# Cant retain plate online with DVLA



## stevie5tapes (Aug 13, 2012)

Has anyone had any issues retaining privates online with the new DVLA system? Wife has just bought a new car and the garage couldn't retain the plate from her old car on the online system. The garage has sent off the paper work instead. I'm going to enquire at the DVLA after the plate has been transferred, just wondered if anyone else has had issues with the online system. My wife's had the plate for 15 years and has never had issues in the past transferring the plate, I guess there are still some bugs on the online system.


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## Tricky Red (Mar 3, 2007)

Dealers don't want to do this anymore. It is crazy really. I had to put it on retention and then send them the form to assign to the car.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

This will have me nervous, I will be doing the same with my plates soon, hope I won't get any problems with the DVLA.


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## adlem (Jul 6, 2008)

The dealers hate dealing with it for some reason. When my Mum changed her car last year she had to put her private plate on retention before she traded in and they then put her plate on the new car as they registered it


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Yeah that's the way it works. The plate goes on retention first then onto the new vehicle. The only issue I have had is when the current cars road tax has expired, then it cannot be taken off and put on retention. The car must then be taxed and will need a couple of days before the online systems pulls the details in.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

Soul boy 68 said:


> This will have me nervous, I will be doing the same with my plates soon, hope I won't get any problems with the DVLA.
> 
> View attachment 45212


Start the ball rolling earlier on, save hassle come swapping time.


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## Tricky Red (Mar 3, 2007)

Issue is that you're supposed to then get plates made up for the new reg. 

I told VW that they could do it as mine was only a week beforehand.


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## samm (May 19, 2006)

I did mine 2 weeks ago, it took about 2 minutes online, and I had the retention certificate 3 days later. When you do it you get the certificate number instantly.

Very easy.


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

Whats this rubbish then? My dealer sorted out the plate in a week. They already had the plate on the car before I collected and the same plate was on the car I tradedin which they removed

Basically, the dealers you're using are just bone idle or have no clue about what they're doing.


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## Sparkycasual (Feb 4, 2006)

I had it happen to me when I changed my car last year. I was sat with the dealer as they tried to do it online, and despite owning the plate for many years and with nothing unusual about its history, the on-line system rejected it. It was certainly nothing to do with the dealer, they are a main BMW dealership and have considerable experience with private registration transfers. I don't know if it is true but I was told that a random number of applications are rejected on line.
Mine was subsequently sent to the DVLA the usual way and the transfer went through with no problem within about a week, so I would not be unduly worried.
I think in future, I will put it on retention myself a short while before I intend to swap the car.


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

The dvla are having major issues with the on line systems lately, could be we why some dealers are staying away from doing this work


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## packard (Jun 8, 2009)

I've just done mine, putting the old plate back on the vehicle, the new v5 has turned up 3 days later . but should I get a new retention cert or not?

I dread calling dvla as normally you are in a queue for an age..


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## stevie5tapes (Aug 13, 2012)

I was sat with the fella at the garage who tried the online retention system, computer just said no! I was thinking of retaining the wife's plate before we started looking at new cars but didn't want to pay the admin fees from the insurance company. Anyway shouldn't be too long before the documents arrive through the post, they were sent off on Monday. 

When the transfer is completed I will email the DVLA to find out why the online system would not work.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

justina3 said:


> The dvla are having major issues with the on line systems lately, could be we why some dealers are staying away from doing this work


It's been pretty good recently, I had 2 new keepers that I couldn't do on Monday but they went through fine today.

Plate retention is easy, you have to do it between 8 and 6 and have the current v5 to hand. The car must have tax and mot in place otherwise you cannot transfer it online.

We have no issues in doing it, however in order for the plate to transfer onto the new car it must be taxed and be in the new keepers name - I'm not sure if it's the same for new cars though. From our perspective you have to register a car in a new name without being paid for the car, there is then a 5 day delay while the v5 comes through then allow another week for collection and payout. For a small dealer that means you have cash tied up in a car for 2 weeks, it's sold and you cannot buy new stock until the money has cleared. You also have the issue of another owner and plate on a car that might fall through.

Just out of interest if you wanted a plate transferring and were asked for full payment before collecting the car would you agree to it ?


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## Andy from Sandy (May 6, 2011)

> ...but didn't want to pay the admin fees from the insurance company.


When I was changing my car and had to call the insurance company to inform them the registration number was changed but nothing else they didn't charge me.

EDIT: @Steve - Typically these days brand new cars are zero tax for first year so that shouldn't be an issue.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

You still have to tax them, it's the fact the v5 must be in the new owners name


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

SteveTDCi said:


> It's been pretty good recently, I had 2 new keepers that I couldn't do on Monday but they went through fine today.
> 
> Plate retention is easy, you have to do it between 8 and 6 and have the current v5 to hand. The car must have tax and mot in place otherwise you cannot transfer it online.
> 
> ...


