DVLA... grrr

[Quinten]

Send of my V5 a couple of weeks ago to notify them of my engine swap from 1.6L crossflow to 1.8L zetec.  Included a receipt for the engine which details engine number, capacity and fuel type, but because it is from a private seller, not on headed paper.  Sure enough, got my V5 back, unmodified, to tell me to provide the info on headed paper!  what the devil does it matter where I have bought the engine...  can a man in a shed no longer upgrade his engine without having a garage involved?!?

Guess I'll now wait until my swap is all completed and drive around without a V5 whilst they take another 3 weeks to process the follow up documents...

[corsechris]

In short, no, we can't. We need to provide 'evidence' which basically means finding a friendly garage willing to produce a letter saying that the engine in your car is in your car.....

carp, innit....

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

No we can't, several reasons, but one of them is because when given the benefit of the doubt, we proved we couldn't be trusted and all updated our eighties donor Sierras to modern Zetec and Duratecs, just before completely stripping said Sierras for parts and scraping them so that we could take the registration number etc.

Sorry, but in this particular instance your left, sadly reaping the results what our fellow builders thought would be a clever way  to get what they wanted.

[Thrustyjust]

I had my first Westie inspected by the DVLA at their local office. I guess now they have closed these places for cost reasons  and they dont have any way of doing inspections. Shame you cant just go to a local inspection centre and get them to confirm the change for the DVLA. Lots of amateur people do engine changes , whether bikes or cars etc. My neighbour has a Viper V10 in a motor bike. The way you are potentially going to get it confirmed isnt truthful, so the DVLA want you to do something that you havent done. Its another system which seems to be on the point of ridiculous. Like us home builders sending them photos of the car build to show amateur, show them pictures of the engine swop ' amateur'. 

[tisme]

From government website

https://www.gov.uk/change-vehicle-details-registration-certificate/what-evidence-to-give

Change of engine number or cylinder capacity (cc)

You need to provide either:

• a receipt for the replacement engine
• written evidence from the manufacturer
• an inspection report provided for insurance purposes
• written confirmation on headed paper from a garage (if the change took place before you bought the vehicle)

 

So surely you would fall under the "a receipt for the replacement engine" which could be any scrap of paper from the previous owner ?

The headed paper garage bit clearly says "(if the change took place before you bought the vehicle)" so in the case of an engine swap you've just done then this is not applicable

As usual with the DVLA it's as clear as mud and they interpret their own "rules" to make life as difficult as they can. I would have thought all they're interested in is the CC for any change of taxation category 

[Quinten]

Yes Colin, that's what my interpretation was too, but it still wasn't accepted.

[tisme]

10 minutes ago, Quinten Uijldert - Northants AO said:

Yes Colin, that's what my interpretation was too, but it still wasn't accepted.

I know it's easier said than done but I'd challenge them to explain why they are not applying their own rules and accepting a receipt from previous engine owner.

I've had problems with the DVLA before and escalated the problem - you can do it here and even via email  It's worth a go as you'll get an explanation either way - and if they need something on "headed paper" you can ask them how you achieve that as you've carried out the work yourself !

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency/about/complaints-procedure

[SootySport]

Headed Notepaper?      Make up your own, easily done on your PC and a printer.

[stephenh]

The problem would appear to be that your receipt only confirm's that you purchased that engine, not that you installed it in your car.

Can you take a photo of the car with bonnet open so that the engine can be seen, and a closeup of the engine sufficiently clear that you can see the engine number?

Otherwise, do you have a friendly local independent garage who will inspect the car and confirm what engine, and engine number, is now in the car, and put that in writing for you to send to DVLA?

I was clearly lucky last year, when I simply wrote to DVLA to give change of ownership of an MG Midget, and at the same time told them that the engine had been replaced by a similar one, and told them what the engine number should be on the V5. It was accepted without further enquiry, fortunately!

[Kingster]

I swapped engines last year and sent in a copy of the receipt from Raceline for the engine. 

Didn't have to "prove" installation though?

[chriss1455]

I sent my v5 in 2 weeks ago to notify them of both a colour change and an engine change. 

The only paper work i sent them in was a copy of the reciept i had of the engine and i had written the engine number on the top. 

As i got the engine from. Bloggy off of here tge reciept wasnt on and header paper.

I then recieved my v5 back yesterday with every change updated. 

Do the just pick and choose some to be awkward with maybe?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I suspect they suffer from that big government department issue of just very inconsistently interpreted and hence applied rules.

In the past, just getting your friendly local garage to look under the bonnet and say yes, car registration number xxxxxx has engine type xxxxx, number xxxxxxxx fitted, on their own headed paper has been enough. And is sometimes easier and quicker than trying to do it the (possibly correct) way.

As ever, it probably stems from badly thought through rules/regulation, hurriedly applied by those without enough technical knowledge of the department they're in control of. It probably barely occurred to themselves responsible that people actually bought and sold engines legally and legitimately, privately, and then installed them themselves. And even then the thought did occur, they just gave a shudder and added it to the "to do list" under items to be provented for "public safety/greater good/crime prevention et al". 

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

3 hours ago, SootySport said:

Headed Notepaper?      Make up your own, easily done on your PC and a printer.

Quinten Garage Services.com

All kinds of mechanical work undertaken.

Good service at a good price.

 

There will that do?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

On a completely unrelated topic, it's amazing when driving around, how many recently closed garages and workshops you see; their signs, with all the names and contact details still up, over their now closed doors.

[SootySport]

I'm  'Manor Auto Services'   may upgrade to 'Manor Autosport' soon .    My non existent company gave me a Costco card, tickets to the  Autosport Show trade day and all manner of trade only services.   DVLA never asked me for proof of engine number change.