Transfer of Ownership of Car Online

(Pedantic) DVLA don't care record the ownership, and say you can't transfer the vehicle licence.

Telling them in advance about a change of keeper will mean paying twice for VED in January. Better to wait 2 weeks, unless you need to avoid receiving a NIP and naming your daughter.

I believe the new keeper has to apply to DVLA, and you aren't the new keeper until it's actually happened.

The registered keeper isn't the same as ownership - you can transfer ownership via the same legal means as for any physical item (gift, sale, etc) any time you like, and there is no register of ownership. But the keeper only transfers when you physically take responsibility for the car.

Theo

There's a section of the registration document (V-something) which has to be completed and posted to DVLA, and in due course a new document will be issued. In general, that would happen on the day you sell/part exchange the vehicle, and you wouldn't have the new keeper's details until that day, so there's no need to do it in advance.

Note that any unexpired tax disappears, so it will need to be taxed and insured from the official date of transfer.

If it of any help my wife has always owned her car, ie we have a photo of the salesman giving her the keys to her new car but it was registered in my name (to do with car scrappage scheme). Given that this creates issues if/when I pop my clogs, and not wanting to waste a month's licence, the registration was changed at 00:01 and then finalised at 07:00 when the tax expired. I could try to dig up the exact process but it was one I found on-line anyway, and probably on USENET.

You can't do it in advance, get real, the sale might fall through, so trying to cater for reclaiming when they don't pay...

... The process is simple, you need the V5C and then start here..

Dave

The actual process I found easy, when I bought my wife's car when it was obvious she wasn't going to drive again. I was able to use the details on the V5 to go on-line as her and sell the car, then use the details on the buyer's slip part of the V5 to go back in straight away and buy it in my name. If it's all in the family the timing is not critical, except as mentioned above if you want to minimise paying for tax twice for one month. I got it wrong and paid an extra month!

nib

Many thanks for all the replies :-)

Will transfer registration on 1 Feb assuming after a week's trial my daughter decided to keep it.

You will lose a month if you do that. Needs to be last day of Jan.

Dave

Doesn't that mean my daughter would lose a month? Seems to me the process is set up to be lose/lose.

Exactly. And I assume for cars acquired on HP or leased, the owner will be the finance company (but maybe not for other types of finance agreement, such as PCP?).

The V5C is not proof of ownership.

Not sure if insurance can stay around

If suitable, yes, but this is very unlikely. Car insurance will depend on both the owner and main driver, which would both seem to change here. The policy can probably be amended, but the insurer will need to be consulted, and will probably increase the premium due to age and experience.

Yes, it is, unless your daughter takes out the new VED on the last day of the month, before 17:00.

Do the transfer late in the day?

Dave

In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, at 08:52:38 on Sat,

You need to SORN it late on the 31st, then she tax it on the 1st. Then send the paperwork to DVLA, who will take about a fortnight to issue the new V5.

Took 5 days for new V5 to arrive when I did it on line. No paperwork to send off.

nib

When I did my most recent transfer (about three months ago) the DVLA website refused to recognise the details I put in. So posted the form instead.

I don't recall needing to send paperwork when I did this, but my wife definitely received the new V5c a week or so after and I received confirmation of no longer being the Keeper.

Appropriate emails were received during the process.

I got the process from uk.legal.moderated Subject: Transfer vehicle to wife - procedure

I had written the process down but I assume on paper and now thrown away.

As the tax expired 31/08 I seem to recall doing the change of ownership at 0001 on 01/09 and then taxing in the new name at 0700

All on-line and of course I had access to both mine and my wife's emails for the process.

The only bit that temporarily caught me out is the slight difference in the V5C numbers on the front page and within the form - for what was at the time understandable reasons.