Nope but that's why dealers take a non refundable deposit after the deal is agreed isn't it?


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

For us it's more of the delay in being paid out, but yes you can take a non refundable deposit.


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## David_W (Jan 13, 2016)

SteveTDCi said:


> We have no issues in doing it, however in order for the plate to transfer onto the new car it must be taxed and be in the new keepers name - I'm not sure if it's the same for new cars though.


My understanding is that a dealer registering a new vehicle via AFRL can register the vehicle using a registration on a V778 retention certificate or a V750 certificate of entitlement so long as the certificate shows the first registered keeper of the vehicle as grantee (V778)/purchaser (V750) or nominee.

I don't believe it is possible to register a new vehicle and transfer a registration directly from another vehicle as part of the first registration process, though I might be mistaken over that. If there is no way to transfer a registration from an existing vehicle directly to an unregistered vehicle during first registration, you either have to put the plate on retention in advance of registering the new vehicle or you have to register the vehicle with a dated registration from the current series and wait for the V5C to arrive before transferring the cherished registration.

The retention route is cleaner, as it separates the registration from the old vehicle before title to that old vehicle passes to its new owner, meaning there is no ambiguity over who retains the rights to the registration. It does, however, mean that you need to put the plate on retention in enough time to allow the new V5C to arrive before you can transfer registration of the old vehicle. Under the current rules, needing to wait for the V5C could prove costly, as a vehicle must either be taxed and insured at all times, or a SORN declaration be in place. A vehicle that is SORN cannot normally participate in a registration transfer or retention application.

I think there is considerable scope to improve the current cherished registration processes. In particular, the refusal of DVLA to change the grantee/purchaser on a certificate makes the process of buying a 'second hand' registration more awkward than it needs to be.

I'm in the process of buying a 3x3 dateless registration through a registration dealer that I want to apply to a brand new vehicle. As it happens, I am far from happy with the dealer at present, as they won't even give me a progress update after nearly a month and I will probably need to register the new vehicle in the next 7-10 days. I also see no reason why they took full payment from my card immediately; it would seem more equitable for them to have taken a small deposit and requested an authorisation for the remaining sum. (Before anyone asks, I'm not going to name the dealer, as that would not be in anyone's interests whilst I continue to try to reach out to them).

Because I am buying the registration with the intention of using it to register a new vehicle, I requested the registration is supplied on a retention certificate showing me as nominee, rather than the registration dealer's usual practice of having the V5C sent to them so that they can arrange the transfer. If the certificate turns up in time, all I have to do is hand the retention certificate to the dealer who should be able to register the vehicle on AFRL using the cherished registration. If the certificate turns up after first registration, I can get plates for the cherished registration made up using the retention certificate, transfer the registration to my vehicle online as soon as I have the V5C, then notify my insurer of the change of registration. Even if I was not wanting to use the registration on a brand new vehicle, I am uncomfortable sending the original V5C for my vehicle to a third party so would have still requested the registration on certificate.

There is, however, a risk in only being nominee on a certificate. The seller remains the grantee/purchaser, so is the only person DVLA recognises as entitled to that registration up to the point DVLA accepts a request to apply it to a vehicle for which I, the nominee, am registered keeper. The seller could attempt to snatch back the registration by reporting the certificate lost and requesting a replacement or, if they have retained a copy of the certificate before passing it over to the dealer, could use the details from the copy to apply the registration online to a vehicle they are registered keeper of.

Anyone purchasing a registration on retention is advised to apply that registration to a vehicle as soon as possible, thereby extinguishing all rights the former owner has to the registration in the eyes of DVLA. Whilst you are nominee, you have the right to take full control of the registration by applying it to a vehicle you are registered keeper of. There seems no reason for DVLA to refuse to allow the nominee to take full control of the registration and keep it on certificate by issuing a new V778 with the nominee as grantee. At the moment, the only way for a nominee to become grantee is to apply the registration to a vehicle they are registered keeper of, then make a new request for retention.

To protect my rights, I paid the registration dealer using a credit card so, if it all goes wrong, I can make a section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1974 claim against the card issuer.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

For used the v5 goes to the new owner we just ask them to give us the document reference number when it arrives, we can then add the plate to the car online but by ticking the dealer box it allows us to do it as a third party.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

Older plates can't be done online. I had a retention renewal certificate late last year for a plate I'd put on retention the year before and had to do it by post.

Typical that the dvla have managed to mess it up and not be able to do everything online at once...


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

Done another today, it wouldn't go through but it gave a direct number and a shortcut code. Straight through, spoke to a human, they did something behind the scenes and I tried again while they waited and it went straight through


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