DVLA pain

[diggerman]

Building a Caterham is all about jumping through hoops! Done the Caterham Mids inspection, done the IVA, cars completely finished, sent off the registration form to Oxford DVLA and now, lemon like, am sitting waiting for the Oxford gnomes to finger the paperwork. It's been a week and a half so far, or 8 working days in their money, and not a word. I'm told they take up to ten working days, but does anyone have any experience of how long the agony is likely to be.

 

Would also be interested to know if Oxford DVLA insist on seeing the car and if so how the appointment system works?

 

Frustrated Pete

[The Pikey]

Pete

 

the Oxford DVLA is a tiny office and they can be a right nightmare to deal with. In my experience they need chasing to get things done. You would have been better taking it in to the office because I'm sure you would have walked out with a tax disk. If you do need to trailer the car down for inspection then prepare to go up dead end streets with no parking, I promise you it's a place you don't want to be taking a trailer.. If I were you I'd send them a fax asking for them to give you a call urgently, they will call and if you speak nicely to them I'm sure you will get sorted. I have their fax number at work if you need it.

 

Jason

 

 

[diggerman]

Thanks Jason, I wish I had asked first! Have looked them up on the net and found both fax and email details so have sent them a gentle reminder.

 

Meanwhile the car is rusting in the garage .......

[The Pikey]

I'm sure you will get you tax disk early in the week just in time for the good weather thats on it's way

 

J

 

 

[fred_gustafsson]

I had a lady at the Borehamwood office who insisted that I am allowed to driver it there for the inspection. Everyone else tells me that you can't.

[MartinH]

Hi All,

I share your pain. ☹️

 

Fred - have you got the name of the lady at Borehamwood who said its ok to drive there?

 

This process is also killing me...

 

I went to the Borehamwood DVLA office the day I passed IVA. It’s busy there and they took all my papers and said they would get back to me within 10 days. 8 days later I get a letter from them telling me my insurance is not current!! The process is dragging on so long my temporary cover note from MSM had expired. I have another now ready to give to them.

 

The letter also informs me that I need to present for an inspection this week. The time wasn't convenient (actually its not convenient at any ******* time. Ever!!) so I called their central 'help' line to rearrange. After several attempts at getting through I spoke to a robot who took my details and said someone would call me back. I asked about the nature of the inspection but they had no idea.

 

A few hours later someone from the office called me. Time was rearranged. Again I asked about the inspection and questioned why it was necessary as the car had been inspected by another government department only a few days ago (VOSA - IVA). They could only say that this was a 'different' inspection and that it was definitely required.

 

Edited to say that they also told me that it may be 4-6 weeks AFTER the inspection that I finally get my reg document!!! *mad*

 

Regarding the subject of driving the car to a DVLA inspection…

 

On a previous occasion I called the DVLA and asked that if I was required to present the car - would it OK to drive there? They insisted ‘YES’ but could not provide any written confirmation of this. I then went to the DVLA web site and asked the same question - to which the answer was an emphatic ‘NO’!

 

I asked my insurance company (MSM) who confirmed in writing that I was insured to drive there as long as I had an appointment.

 

Not satisfied with the DVLA mixed responses I contacted the POLICE via their website and they basically told me...er…its not clear and so I should probably not drive there to be on the safe side! Here is a snippet from the relevant act of parliament that they pointed me here

"

42 Not fixing registration mark

(1) If a registration mark is not fixed on a vehicle as required by virtue of section 23, the relevant person is guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(3) In subsection (1)“the relevant person” means the person driving the vehicle or, where it is not being driven, the person keeping it.

(4) It is a defencefor a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that—

(a) he had no reasonable opportunity to register the vehicle under this Act, and

(b) the vehicle was being driven for the purpose of being so registered.

(5) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) in relation to a vehicle—

(a) to which section 47 of the [1988 c. 52.] Road Traffic Act 1988 applies by virtue of subsection (2)(b) of that section, or

(b) to which Article 34 of the [s.I.1981/154 (N.I.1).] Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 applies by virtue of paragraph (2)(b) of that Article,

(vehicles manufactured before the prescribed period and used before registration) to prove that he had no reasonable opportunity to register the vehicle under this Act and that the vehicle was being driven in accordance with subsection (6).

(6) A vehicle is being driven in accordance with this subsection if—

(a) it is being driven for the purposes of, or in connection with, its examination under section 45 of the [1988 c. 52.] Road Traffic Act 1988 in circumstances in which its use is exempted from subsection (1) of section 47 of that Act by regulations under subsection (6) of that section, or

(b) it is being driven for the purposes of, or in connection with, its examination under Article 33 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 in circumstances in which its use is exempted from paragraph (1) of Article 34 of that Order by regulations under paragraph (5) of that Article.

"

 

So, I am going to drive to the inspection and hope for the best. I will take all this information with me and hope any BiB are sympathetic to the situation and can see I have tried my best to stay legal.

 

Sorry for the long post. I am bored, on a train and wishing I was out driving my car.

