Delivery with V5 in previous owner name
Discussion
Hi guys,
Just wanted to run this by you all here as I am progressing through the process of buying a car which has been quite a long search and buying process, started early December and probably took me until middle of January to finally come round to what I am going for.
This is the first time I'm buying a car myself, so it has definitely been quite the learning process and also figuring out the ins and outs of the dealers I have been browsing at. Anyway, I am maybe nearly at the last stage but the dealer usually has people collect their cars from their location but do offer a delivery service, and I'd prefer that option as I don't want to have any issues getting it back from the dealer in terms of that I haven't driven in a while and also not having dashcams installed until after it's reached back home etc and I either sort it out myself or get a professional to do that.
I assume if you were collecting the car in person they'd have the paperwork all transferred in your name and ready to take away, but I've been told today on the phone that the V5 would still most likely be in the previous owner's name when it arrives on our road and that I'd have to transfer it over online myself. What are your thoughts on this? I guess it may have some benefit to see the previous owner's details, but like you would think that everything should be all ready to go and not have to then be waiting for a new V5 to come in the post, which can take up to 2 weeks if you do it online from doing some reading, before I can even tax and drive the car... Should I assert to the dealer that they must transfer the V5 into my name first before I take delivery? I assume that will then be that the V5 appears in my name in the post before the actual physical vehicle turns up, but then that means I can get on with taxing and driving and taking it for servicing or tyre changes / dashcam installation without having to wait several weeks, all the meanwhile I'm paying for insurance.
Speaking of insurance, I don't know if this is the case with every insurer but the insurer I had last time, I filled in a quote online, and then did another on the phone and it ended up being £500 more expensive, plus I had a £150 voluntary excess where I had £0 voluntary on the other! I'll maybe go into more details about all that saga another time, I actually typed out more but just deleted a load as I tend to ramble, but that was 2 hours spent on the phone where actually everything was already better online, and this was communicated later into the call that online through their website and comparison websites will be cheaper than over the phone, which is interesting because I thought you usually negotiate a better premium over the phone with some providers
Anyway the subject title is about the V5 part. I may go elsewhere for insurance. The main value of my last car written off in 2020 just before lockdown was paid in three weeks though and we got a good value against retail values, not the trade which apparently is what happens according to the dealer trying to sell us their GAP RTI policy. I'll most likely go to ALA for GAP based on the recommendations here, only because the car's value could drop by £2-3k in the next few years I guess. My last car got written off within 6 months of its 3-year GAP insurance ending and probably lost around £4-5k as a result.
TLDR: Would you take delivery of a vehicle from a dealer where the V5 is still in the previous owner's name or would you expect them to change it to your details before, as it means I can't tax the vehicle until weeks later even though it's sat on the driveway, and I can't drive it either... May be some advantage to having the previous owner's details but it seems a bit lazy from the dealer. Communication throughout the process hasn't been great either and I've had to chase people up. I'd probably have gone elsewhere a while ago if the car wasn't this one, but the service has improved a bit once I was familiar with how they operate and I can use that knowledge to skip a lot of previous confusion.
Just wanted to run this by you all here as I am progressing through the process of buying a car which has been quite a long search and buying process, started early December and probably took me until middle of January to finally come round to what I am going for.
This is the first time I'm buying a car myself, so it has definitely been quite the learning process and also figuring out the ins and outs of the dealers I have been browsing at. Anyway, I am maybe nearly at the last stage but the dealer usually has people collect their cars from their location but do offer a delivery service, and I'd prefer that option as I don't want to have any issues getting it back from the dealer in terms of that I haven't driven in a while and also not having dashcams installed until after it's reached back home etc and I either sort it out myself or get a professional to do that.
