Is there anything we can do re DVLA fine?

[CuriousLadyBird]

Hi all,

Back in December we reserved a car at a local dealership you know one of those £100 fees so no one else could have it but then our funding fell through and I cancelled the deposit (which we didn't get back anyway even though they said we would but whatever) and told them we couldn't get the car.

For some reason though the dealership put all our details onto the car and when we received the v5c I contacted the dealership and they said they'd sort it but we've been fined £172 for non payment of tax and even though we have sent all the proof to the DVLA they are not accepting that we never bought the car and was not the registered keepers.

I've contacted the dealers but they aren't much help. I really don't know what to do. I suspect I'll need to just pay the fine but it seems unfair when I didn't own/buy the car so it wasn't my responsibility to tax it?

Don’t pay the fine.

I would ring and speak to a human being about it and insist they call the dealership

We've tried every-time we speak to a human they can't deal with it and need either and email or it in writing which we have provided and I don't know I guess they've just decided we're lying but we genuinely were never the registered keepers.

Tell the DVLA that you never owned the car. The holding fee you paid was not ownership.

If you are listed as the registered keepers of a vehicle then you are legally responsible for it. You need to go to the dealer ASAP in person and transfer it back, regardless of anything else. You should have done this as soon as you knew what the dealership had done.

As for the fine, I would seek legal advice on how to proceed. You may need to pay it in the short term and reclaim it.

We have, we've sent several different written communications but they've decided their original decision was correct, we were the registered keepers and we have to pay the fine which makes absolutely no sense.

I appreciate the dealership was under the impression we were buying the car but surely they shouldn't have put our details onto it until the day we paid the money and did the handover.

It's such a bloody headache but it's a lot of money and not our fine, I always tax my cars

I didn't know I was the registered keeper until the V5C came in the post a month or so later and I contacted the dealership immediately.

Then when we started getting the DVLA letters and we also contacted them immediately.

I’d be pushing the dealer hard on this. It’s their error. I’d give them a choice they either give you the money to pay the fine and proof you are no longer the keeper or they give you the car.

You need to make a statutory declaration and swear it at the solicitors. (£5-10 fee in cash.) Then send the declaration to the DVLA

In your declaration you have to state that you have never owned the car.

They've sold the car since I think. I'll keep pushing, I've got the owners details in WhatsApp because that's how I sent him the V5C so I've got written proof of everything but the DVLA doesn't seem to want to know and have just decided I'm liable.

Have you insisted on speaking with a supervisor at the DVLA? Not to be an arse, but in a ‘we have a complex situation no one has been able to help us with, and we need someone who can make executive decisions’ way. The clerks don’t want the responsibility of going off piste.

I would try @MIBnightmare ’s idea and this, in which ever order you prefer. The above is what finally worked for my family in a similar situation

I would get the money for the fine from the dealership and just pay it.

I would suggest you contact your MP for help on this. I had an issue with the DVLA and I got nowhere with trying to resolve it with them myself. However, I contacted my MP and her office team were great! They have a different way of contacting the DVLA than is open to us mere mortals and it was resolved within a few days. I would email your MPs office with all the details, copies of documents etc and ask for their help in sorting it out. Good luck

How did the dealership sell the car to someone else if it was registered to you? Did you transfer ownership back to them? If not it sounds like they've been pretty dodgy with all this!

No, I don't know what's happened to be honest. I didn't even know they'd filled out our details until the V5C came in March and they had already sold the car in January.

They've asked me to go to the post office and fill out the new owner details but I'm confused about it all to be honest.

I'd arrange a meeting with the dealer and present them with two options. Take all of your paperwork and correspondence with you.

Option A ) They pay the fine, return your deposit and compensate you for the time you've spent so far, and will need to spend completing the paperwork to re-register the vehicle.

Option B ) You call the police and trading standards to report that the dealership has sold your car - you have the paperwork to prove it, and intend to also send to story to whoever your local paper is in order to highlight what a total farce it has been.

My sister-in-law had a similar situation when they part-exchanged their car for a new one and left all the paperwork for the old car with the dealer. 7 months late they got a fine for not taxing or SORNing their old car - the dealer hadn't made good on their promise to sort out the paperwork, and in-fact had lost the old V5 - that took about 9 months to sort out to their satisfaction.

did you sign the log book?
if not they’ve fraudulently signed it as you

I don't believe we signed anything. I just got the V5C.

These are the messages we've exchanged just not BUT he's sent me the order form of the actual keepers and I have have his name, address and phone number .. isn't that like a GDPR breech?

It looks like you potentially acknowledged being the keeper as you completed paperwork transferring it to the new owner. Did you contact the dvla when you received the v5 in your name, or only after you got the fine?

I didn't complete any paperwork. When I received the V5C I contacted the dealer straight away and advised I didn't buy the car. He said he'd sort it straight away but I didn't contact DVLA as I believed the dealer was dealing with it.

If I have to pay the fine then so be it but if I'm the registered keeper they've sold my car? I don't really understand it.

I'm confused now. What did you actually do with the v5 in your name?

I called the dealership and told them I had received the V5C but I hadn't bought the car.

The dealership told me to send a picture of the V5C over to him and he'd sort it all out as they've sold the car and it was a mistake. I didn't know I had to do anything else with it.

you used to have to physically sign the v5 and send it off which meant it would be fraudulent. Presumably they’ve done it online this time instead. They are incredibly stupid. That is not something that should be done until delivery. The DVLA don’t remove a keeper, so adding keepers devalues cars.

yes it’s a GDPR breech. They are very inept.

do they have a head office or just a solo dealer?

you need to deal with the dvla for the fine though, don’t let the dealer deal with it. Worse way if the dvla keep pushing back, pay it and small claims the dealer. I’d try another letter (make sure it’s sent recorded) detailing everything, how the dealer fraudulently added you as a keeper you hadn’t accepted delivery blah blah blah. I’ve done this for work and got out of the fine (long story but similar!). Include any copies of letters you’ve sent before and any correspondence to the dealer.

and report the twats for GDPR.

So when you said you had the new owners details on WhatsApp and sent it to him, you actually just sent a photo to the dealer? What did you do with the v5?

No sorry I think that's where the confusion has come from.

When the V5 came he just told me to send him a picture of it and this was back in March.

He said he tried to sort it online today but couldn't so could I go to the post office and do the new keeper details - which I don't really understand.

hes trying to turn you into his admin. Depends how helpful you are feeling the new keeper can use a v62 to apply for a new log book at the post office. It doesn’t need to involve you.