Viewing a car with no tax.

[benny3008]

Hi, I am going to view a car on Sunday which currently has no tax, I intend to buy there and then if the car is up to scratch but am unsure as to how to get it home. I would say to the seller, "could you tax the car for me" but I don't know for sure whether or not i'll be buying it until I have seen it. Anyone got any ideas as to how I could get around this problem. TIA

[Buenchico]

How well do you get on with your local garage? If you're a regular customer the owner might let you borrow his trade plates (possibly for a small fee) over the weekend.

If you were unlucky enough to get stopped you'd technically need to say that you were delivering the vehicle on behalf of the garage but I worked as a 'plater' for 2½ years and found that the police never bothered with even the most blatant breaches of the rules. (I suspect that the average copper doesn't even know them!)

Chris

[benny3008]

It's a private seller and its 50 odd miles away. :-(

[Answerprancer]

Make sure the vehicle is registered in her/his name and that s/he has the V5 and MOT certificate, make sure your insurance certificate allows you to drive another car or contact your insurers and explain the situation - they should be able to help. Anyone wanting to make the sale of a car sould be prepared to go to the local post office with you to get a tax disc (assuming you're happy with the car).
This is fresh in my mind because some jumped up little w*nker ("Danny" in Hatfield) tried to stitch me up recently when viewing a ford Puma - his name wasn't even on the V5. Make sure s/he is the registered keeper and that the car your viewing is at the address on the V5.

[Buenchico]

The problem with going to a post office, AP, is that Benny is viewing the car on Sunday.

It's irrelevant that you're (possibly) buying from a private seller, Benny. If you've got a local workshop, where you normally take your vehicles for servicing, the owner will have a set of trade plates (which he might be prepared to lend to you).

[chrissa1]

Do you know anyone with a trailer?

[Answerprancer]

..If you haven't done so already, ask the seller if the car is registered in his/her name and that their name is on the V5 AND if the address on the V5 is the address where you will be viewing the car. If the answer is "no" to any of these, then the deal could be dodgy.
Also, if you're serious about this particular car, get the reg number and do an online HPI check, it costs about £5 but will make sure the car isn't nicked or a write off in disguise.

[Answerprancer]

Ah, I didn't notice that. Could you not hold on until Monday Benny ?

[tonyav]

benny, is this why you want to get to the Sutton Road, Walsall on Sunday. By the way the Sutton road is very long.

[Prudie]

an extra thing to think of is won't you want to test drive it before you buy it anyway? how do sellers cover this situation?

[tonyav]

I think they just risk it, Prudie.

[Prudie]

Hmmm I'd have thought if all was legit a seller would tax a car and jut add it to the SP (unless selling for spares)

[tonyav]

Depends on if they are skint or not Prudie, anyway if it is not taxed I would have thought that it must be regestered as SORN. ( by the way I know the Sutton Road well, and I can't imagine anyone being skint down there ).

[cathfromsaron]

if it ain't SORNed or taxed how will you test drive it anyway?

our post office counter is open sundays til 1pm!

[tonyav]

Where's that then cathfromsaron ?

[ladybirder]

AP you raise an interesting point in your answer at 21.53 Fri. My understanding is that only the Owner has the right to sell a vehicle, NOT the Registered Keeper unless he/she is also the Owner. I've done a C&P below to back this up although I can't vouch for the validity of the site. My daughter is the RK of my car and I would have some very strong words with her if she were to try and sell it although she would probably succeed as I would bet the majority of people think the same as you. If I'm wrong then please show me the evidence.

I apologise to the OP if this is slightly off topic. Perhaps I should have started another thread.

"Who is the registered keeper?
The registered keeper is the person whose name appears on Section 5 of the Registration Certificate of the vehicle (also called the log book, V5C). That person is responsible for taxing the vehicle, doing the MOT and maintaining it in good condition. Traffic violations like parking tickets and speeding fines will be sent to the registered keeper as well.

Who is the legal owner?
The legal owner is the owner of the car, that is, the person who has a legally enforceable claim to the car. That person has the right to sell the vehicle while the registered keeper is not in a position to do that (if registered keeper and owner are different that is).

Most of the time, the legal owner and the registered keeper will be the same person. However in cases where a car is leased, then the legal owner will normally be the company and the registered keeper the employee who uses the car. Another example is when a father buys a car for the son to use - the father may want to retain all rights to the car but give the responsibility of day to day running to the son.

Car insurance
Most car insurance companies will insist that the policy holder be the registered keeper to keep things simple and will not quote for cases where they are different. By law, the policy holder does not need to be the registered keeper but you will be narrowing your choices of insurers if you are in this situation. This is mostly to do with the fact that many experienced drivers used to put down their name as the policyholder while a younger driver would be the registered keeper so that they can get cheaper car insurance. Of course insurers have thus cracked down on this approach because it's fronting and have therefore insisted for both policy holder and keeper to be the same."

[tonyav]

? ladybirder.

[ladybirder]

? tony?

[cathfromsaron]

lol tony x

[cathfromsaron]

i have previously sold a camper for a friend, with just the paperwork in hand!

if you have permission you can sell anything surely ...