I assume if you were collecting the car in person they'd have the paperwork all transferred in your name and ready to take away, but I've been told today on the phone that the V5 would still most likely be in the previous owner's name when it arrives on our road and that I'd have to transfer it over online myself. What are your thoughts on this? I guess it may have some benefit to see the previous owner's details, but like you would think that everything should be all ready to go and not have to then be waiting for a new V5 to come in the post, which can take up to 2 weeks if you do it online from doing some reading, before I can even tax and drive the car... Should I assert to the dealer that they must transfer the V5 into my name first before I take delivery? I assume that will then be that the V5 appears in my name in the post before the actual physical vehicle turns up, but then that means I can get on with taxing and driving and taking it for servicing or tyre changes / dashcam installation without having to wait several weeks, all the meanwhile I'm paying for insurance.
Speaking of insurance, I don't know if this is the case with every insurer but the insurer I had last time, I filled in a quote online, and then did another on the phone and it ended up being £500 more expensive, plus I had a £150 voluntary excess where I had £0 voluntary on the other! I'll maybe go into more details about all that saga another time, I actually typed out more but just deleted a load as I tend to ramble, but that was 2 hours spent on the phone where actually everything was already better online, and this was communicated later into the call that online through their website and comparison websites will be cheaper than over the phone, which is interesting because I thought you usually negotiate a better premium over the phone with some providers
Anyway the subject title is about the V5 part. I may go elsewhere for insurance. The main value of my last car written off in 2020 just before lockdown was paid in three weeks though and we got a good value against retail values, not the trade which apparently is what happens according to the dealer trying to sell us their GAP RTI policy. I'll most likely go to ALA for GAP based on the recommendations here, only because the car's value could drop by £2-3k in the next few years I guess. My last car got written off within 6 months of its 3-year GAP insurance ending and probably lost around £4-5k as a result.
TLDR: Would you take delivery of a vehicle from a dealer where the V5 is still in the previous owner's name or would you expect them to change it to your details before, as it means I can't tax the vehicle until weeks later even though it's sat on the driveway, and I can't drive it either... May be some advantage to having the previous owner's details but it seems a bit lazy from the dealer. Communication throughout the process hasn't been great either and I've had to chase people up. I'd probably have gone elsewhere a while ago if the car wasn't this one, but the service has improved a bit once I was familiar with how they operate and I can use that knowledge to skip a lot of previous confusion.
Edited by Stallzy on Wednesday 8th February 20:03
There's a lot of over thinking going on here .
Every car bought from a dealer has a V5 in the previous owner's name ,the dealer won't do the transfer until collection / delivery time encase buyer backs out at 11th hour .
You use the code on the new keeper's tear off piece to tax the car ,you don't wait for the new V5 while not using the car .
Every car bought from a dealer has a V5 in the previous owner's name ,the dealer won't do the transfer until collection / delivery time encase buyer backs out at 11th hour .
You use the code on the new keeper's tear off piece to tax the car ,you don't wait for the new V5 while not using the car .
BananaFama said:
There's a lot of over thinking going on here .
Every car bought from a dealer has a V5 in the previous owner's name ,the dealer won't do the transfer until collection / delivery time encase buyer backs out at 11th hour .
You use the code on the new keeper's tear off piece to tax the car ,you don't wait for the new V5 while not using the car .
Ah, alright well I'm not pulling out at 11th hour as I have already transferred across a significant deposit and should be on a finance agreement which I am then going to pay off in full early within the first 12-18 months, but offers a bit more protection than them only offering a 30 day warranty / 14 day no question return & refund or their own third party warranty that they try to sell (warranty company has 1.2 stars on TrustPilot). There's a manufacturer extended warranty I can take out but it's like £500 a year, and so I may look into that later but it may just be worth keeping a pot aside and topping that up instead as the car should be fairly reliable.Every car bought from a dealer has a V5 in the previous owner's name ,the dealer won't do the transfer until collection / delivery time encase buyer backs out at 11th hour .
You use the code on the new keeper's tear off piece to tax the car ,you don't wait for the new V5 while not using the car .
I guess over thinking is exactly what myself and my generation tend to do, plus I think a fair few on this forum know what I'm like lol. Thanks for your reply though and I guess that makes sense that I can do that. Do I actually need to tear off the new keeper part or even send the V5 off nowadays though if I do the transfer / new V5 order online? Apparently it's quicker and can arrive in 4 days to two weeks as opposed to four weeks the traditional way.
