Getting Historic tax status on your Dolomite. My experiences

[MIG Wielder]

Well; this process should be dead easy.
But no.
Here is my experience from today.
First download and read the DVLA document INF34 " Taxing Historic Vehicles".
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 080316.pdf

This indicates that you can do all this at a Post Office that does tax discs. Great !
Follow the paragraphs down the list.
How to Identify a Historic Vehicle.
At the time of writing your car needs to be built before 1st Jan 1976. YES !
They even mention the concession for the first week of Jan 1976, but further down.

Qualifying Vehicles.
PLG YES !

How to tax your vehicle.
At a Post Office YES !

You will need.....
V5C plus " Extract from manufacturer/ factory record " = BMIH Heritage cert; YES !
MOT cert; YES !
Insurance cert; YES!
V10 YES !
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... le-tax-v10

So there I was in the local Post Office with all the docs; and the DVLA explanatory notes for them.
And it all starts to unravel.
For a start they had never heard of Historic tax status. They had to seek advice. But we got there and they learned something.
So then, the concept of a Heritage certificate was beyond their ken.
Initially I could not get it past them that there was difference between Build date and Date of first registration.
But I got them to read the notes and light dawned.
A slight difference here is that SWK was actually built in 1975, 2 years before first registration as it was running around the test-track.
" So that will be £230 please. We can't change the taxation class here. You have to send it to Swansea."

To be fair they did give me the company phone to call the DVLA at their expense. Something to do with the queue of punters building up by now, I reckon.
Having gone through the DVLA menus I got to speak to a person who at least was aware of Historic Tax status.
Great !
Then the 2nd problem.
SWK is shown as first registered on 1/4/77, Heritage cert; showed it first built 6.5.75 but the DVLA have an additional set of data not on the log-book. This shows a build date as 31.12.77 ! 8 months after it was first registered.
So I now have to send in all the docs to Swansea to get them to investigate this. Whoever entered this build date wants sacking.

One thing I did get from the Post Office is the need to fill in Section 7 on the Log-book and sign and date it which is not mentioned.
And they said 4 -6 weeks to do all this.
Watch this space

[Caszhman]

Very interesting. And timely as I'm about to do mine.

Mine was first registered on 1st July 1975, with a build date I've guestimated to be some time in May '75.

And I don't have a heritage certificate, so if it's this difficult with one...

Though the rogue build date for SWK would seem to be at play. 4 -6 weeks!?

[GTS290N]

Really easy if your car doesn't have a complicated history!
My wife works for the Post Office and wasn't sure how to to do this. After I explained the DVLA is CERTAIN the PO can do this, she tried, and it worked.
To be fair to PO counter staff, it's not every day they get asked for this, and it's hidden on their computer system.
I'll ask later if she can remember the buttons she pressed on their current version of software and report back.

Section 7 IS mentioned on the DVLA website, but it doesn't exactly leap out of the screen at you.

I cancelled my DD the day before going to the post office, got an email from DVLA warning me about this and ignored it. Three weeks later my new Historic Vehicle V5C popped through the post.

[GTS290N]

Please NOTE this is not definitive, it's from memory, but should be enough of a clue so the the counter staff at a post office can find out

Must be done manually without scanning!
Using the Post Office screen ask the counter staff to select compliances, then vrm plus, then select vehicle with changes, (keeper, 6mths, 12 mths, disabled) at the very end when it's time to pay, select zero-rated, then there is the choice for cash, cheque, direct debit, zero rated, if you select zero rated then there is the choice for PLG, historic VRM etc.

The missus is working later today, she'll get a more definitive answer, but obviously without a V5C to process it won't be the full thing. It should be good enough for any PO staff though.

[MIG Wielder]

That's great . Thank you very much for that. I can use that when I come to do the MGB later on in the year.
Cheers,
Tony.