 

Good luck to all in a similar state of regulatory-limbo.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

 

 

Duratec R300 SV built but not yet legal...

 

Edited by - MartinH on 18 May 2010 10:33:27

[fred_gustafsson]

Martin,

 

Sorry, I don't have the name of the lady who told me so but she was adamant so I did drive out there a earlier today and had my two minute inspection. It was just a check of the chasssis number and engine number. The guys said that I wasn't allowed to drive it there but I told him to stuff it and have his staff retrained, if that was the case. They can't give out contradicting advice.That shut him up and I drove home with a clear consience.

On the status of legality, I'm confused. I understand that there are exception to the rule that says you must display a valid tax disk such as theft etc. I have registered my vehicle and I have paid my road tax so if the DVLA decides to spend the next weeks/months/years processing their papers then I would say that it's their problem not mine. I think the police would tend to agree, don't you?

 

[fred_gustafsson]

Also, the inspector was a bit annoyed with me having 120 miles on the clock on an unregistred vehicle.... 😬

[MartinH]

Well done Fred. Another stage complete then. Did they say how long it would be before documents will come your way? I can't see why they can't do while you wait...

 

Duratec R300 SV built but not yet legal...

[fred_gustafsson]

I asked but he said the could say... A few days probably.

[Rattie]

42 Not fixing registration mark

(4) It is a defencefor a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that—

(b) the vehicle was being driven for the purpose of being so registered.

---

That sounds like a Specific Defense to me, well found. I'd take a printout of that with all the other documents, but the BiB should be fine with it, seeing as any charge wouldn't stick in court.

 

Martyn

^_R300GRR

[myothercarsa2cv]

Also, the inspector was a bit annoyed with me having 120 miles on the clock on an unregistred vehicle....

Only 120?! I clocked up more than that before I got to the SVA 😬 😬 😬 Mileage at presenting my documents to DVLA was 480 ish

 

Good luck all with the registrations, sounds like I got really lucky!

 

John

_________________________

 

myothercarsa2cv

Bugsy: '82 2cv6 😬

Talloulah '08 1.6K Classic

[John Vine]

the inspector was a bit annoyed with me having 120 miles on the clock on an unregistred vehicle

That seems entirely illogical, given that you could have driven it quite legally to an SVA/IVA appointment many miles away. In my case, that was a round trip of 250 miles. Perhaps the inspector didn't understand the trials and tribulations of getting such a car on the road.

 

Re the legality of driving to and from the DVLA inspection, a VOSA contact has informed me that it is legal to drive an unregistered car to a statutory pre-registration inspection (you do need to be insured, of course). The keyword here is statutory. I guess it all boils down to whether the DVLA inspection is a statutory requirement or something else.

 

JV

[John Vine]

By way of follow-up, I wrote to the DVLA asking under which statute they required kit cars and the like (having passed IVA) to be presented for inspection at a DVLA office prior to registration. I've just received their reply:

 

Since 25 March 2010 new kit cars which have been through the IVA process are no longer required to under go an additional inspection by DVLA prior to registration.

 

Now, that's news to me. Very encouraging, but I wonder how aware people are of this ruling?

 

JV

 

 

[Rattie]

john,

Wait a second while I pick my jaw up off the floor....!

What excellent news! We must have missed that by minutes.

 

Martyn

^_R300GRR

[MartinH]

Nice follow up John. Good work! I wish I had known that a few weeks ago. I drove to the appointment in the end and risked it. The inspector took 2 mins to check engine and chassis number and checked the mileage. He asked me if I had driven it myself to the inspection to which I replied 'yes' and said nothing else. He sniffed disapprovingly but didn't make a fuss.

 

The registration entitlement document arrived the next day in the post and I drove the car legally for the first time on the weekend which was great.

 

One question for others who have been through this process... Did you get your IVA test certificate back from the DVLA? I got the other docs I submitted sent back to me but not the IVA certificate. Is that right?

 

 

 

Duratec R300 SV finally alive!

[diggerman]

Having started this subject, thought I should let you know how I got on. DVLA Oxford were very slow processing my documents and in the end I made phone contact with a nice young lady who very effectively guided me through the process. In the first place she insisted that I would have to trailer the car to a distant VOSA centre to have the VIN and engine numbers checked, but then mid last week took the matter up with her manager, then phoned me back with the news that the VOSA test was waived and she would post my docs back that evening. (Jaw dropped!) The following day docs were in the post and the car was on the road in Saturdays glorious sunshine. Pain over.

 

I had asked said lady about the IVA cert and she said that I would never see it again. Swansea apparantly keep it in their dungeon. I had photo copied it, in colour too, so it feels like I still have it.

 

Finally, the registration doc (log book) arrived in todays post. I'm legal!!!!

 

 

peter c

[John Vine]

Nice follow up John. Good work!

Thanks for your kind words, Martin. For info, I've started a new thread on this topic here, and will update it further when I get DVLA's reply to my latest query.

Did you get your IVA test certificate back from the DVLA?

I did indeed, but maybe that was an error.

 

JV