BananaFama said:
Keep the tear off piece but do the online change of keeper ,the V5 will be with you in no time at all .
I bought a dealer car in November ,bloke did the online transfer in about 1 minute .
Alright, I seem to follow what you're getting at but I think they're just planning on leaving me with the entire document and then do the transfer myself online. The time to do the online part isn't the problem lol as I'm fairly alright with technology but I mean the time waiting around for the new V5 to come over on my end as opposed to them just not delivering the car until the V5 has arrived with me and my details on it or whatever. I guess I'll never know who the previous owner is though that way, but it may not be the most important information to know to be honest as what am I going to do with it anyway? They did own it apparently for 3 years but not too sure how much was done in terms of servicing in that period as not covered many miles. Somehow they managed to keep the car immaculate inside and paintwork but the front alloys were both pretty heavily kerbed, which the dealer actually had sorted as part of their pre-sale checks. They also cover other issues such as bodywork dents etc on other stock without adding anything to the price, so that makes up for the prices being a bit high and no negotiation.I bought a dealer car in November ,bloke did the online transfer in about 1 minute .
Probably rambling now but yeah just my main question was whether I should be letting them drop the car off on my road / driveway with the V5 in someone else's name and then leaving me to do that side of things. The process has been pretty long winded as is and then that's going to extend things further, unless as you say I can prove ownership by other means if there is any question. Finance company won't apparently let me make an online account until five days into my ownership, now I don't know if that is five days after delivery or five days after I get the V5 sorted...
Forgot to include this in the original post so I'll just place it here, https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Someone else had a similar experience but it's more common for this to happen when buying a car directly from auction, but in this case I'm buying from a fairly big dealer / car supermarket and I get the impression that they'd usually sort this out for people who collect the car in person or maybe they have you walk away with the new keeper slip and wait for the new copy to arrive in the post. This way I guess I have both old and new copies but not sure if it's more messy or they're skipping steps. Again this is my first time buying myself, and the previous few cars the family bought were brand new over 5 years ago so I don't really know the ins and outs of this
Someone else had a similar experience but it's more common for this to happen when buying a car directly from auction, but in this case I'm buying from a fairly big dealer / car supermarket and I get the impression that they'd usually sort this out for people who collect the car in person or maybe they have you walk away with the new keeper slip and wait for the new copy to arrive in the post. This way I guess I have both old and new copies but not sure if it's more messy or they're skipping steps. Again this is my first time buying myself, and the previous few cars the family bought were brand new over 5 years ago so I don't really know the ins and outs of this
Not sure if I have understood correctly but the dealer is going to give you the entire V5 document and just let you do the transfer to your name yourself?
If so, doesn’t that leave the previous owner potentially open to all sorts of speeding/parking fines if you decide to delay registering the car in your name?
If so, doesn’t that leave the previous owner potentially open to all sorts of speeding/parking fines if you decide to delay registering the car in your name?
pincher said:
Not sure if I have understood correctly but the dealer is going to give you the entire V5 document and just let you do the transfer to your name yourself?
If so, doesn’t that leave the previous owner potentially open to all sorts of speeding/parking fines if you decide to delay registering the car in your name?
I mean I've not had it confirmed yet by the salesman but one of the call staff said this to me. I am not sure if this is a standard thing with this dealer but I imagine it not to be the case to be honest or someone would've mentioned it, as it doesn't seem like a standard industry practice to me, but then as I said before, I don't really have experience with used cars where you aren't the first / original owner.If so, doesn’t that leave the previous owner potentially open to all sorts of speeding/parking fines if you decide to delay registering the car in your name?
Also in terms of leaving the previous owner potentially open to all sorts of speeding/parking fines, not sure as I'm sure the car is considered "in trade" in DVLA's system since the point that it was sold to the dealer. The same would be true by anything that occurred on a test drive or with the smaller independents, they take the car to a different location sometimes to take photos / film walkaround videos etc.
