Brits and the DVLA

[Bookwus]

Hiya All,

As a resident of the States and a veteran of doing business with the DMV (the Department of Motor Vehicles.......the equivalent (I think) or your DVLA) I'm intrigued by the differences in the "red tape" in registering a vehicle on your side of the pond. I just finished reading a "how to" piece by Gadget on registering an imported Bus. Very interesting (and actually not all that different than the hoops our DMV makes us jump through over here)!

But I wonder if some kind soul could explain a couple of things for me...............

"3rd ) You will need a D.O.M certificate from Volkswagen Uk . Phone customer services and they will email one to you which you print off ,fill in, and return and they charge you £35 for the privalige . This then gives you and the DVLA an idea of when the bus was manufactured and therefore what year plate to issue ."

Why is it important to know the date of manufacture? I don't understand Gadget's reference to a "year plate". What is that all about?

"You then have to get your plates made and Your done "

This would seem to imply that your DVLA does not supply your license plates as is the case over here. If that is so, how do you get your plates made? How much does that cost? And why do you have different sized/shaped plates for front and rear?

Finally, over here when we renew our vehicle registration (usually every two years) we get a sticker from the DMV to affix on our license plates to show the local law enforcement types that we are current with our registration. Do you have a similar system in GB? I never see anything on your plates when I do see pictures of them.

Thanks guys!

 

[scott wilson]

the date of manufacture is important because
1 there is no road tax to pay on a historic vehicle(pre janruary 1st 1973)
2 each year of registration 1st august t0 31st july following year is affixed with its own year letter...eg 1968 = F ,1969=G, 1970=H etc
and 3rd some vehicles arrive without a title( from africa anyway) and the age verification process is a requirement of registration( see point 1)
So it`s all about money.
The DVLA will assign a registration mark, once you have ticked all their boxes and handed over a minimum of £55, eg OCV 449F( that`ll be a 1968 then), but they will not give you a plate...you must have these made at your own cost...again it`s all about the money
As regards the two yearly inspection and a sticker we have a similar scheme called an MOT test. This stands for ministry of transport test and is a test of the vehicles roadworthiness. You need this certificate to enable you to pay your yearly road tax for which you get a sticker saying you are legal called a tax disc. If you have a pre 73 vehicle then this disc still has to be applied for but is free of charge
Hope this helps

 

[AxlFoley]

Why is it important to know the date of manufacture? I don't understand Gadget's reference to a "year plate". What is that all about?

this is impoortant for a few reasons, we pay a yearly road tax, but this becomes free if your vehicle is built before 1st Jan 1973, also we get an age related number plate so my van is a 1969 so my plate has a H registration

"You then have to get your plates made and Your done "

This would seem to imply that your DVLA does not supply your license plates as is the case over here. If that is so, how do you get your plates made? How much does that cost? And why do you have different sized/shaped plates for front and rear?

we just pop to our local motor factor to get them made up, different front and back is just down to the manufacturor, they are more often than note one line and long.

Finally, over here when we renew our vehicle registration (usually every two years) we get a sticker from the DMV to affix on our license plates to show the local law enforcement types that we are current with our registration. Do you have a similar system in GB? I never see anything on your plates when I do see pictures of them.

We have a tax disk like this, placed in the bottom left of our windscreen,. which is renewed every year