[Tamworthbay]

The DVLA are useless, I have a motorbike that was built in 1953, I have the buff log book but the v5 states it was built in 1943 so must be a result of hitting a 4 instead of a 5. Easy to sort? Is it hell as like, even though the company did not even exist in 43, and I have the original log book they flatly refuse to accept they could have made a mistake.

[James467]

I wrote to the DVLA regarding the engine number and capacity change for the MG back on the 11th April.

Checked the online vehicle check, no change and I haven't heard a thing, that was nearly 7 weeks ago.

[MIG Wielder]

Well; We got there !
I sent every thing off to the DVLA on 9th May and on the 19th May I actually got a nice phone call from them explaining why I couldn't claim historic status for 2015 but they could back date it from May 2016. They were happy to accept the BMIH build record from 2005 which came with the car. ( Thanks Adrian ). They also explained the build date record as being the end of December 1977 ( car was registered in April 1977) as that the computer system assumes a build date as the end of the year in which it was first registered unless there is evidence to the contrary. Apparantly this is to do with modern builds and import of cars from abroad and is used for type approval / taxation class for emission data.
I had asked in a covering letter for the documents to be returned by recorded delivery in case they went missing ( A Heritage cert; is now £45 ) but the DVLA has no mechanism for doing this. So I settled for a stiff cardboard envelope.
So I now have a new log-book with historic status and a free-bee tax disc until 2017.
Result !
Thank you nice people at DVLA.
Incidentally the DVLA division you need is " Central Capture Unit " at SA6 7JL.

[soe8m]

In Holland every car owner does receive a letter when it's the time from the RDW (DVLA). Your vehicle is now tax free and you don't have to pay tax from date XXXX. If you have any objection to this decission you can write a letter to XXXXXXX.

Jeroen

[Carledo]

In Holland every car owner does receive a letter when it's the time from the RDW (DVLA). Your vehicle is now tax free and you don't have to pay tax from date XXXX. If you have any objection to this decission you can write a letter to XXXXXXX.

Jeroen

That is BRILLIANT, but British government departments don't work that way! Here they believe in "don't ask - don't get!" To get any kind of benefit from the government in the UK, even if you are indisputably entitled to it, YOU have to apply, probably in triplicate, on a form that even a PHD in English will not help you with. Then you will be turned down twice and have to appeal it to get anywhere. NB this only applies to UK born citizens, if you don't speak English and just arrived in the back of a lorry, you can have as much government money as you want!
(SORRY, i'll climb down off my hobby horse now!)

Steve

[bazyerma]

Hi,

I went to the post office with my V5 and the V10 form downloaded from the Gov website, I handed it over with my MOT.
Staff scanned my V5, handed me back my MOT and gave me a receipt for my years tax at 0.00p! They kept my V5 and the filled in V10 form to send to the DVLA.
If it says the car was first registered before January 1976 you don't need a heritage certificate. (expect for tax, what are these for?)

Regards

Barry

[MIG Wielder]

Hi Barry, In my case the Heritage document was needed because the build date is different ( earlier ) than the date of first registration. Build date is what the DVLA historic tax status works on. The Heritage doc; records this officially.
Tony.

[Carledo]

This worked for me too, My Toledo was registered on 11th January 74 a paltry 4 days too late to qualify for the one week new years grace on free VED . A Heritage cert confirmed the car was actually built on Dec 3rd 73 and I got the free VED a year earlier than I would have done without it, representing a nett saving of just over £200.

What use is it otherwise? It gives you information on your car that can't be got any other way - and it's a nice thing to have, whether you have NO other history on the car - or like me have all the original order forms, bill of sale and complete service history all stamped up.

Steve

[NickMorgan]

Just been to the Post Office to change my Toledo to Historic Vehicle status and get my free tax. It couldn't have been easier, just filled in a V10 and section 7 of the V5 and the girl handed over a receipt and told me that was it done! She didn't want my insurance certificate or MOT as she says that is all checked on-line. I had gone in there with a big folder of stuff for the car and a print out of this thread in case there were any problems.
Well done Haddington Post Office.