked dvla about this and they said any fines etc would have probably been sent to the dealership or my insurance and they would have contacted me, but what if they didnt? also - does this affect my insurance cover if im not registered? dvla said it wouldnt affect insurance, but im in a real knot with this, any help would be really appreciated!

OP posts:

QuestionableMouse · 02/01/2022 18:34

Nothing bad will happen if you fill the details in and submit it online - you're not pretending to the dealer, just filling in their details.

maffhew · 02/01/2022 18:34

You don't understand what in the trade means.

If it's not registered to you then it will still be considered property of the dealership, therefore in the trade. It's a DVLA term.

Also if it is not in the trade then no, you won't be able to tax it at the post office. You can only tax vehicles on a v62 at the post office if they are classed as in the trade.

People are trying to help you with your oversight and you're just being obtuse!

Howmanysleepsnow · 02/01/2022 18:37

I did this! You have to apply for a log book by post in these circumstances. I only realised 3 years later when I wanted to sell the car 🙈
I didn’t receive any backdated speeding tickets though!

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Original poster

WinterWarmer19 · 02/01/2022 18:45

@maffhew

You don't understand what in the trade means.

If it's not registered to you then it will still be considered property of the dealership, therefore in the trade. It's a DVLA term.

Also if it is not in the trade then no, you won't be able to tax it at the post office. You can only tax vehicles on a v62 at the post office if they are classed as in the trade.

People are trying to help you with your oversight and you're just being obtuse!

sorry, im not trying to be obtuse, im just concerned that if i put this through as a motor dealer online, then dvla may contact the dealership and ask why a sale made 2 years ago has only just been registered for keeper now by them online, whereas if it is via post, then its clear that i have sent for it, not the dealership

OP posts:

Original poster

WinterWarmer19 · 02/01/2022 18:47

@Howmanysleepsnow

I did this! You have to apply for a log book by post in these circumstances. I only realised 3 years later when I wanted to sell the car 🙈 I didn’t receive any backdated speeding tickets though!

did you have any accident claims during those three years by chance?

OP posts:

maffhew · 02/01/2022 18:53

Well then the dealer would have to explain why they didn't bother updating the keeper details with DVLA. It would be their mistake to deal with. Unlikely DVLA would bat an eyelid though.

You're overthinking it. Even DVLA make numerous mistakes, you're not going to get in trouble for notifying them in the opposite way, however you will get in trouble for not taxing your car and that's what you need to do ASAP.

Porfre · 03/01/2022 00:00

@Justkeeppedaling

I don't really see how you could tax and insure a car you're not the registered owner of

When I bought my car the dealership said they'd sort out all the paperwork. So as far as I knew I was the registered owner. They told me the long number from he log book I'd need for the tax. So I did that online.

But I didnt get the log book until I chased them. The insurance only wanted the reg number of the vehicle.

Howmanysleepsnow · 03/01/2022 19:59

@WinterWarmer19 no, no accident claims. Can’t help with that!

Shade17 · 03/01/2022 20:56

If it's not registered to you then it will still be considered property of the dealership, therefore in the trade. It's a DVLA term.

It certainly wouldn’t be considered property of the dealership!

maffhew · 03/01/2022 21:05

@Shade17

If it's not registered to you then it will still be considered property of the dealership, therefore in the trade. It's a DVLA term.

It certainly wouldn’t be considered property of the dealership!

It certainly would be, on DVLA's records!

Shade17 · 03/01/2022 21:11

It certainly would be, on DVLA's records!

The DVLA’s records have nothing to do with ownership!

yellowsun · 03/01/2022 21:11

I am sure you will be fine. The same happened to me and I’m normally so organised. I initially taxed my new car using the green slip on the dealer forecourt. Then a year later using the slip again. Unfortunately I forgot to sort and when I tried again the third time, it wouldn’t let me. I had to grovel to dvla on phone and they let me buy 6 months. I then filled in the form to get my car registered and had a logbook 2-3 weeks later.

maffhew · 03/01/2022 21:23

@Shade17

It certainly would be, on DVLA's records!

The DVLA’s records have nothing to do with ownership!

The last registered keeper/ trader will be on the DVLA records now, as the dealership failed to update them.

Therefore if the last status was 'in the trade' it will still be 'in the trade' according to DVLA.

I feel you're missing the point I was making, somewhat.

