Problems with DVLA

[peterc]

Has anyone else had problems with vehicle identification at an MOT in the last few months. Last Autumn the then apparently 'new' MOT recording system could not identify my Hawk despite 10 + years of MOT's. The garage therefore had to enter everything manually. They have performed my MOT's for quite a number of years so the car was well known to them.
The result of this was that my MOT certificate started on the date of the test and not the date of the previous certificate some 4 weeks ahead.
This was all a bit disconcerting as there was a lot of debate at the time about what cars were classified as a classic and the garage indicated that I would be contacted by the DVLA to ask me the confirm my cars design status etc.
I therefore had to wait but now several months later I have still not had any contact from the DVLA.
On the one hand I'm 'cheated' out of a months MOT but am wondering that it might be best to just keep quiet rather than start a new inquisition on how the MG became a Hawk.
Any thoughts?

[agnoraan]

Keep quiet for goodness sake!!! It's not worth it for a months MOT. There's a lot of stuff going on with the DVLA and VOSA at the moment and they are apparently calling for some vehicles to be inspected when the tax status changes from PLG to historic. The last thing you need is to get them to want to inspect the car, if they feel that it isn't registered correctly. If it hasn't already been through SVA, they could well ask for it to go through an IVA test.
Cheers...NIge

[peterc]

Nige
My car went through the SVA in Oct 1999 and was then inspected by the Wimbledon tax office prior to being registered as a Hawk. Everything was completed correctly to their rules and the car thus maintaining its historic status.
I was just interested if anyone else had been through this MOT same problem.
I think most of the issues were created by the slow transfer of data into the new data base to be accessed by garages for the MOT system and not the what is a classic issue.
However as already said I thought it probably best to just leave things as they are.
Peter C

[PeterA]

Peter
I had a similar experience a couple of years back where the MOT station computer failed to recognise the car. Reference to the preceeding MOT certificate numbers solved the problem and the test went ahead without any hitch. Last month I purchased a 1964 B registration plate from Motormarks to replace the original J plate. I confess to some trepidation when sending all to the DVLA fearing it might start a review of the car's status (like yours correctly recorded SVA test, historic status, all supporting paperwork to hand etc..and registered as a Hawk 289. None of the aforementioned was needed or asked for). I need not have worried, 8 days later the new V5C arrived with the new number plate and all as before. No questions or issues whatsoever - a really good efficient service.
Regards Peter

[agnoraan]

Nige
My car went through the SVA in Oct 1999 and was then inspected by the Wimbledon tax office prior to being registered as a Hawk. Everything was completed correctly to their rules and the car thus maintaining its historic status.
I was just interested if anyone else had been through this MOT same problem.
I think most of the issues were created by the slow transfer of data into the new data base to be accessed by garages for the MOT system and not the what is a classic issue.
However as already said I thought it probably best to just leave things as they are.
Peter C

hi Peter, i'm sorry but I misunderstood what you were saying. Your comment "how the MG became a Hawk" made me think that your car was registered as an MG nad hadn't been through SVA.

cheers..Nige

[peterc]

Nige
No problem, I understand your line of thought.
I'm sure that there are still a lot of Jaguar GT's out there looking like 427 Cobras.

The general info I had from Heritage (my insurance company), indicated that the scare of the DVLA wanting to check every registered classic was not correct. They were targeting some extremely high value copies posing as originals.
They have millions of letters arriving per week so I believe they would only be following up the dodgy looking applications.
However in view of those comments last year I am now a little wary of what mods any of us could undertake that might change the classic status.
Like PeterA I would be nervous of any change needed to be notified to them.

Peter C

[Paul Blore]

Hi Peter,

Slightly off track, but I was with Heritage, but I've saved 25% by moving to Hagerty and getting a better, more appropriate policy. It's worth looking into.

Paul

[agnoraan]

I insured my '69 Camaro with Hagerty, but they wouldn't insure my Viper as it was a kit car.
Cheers.. Nige

[agnoraan]

Nige
No problem, I understand your line of thought.
I'm sure that there are still a lot of Jaguar GT's out there looking like 427 Cobras.