I'm not that kind of person though who is nefariously going to do that. I have had my license for 6 years and never had anything like that because I don't go over the speed limits and never had any kind of parking ticket, besides something that came through once from hospital parking when a family member was there but it was an error, as my reg was in the system. I didn't get to drive much when I had my last car and it spent a lot of time stagnant for sometimes weeks or months at a time while I was busy with uni, commuting by train. Hopefully this time I can get some more driving time. Besides, even if I did try to do that, there's a paper trail leading back to me ultimately? The previous owners also appear to be over 250 miles away based on the original registration / dealer which sold the vehicle and also a service carried out in 2021 which would have been under the previous owner. It would be very obvious it wasn't them that was using the vehicle at the time.
We're going off on a tangent here and I feel like I constrantly give out too much information or could ramble for eons about everything but I'm just asking about the V5 and whether having it in the other person's name is that standard and also if there's any other issues that may arise I should know of?
Normally the dealer would or should do it.
Also normally, when a dealer/trader buys a car from a private person they can go online and notify DVLA that they own the car - it won't show up on the V5. That will get the previous owner off the hook for any possible fines for no tax, speeding, etc. it should also get the previous owner any refund on car tax.
Hope that makes sense. Now off to get a coffee.
Also normally, when a dealer/trader buys a car from a private person they can go online and notify DVLA that they own the car - it won't show up on the V5. That will get the previous owner off the hook for any possible fines for no tax, speeding, etc. it should also get the previous owner any refund on car tax.
Hope that makes sense. Now off to get a coffee.
Dealer should have put the car 'into the trade' by using the yellow part of the V5C Online.
You can tax the car using the new keeper supplement (Lower right I think) straight away and use the car as long as it's insured.
Dealer should be transferring the V5C really as they are technically responsible for the car being in the trade, but if you do it online you'll have notification straight away with a reference number and the V5C will be with you in a few days.
You can tax the car using the new keeper supplement (Lower right I think) straight away and use the car as long as it's insured.
Dealer should be transferring the V5C really as they are technically responsible for the car being in the trade, but if you do it online you'll have notification straight away with a reference number and the V5C will be with you in a few days.
Thank you for the extra replies guys. It does sound like really they should sort it out but maybe it's a bit more messy to them if the V5 is already transferred and presumably posted out to my address as opposed to no longer being with them or I'm giving them too much leeway. I'm going to phone up shortly and ask as I still haven't heard back about other status updates.
I'm not even fully sure how insurance works if the car ownership / V5 isn't fully in my name when it is on the driveway and surely it should all be transferred prior to that. I feel like I'm constantly being a nuisance but things just aren't being done how I would usually expect and this is quite a large business too doing this! I still don't know where the finance situation is at, what day the delivery is likely to happen and whether I need to push that back and be very strict to them that the V5 needs to be in my name first or whether I have no right to do this.
Also a little aside but was doing some insurance quotes through insurance websites directly and then comparison sites, and randomly one of the main comparison sites was showing me figures over £400 higher than they should be. Thought the system must have glitched and realised I had middle names still on myself and additional driver so took those out (even though I had much lower quotes before with them there) and then the premiums came right down. Also had it screen recorded throughout lol so very confusing... I was like I'm not going to pay £1300 when I have had quotes of under 800 the other day and then they were 900 or something after the fix
I'm not even fully sure how insurance works if the car ownership / V5 isn't fully in my name when it is on the driveway and surely it should all be transferred prior to that. I feel like I'm constantly being a nuisance but things just aren't being done how I would usually expect and this is quite a large business too doing this! I still don't know where the finance situation is at, what day the delivery is likely to happen and whether I need to push that back and be very strict to them that the V5 needs to be in my name first or whether I have no right to do this.
Also a little aside but was doing some insurance quotes through insurance websites directly and then comparison sites, and randomly one of the main comparison sites was showing me figures over £400 higher than they should be. Thought the system must have glitched and realised I had middle names still on myself and additional driver so took those out (even though I had much lower quotes before with them there) and then the premiums came right down. Also had it screen recorded throughout lol so very confusing... I was like I'm not going to pay £1300 when I have had quotes of under 800 the other day and then they were 900 or something after the fix
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