HauntedPencil · 03/01/2022 21:26

This happened to me recently and we found out as the car got clamped as they'd stopped taking my monthly tax payment and I hadn't noticed and not had any reminders! After paying tax and the extra bills I changed the address and it wasn't an issue

Shade17 · 03/01/2022 21:29

@maffhew

You stated:

If it's not registered to you then it will still be considered property of the dealership

This is totally incorrect. It will be considered property of whoever has the invoice/receipt proving ownership, absolutely bugger all to do with DVLA.

maffhew · 03/01/2022 21:34

@Shade17 I was only talking about the DVLA though, according to their records it will be the dealership who currently owns the vehicle. Wrongly, as they haven't been updated, because the OP has owned it for 2 years.

There was no other context to my statement. I was merely talking about the DVLA point of view, not about legal ownership.

Headingnorthwoste · 03/01/2022 21:54

Ugh, really hate the tone of lots of posters on here.

You buy a new car from a reputable garage and trust them to follow the process. It’s really common for the dealership to set you up on direct debit. You don’t need the V5.

Not everyone knows the ins and outs of all these processes, you trust the professionals to tell you how it works. Once you’ve been burnt, yes you’ll double check everything in future.

OP - do not feel embarrassed for not noticing until now. Lots of people would also not have noticed in your shoes.

Mumsnet is a horrible place sometimes. Way to make someone already anxious feel stupid and shit about a genuine oversight!

Headingnorthwoste · 03/01/2022 21:55

Before anyone jumps on my comment, of course you need the v5 as proof of ownership, I just meant if they’ve set you up on DD for tax, you don’t need it!

RustyBear · 03/01/2022 22:02

This happened to DD last year, I just asked her about it & this is what she texted me:

"When this happened to me I was similarly very anxious. I found out when I realised I hadn't had a tax reminder and phoned the DVLA to check. The lady on the phone didn't seem overly surprised, concerned or phased when we realised the car hadn't been registered to me for a year. She just sent me a form to fill in if I didn't have the v5 so I could get one and said to send it back ASAP. When I phoned the dealership, they apologised and very quickly sent off the v5 under my name, which came through a couple of days later, so I didn't have to do the form the DVLA sent. The dealership were very apologetic. They told me as we had invoices of the sale in my name that I was the legal owner and therefore insurance should still have been valid. He said any fines or penalty notifications that came through would come to them and would be paid by them 'as a courtesy' but I understand that as they never transferred you as keeper, the actions of the driver of the vehicle are THEIR legal responsibility. He admitted they would have paid any fines etc to 'get the dvla off their back' (insinuating this has happened before) but i imagine that anything like a speeding etc that requires confirmation of who was driving the vehicle would have been sent to them, and would have been queried, and thus made them realise they hadn't transferred ownership.
My friend also had the same thing happen and apparently its not uncommon for dealerships to forget to send it off."

AdobeWanKenobi · 03/01/2022 23:25

@Justkeeppedaling

I don't really see how you could tax and insure a car you're not the registered owner of

You’ve clearly never leased a car have you?

Part of the PCH contract is you are required to both Insure and tax the vehicle. It remains the property of the lease company who, in most cases, keep the V5 themselves in their name.

Any fines etc are sent to the lease company and then forwarded (obviously with a nice little handling fee) to the hirer.

Registered keepers and vehicle owners and can be two completely different people.

Shade17 · 04/01/2022 08:16

I was only talking about the DVLA though, according to their records it will be the dealership who currently owns the vehicle

The DVLA have no interest who owns the vehicle, they will not consider it to be owned by the dealership.

Before anyone jumps on my comment, of course you need the v5 as proof of ownership

The V5C proves nothing of sort! It has precisely bugger all to do with proof of ownership.

AdobeWanKenobi · 04/01/2022 10:35

The V5C proves nothing of sort! It has precisely bugger all to do with proof of ownership

Exactly. I don’t think people even read their V5 do they? If they did they might notice this….

“THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT PROOF OF OWNERSHIP”

HELP, Car hasn't been registered for two years?!

maffhew · 04/01/2022 19:40

@Shade17 Christ almighty. Ok, according to the DVLA the garage will be the current keeper. I chose the wrong word, it should have been keeper.

Hope that meets your pedantry requirements.

Shade17 · 04/01/2022 19:57

Christ almighty. Ok, according to the DVLA the garage will be the current keeper. I chose the wrong word, it should have been keeper.

They are two different things though and in this discussion the difference is important. It may be pedantic but in this case pedantry DOES matter.

Vicster2023 · 21/11/2023 18:21

Hi did you get it sorted

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