The general info I had from Heritage (my insurance company), indicated that the scare of the DVLA wanting to check every registered classic was not correct. They were targeting some extremely high value copies posing as originals.
They have millions of letters arriving per week so I believe they would only be following up the dodgy looking applications.
However in view of those comments last year I am now a little wary of what mods any of us could undertake that might change the classic status.
Like PeterA I would be nervous of any change needed to be notified to them.

Peter C

Hi Peter, unfortunately, they're not just pulling the details of high value copies, they're also pulling "ordinary" cars that they feel might have been modified in some way and do not fall within the Historic criteria. It seems that they're targeting a lot of vehicles when they change from PLG to Historic classification. one such letter was sent to this guy that owns a Pro Street Ford Pop that was a Custom Car feature car a while ago

QUOTE

" I changed address on V5 - Taxed it in march this year (2015) & DVLA changed it to historic on their website, but V5 still listed as PLG.
This resulted in a letter & modification forms asking for written listing of all mods (if any) done to car with a minimum of 2 photos with at least 1 showing registration.

Obviously mine is not stock & altered beyond the 8 points system so it wont keep the reg".

The owner has since been told that his car has to be re built to BIVA specifications and he has now lost the registration number and will be issued a "Q" plate when it passes the test. This is just one of a large number of cars that this has happened to.

Another car which had a very high profile, the FD Vauxhall called Red Victor 3, which is claimed to be the worlds quickest street legal car, and was sponsored by Vauxhall no less, was also called for inspection and subsequently lost its right to registration until it underwent a BIVA test.

A car that's been through SVA or an IVA test is pretty much bullet proof, as is a Q plate car, but any other cars with a dubious donor registration is a whole load of hurt just waiting to happen. Especially so, as there is talk that the soon to be revised MOT is likely to include such questions for the tester as "is the vehicle modified?" This really would casue chaos for incorrectly registered cars.

The main body that is liasing with DVLA regarding any changes that affect Historic cars is the FBHVC. Unfortunaletly, they're only concerned with standard, original, historic cars with out any modifications whatsoever. One point that they agreed with was to limit the amount of miles a historically registerd car can do, just as they do in some countries in the EU. I can't remember exactly, but I think the number bandied about was a limit of 1200 miles per year. This hasn't been through Parliament as yet as it's still in the discussion stages. There was also talk of the vehicles having to be completely stock, even down to original colour schemes and interior trim. Personally, from what I've read, I really wouldn't want a car registered as historic just to save having to pay tax, as in the future, if the government and EU get their way, historic motoring could be seriously compromised.

Some stuff here, at the moment this only relates to historically registered cars

http://www.the-ace.org.uk/restoring-and ... be-banned/


http://www.the-ace.org.uk/?s=limited+mi ... mit=Search


http://www.the-ace.org.uk/classic-vehicles-2/


http://www.the-ace.org.uk/rearranging-t ... #more-1057


If you do a search here, you can find a lot of useful information

http://www.the-ace.org.uk/

QUOTE

" From ACEs point of view we have always been concerned that mileage has been quantified by FBHVC and FIVA ( as 1500 KM per year for 75% of Historics ). Far better to have fought along the lines of "We only do low mileages "leaving room for negotiation. Likewise in this instance they have said something like 75% of their members were all for it yet a Classic Car mag ring around of owners club showed the exact opposite to be true? These are the same peopl epushing for an across Europe standardisation of Historic classification ...it is "stock as rock"...think about it."

please don't shoot the messenger

cheers..Nige

[StewbieC]

I insured my '69 Camaro with Hagerty, but they wouldn't insure my Viper as it was a kit car.
Cheers.. Nige

Heritage wanted £750 / year as apposed to £260 from Hagerty, when I last compared the market dot com, so no real comparison anywhere! Been with Hagerty ever since it was a pile of bits. So they knew mine was a kit car from the start and when it was built and when it was IVA'd