The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Dear Andy,

The story about my cars should serve as a timely reminder that purchasers should verify that the seller of any vehicle has valid title to it, as being in possession of an V5, however acquired, does not prove ownership of the vehicle at all.

My thanks to forum readers who have been able and are still helping me in resolving this unfortunate business.

Kind regards,

Tony Fox RLD 900R

Anyone can apply for a V5c registration certificate for any car. In doing so this should initiate a letter to the previously registered keeper at the address on the previous V5c stating they are no longer responsible for that vehicle; did this letter not arrive with you Tony?

The letter you receive from DVLA is actually issued along the lines that DVLA have received a request that "someone else has applied to be recorded as keeper and be issued with a registration certificate".

DVLA give you a telephone number and an address to contact "If you still have the vehicle or if the vehicle has been stolen and there is no reason why someone should be applying for a V5C".

Only if you have sold the vehicle, but not sent in the old V5, or if there is dispute over ownership do you not phone the DVLA.

Getting the letter was the trigger that advised me the cars were no longer where I believed them to be and started the ball rolling on the forum as I had been trying to contact the storage facility without success to find out was going on.

The DVLA letter also states that the Vehicle Register does not attempt to record the legal ownership of vehicles nor are DVLA concerned with issues of ownership....

You can easily check the current status of any vehicle online to see if it is taxed or SORN'd. If it is currently SORN'd, (which mine was) then someone (me) is very likely to have an active / ongoing interest in it, hence the warning to buyers to check out a vehicle they may be interested in before parting with money.

Just on the SORN comment, any vehicle I am not driving is registered SORN, so if someone is checking on one that I have for sale, they will see it is SORN, even if I am about to sell it.

Simple rule of thumb in my experience is that I want to see the registered keeper at the point of sale. I wouldn't touch one that either has the V5 and the guy states that he hasn't registered it yet. Or if that's the case, lets get the r/k shown on the V5 on the phone and verify that he has passed it on.

What happened in my case when I got nicked for Theft of a motor vehicle (oh how my colleagues laughed in the canteen the next day) was that I left a note on the windscreen for 3 months asking the owner to call me. Car was further vandalised, no call from owner. Applied for V5, received V5. It turns out that the owner spent 6-9 months abroad and so didn't answer the letter that dvla sent to him. They assumed ownership had passed on. The fact that it hadn't been taxed in 8 years (pre sorn) and left on the public highway wasn't questioned by my colleagues. They just assumed that I was up to no good! 2000 quid later, the case was dismissed by a judge at crown court and my career was completely tarnished. All for the sake of a Triumph Vitesse saloon worth £30!

Scott

Friend wanted a Triumph Herald Convertable and against my advice bid for it on Ebay before going to see it. When we got there I could see from 50 paces it was a shed, had a Vitesse Bonnet nor was it an original convertable. Eventually the bloke turned up so we could get closer to the car. As I went poking around it and found it was even worse than I had thought my friend was about to hand over £400. I asked to see the log book and he dug t out. It became obvious very quickly that he had used the car a few years ago by various receipts I found in the file. However he hadn't bothered to send off the log book to have his name as registered keeper added. I asked him why he had done this and he said cos he was a trader he didn't need to. Now I work in the trade and know that if you bring a vehicle in you should fill out the "sold to trader" section and send it off, he hadn't done it. I forgave him for this but then asked if he could prove that he was the legal owner of the car e.g. a purchase invoice or something in his stock records. He couldn't do this so suggested to my friend that he walked away. The seller got very angry and said we had wasted his time. This may be true but a genuine seller will be only to glad to prove ownership of the vehicle he or she is selling. He couldn't, we walked. It might have only been a few hundred pounds but not worth the risk. Said friend is still looking for a Herald convertable!

Said friend is still looking for a Herald convertable!

I may know of a Vitesse? convertable if interested been standing a few year's though.

No it's got to be a Herald. His wife would like one but it has to be a 1969 one as that is when she was born, chances rated as slim!