I came home last night to find a refund for car tax from the DVLA. I called the DVLA and they advised it was because my car had been scrapped on the 4th March as advised by an Authorised Treatment Facility. (ATF) My car has not been scrapped. It has MOT and insurance and while not brand new its not quite ready to be scrapped. I phoned my own insurance, and my car is on the motor insurance database and there are no problems. It seems that Insurance companies and ATF's only have to submit the vehicle registration online to inform the DVLA that a vehicle has been scrapped. They do not submit VIN or V5C documents. Somebody has made a typo and my registration has been processed. Now if you use the Gov vehicle checks online my car does not even exist! I only found out because they refunded the tax. Otherwise I would not have known. The DVLA have sent me an email to complete. I need to provide photos of the car, interior, VIN numbers and my V5C. They will then start their 6 WEEK!!! investigation. During which time the car cannot be driven or kept on the road. I have a completely worthless vehicle which now cannot be driven. Obviously I googled this issue and I am not the only person this has happened to. Luckily I have a driveway and we have a second car, I could also use my bike or the train, but for some people this could be devasting. People could lose their jobs, homes, kids can't get to school, hospital appointments missed etc. I have raised a formal complaint with the DVLA but what a massive inconvenience this is. From no fault of my own. Potentially this issue could happen to anyone at any time.
You should ask them who submitted the erroneous report, and sue them for damages. No doubt the DVLA will decline to provide the information for ‘data protection’ reasons.
I am so annoyed about it. I have spent at least 4 hours on the phone. 6 weeks is not acceptable investigation time. It should be same day turnaround.
I thought that as well, but I would have expected speeding tickets, parking fines and petrol station drive offs. Plus my car is an old Volvo estate. I can't see anyone wanting to clone it.
Seems like a lot of firms employ college grads with qualifications but no hands on experience? HMRC an example!
Is there a route to sue the DVLA directly and let them worry about who submitted the information. It does appear this country has lost the concept of serving the people.
And yet a car that I wrote off and scrapped in 1985 is still showing on the online check. Though, to be fair they've got the status of 'untaxed' correct...
Whoever notified DVLA would have needed the 11 digits from the logbook as well as the registration number? https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle/y/no/scrapped-it-or-it-s-been-written-off
My understanding is that Insurance companies and ATF's have different rules and do not have to provide the logbook details. When I mentioned it should not be possible to scrap a car without the V5 the DVLA guy said it was the government setting the rules not them....... Same thing happened to the lady in this article https://www.theguardian.com/money/2...rapped-thats-news-to-me-as-its-passed-its-mot And at least 3 people on this pistonheads thread. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1815938
Possibly been cloned at some point and the other vehicle has been scrapped? Mat Armstrong got scammed by buying what he and Copart believed to be a genuine vehicle but turns out it was using reg number and VIN from a similar car that had been taken out of the UK to Cyprus and never returned but the DVLA were not aware. The car he bought was a stolen vehicle. Laws need tightening to stop all this crap. It can’t be that difficult.
Have you tried to tax the vehicle since? if you can get a valid tax then it's up to them to prove that you have done something wrong.
From the first post "...Now if you use the Gov vehicle checks online my car does not even exist!..." so unfortunately there's no vehicle to tax!
This is so easily potentially avoidable it is ridiculous; when providing the vehicle registration number, they are also obliged to provide the make, model & colour if not the VIN or V5C. The DVLA then check their database and if the car doesn't match the registration number then they don't process the car as scrapped. Obviously not infallible, as you could get the registration number wrong and happen to hit the right make, model & colour for that incorrect registration number, but what are the chances? It would be interesting to know how it would have developed had the OP been stopped on his way home and for the officer doing the check was told that the vehicle was untaxed and scrapped...
Awful, nothing worse than someone else’s fuck up impacting your life and dare I say sleep patterns. Hope you get a speedy resolution.
WFT! Being without your car for six weeks is a disaster and DVLA could easily resolve this within a few hours if they wanted to. This farcical situation could easily be avoided by mandating any person making any changes to the status of the car includes the V5 reference number printed on the V5. Its hardly rocket science. I agree an email to your local MP plus the Minister responsible for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) within the Department for Transport is Simon Lightwood MP, who serves as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Roads and Buses). The Secretary of State for Transport is The Rt Hon Heidi .Alexander MP. This should make locating the contact details easier. https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
