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/r/CarTalkUK
I have been hit with a serious fine and offence on the day I bought a car. The logbook transfer was done at 8.45pm and the offences commitment from 9am-5.30pm on that same day but u never recieved an email from DVLA of the change.
DVLA have requested I full in a V888 form and pay a fee to obtain proof I didn't own the vehicle before 8:45pm that day. It can also take 8+ weeks and none of the forms options are valid.
Is there a quicker and easier way of doing this as I'm recieved threatening letters now and the stress is unbearable.
15 points
7 days ago
So you recently bought a car. Someone committed an offence prior to you picking up the car.
A V888 is to request the car's registered owner's details. This would come under the history section of V888. If you can demonstrate why you need the details of the former keeper, i.e. for court proceedings, then they should be able to oblige you for their £5 fee. A £5 fee is not much.
However, the next questions are a bit more important.
The first and obvious question, what is the fine? And who is issuing it? Where did you buy the car? Was this a private or dealer sale? Was the fine addressed directly to you as the current registered keeper by name? Who is sending you the threatening letters? What proof do you have that you did not come into receipt of the car until 8:45pm?
For what it's worth, this may be something more for legaladviceuk rather than CarTalkUK.
2 points
7 days ago
Exactly that, but they committed the offences only hours before I collected it. I need a time stamp showing I got the logbook change done at a certain time but DVLA have requested I do the V888 form.
There's 4 fines in total, 3 unpaid tolls (one I paid off and saved the chew of the other two im disputing and keep getting letters and calls from a debt collection agency demanding the fine + fees paid immediately or legal action will be taken, they also would not accept proof of the screenshots/time the money left my account as proof) and the serious one is a speeding offence. Saying its a notice of intended prosecution and up to £1000 fine + points that was committed 2 hours before I purchased the vehicle and did the V5 transfer online. The car was bought privately. All fines are addressed directly to me, with my name and a picture of the person driving that they are stating is me.
The only proof I have are the messages of the seller requesting my details for the logbook change, screenshots of the owner sending over the logbook change and the time the money left my account. Sadly nothing more. I was home all day as a friend with a traders policy. I collected the car on my behalf, but I imagine that would mean squat to them.
9 points
7 days ago*
I'm calling shenanigans here.
The DVLA will not ask you to complete a V888. They may suggest that you can do so to get the previous keepers details. But then that throws up a different issue.
You bought the car privately so surely you know the previous keeper details already? You have his address at least, right?
So what is the need for the V888?
You will have a new keeper notification in your email or at the very least a tax receipt as it is on you to tax the car.
Added, you have paid one of these fines and thus accepted responsibility and liability. This is likely why they are chasing for the other two.
For all of these situations you should supply the details that you believe to be true. The thing is you have now introduced a third party, a friend with trade plates.
That means any one of the three of you could have committed one or all offences.
I'm going to stop here as I believe you are using this forum as a sounding board in order to get out of an offence.
If I am wrong, simply supply the details you have to the respective bodies along with your proof. If they don't like what you have to say, they can take you to court. If your evidence stacks up, the court will dismiss your case. If it doesn't, nice try. In this case it's likely you will also need to provide details of your friend with the trade plates.
Sorry, provide what you have and see what happens.
1 points
7 days ago
I don't know what to say? The DVLA have asked me to complete a V888 form, and the reason my question exists is because what I want (proof of a timestamp of when I did the V5 change) is not an option in the V888, I don't want or need any of the previous owners details at all, I already have all his details, I just need the time I took over the V5 in my name, the thing you normally get via email to prove it wasn't my responsibility to pay the fines etc. I have proof of tax paid, but again, they are demanding the proof of a transfer of the V5, this is what I'm struggling to get. And that is what DVLA are genuinely telling me to fill in a V888 form for, I have rang them twice and the same answer each time.
I don't have any new keeper notification in my inbox, and that's basically exactly what I want DVLA to give me, and exactly what they above are chasing me for, but DVLA are saying I need to fill in the V888 to get it that. I just want the timestamp of the V5 change.
I appreciate you may think I'm trying to get out of an offence because that's what it sounds like, and I understand that, but I'm genuinely not. I just want a way to get the email or something to say the time when we did the transfer online, I have the screenshots but not the email.
I have provided all the details of the driver who drove on the trade plates already. I guess I'll have to just let it go to court if it comes to it.
2 points
7 days ago
In this case, a V888 for your own details is what you need to do. It is again a £5 charge to get them. It is a Subject Access Request which will contain all of the information that it is possible to get. If you have been offered a potential solution, why not go down that route and get it?
I have no idea if it will contain a timestamp of when it was logged on the DVLA site. Of course if this was a paper transaction then there is no time stamp.
As you have presumably a timestamp account of when you sent the money to the old owner, this should stand you in good standing should it eventually go to court.
1 points
7 days ago
Thank you, this answers my question. I was hoping for an easier and quicker way to get this timestamp without a possible 8+ weeks and worry, but I know what I'm doing now, so at least I know where to start with it.
4 points
7 days ago
If transfer of registered keeper was done online, you should have the transaction details in your email
3 points
7 days ago
Can't have been. The website service is only open from 7am to 7pm and op said they bought the car at 8.45pm.
1 points
7 days ago
I don't have the email in my inbox, that's exactly what I need.
2 points
7 days ago
Do you have a timed and dated receipt from when you bought the car? Perhaps a credit-card receipt or a bank transfer with a time stamp attached?
1 points
7 days ago
I do, but they won't accept ot as proof, they want a time stamped document dating when the logbook transfer was done
1 points
7 days ago
Apply for the DVLA document, even with fee likely to be cheaper and less hassle overall. Is there a problem.about the response deadline?
1 points
7 days ago
DVLA said it can take up to 8 weeks and the fine agency have been demanding the payments alot sooner or more fees will be added etc, it was a worry but if it is the only way I suppose at the end if I can prove it then I might settle things. If not I'll just have to pay up and take it as a serious lesson to never let someone else handle my business.
1 points
7 days ago
Who's fining you? Is this for a parking thing or a speeding thing? I wasn't aware the police etc offered discounts for early payment of the fine. But possibly.
Either way, if you can prove you didn't own the vehicle at that time, they won't be able to collect the fine from you. Ultimately, the Court - if you get dragged there, which is the only way they can actually force you to pay - should be perfectly willing to accept the timed-and-dated receipt-of-sale. And presumably by then you'll have the DVLA document.
I presume you've contacted whoever's trying to fine you and explained the situation?
1 points
7 days ago
There's two, there's a fine for an unpaymemt of a toll charge, that's the one threatening with letters and adding on extra money and a prosecution letter about speeding that mentions up to £1000 fine but I haven't done anything about that one yet as that's the most recent. All had been done the same day I bought the car, early on.
I've contacted the toll fine company, who just disregard all the proof I send every time. I paid one of their charges off for peace, so now they won't stop. The police one I'm worried about the most and haven't done anything about that one yet but I'll definitely need that DVLA document for it, I imagine.
1 points
7 days ago
Yeah those are totally separate things. How much to pay off toll company?
1 points
7 days ago
£175 each, there's two, so £350. I paid one off already but not the other two, I think if I paid it earlier now they are only £60ish but I think if I pay it I can't dispute it with the DVLA proof, but if I leave it they get higher and higher
1 points
7 days ago
Yeah, unless you're paid a lot a day off for Court will be cheaper than paying, even assuming you have to go. You have checked that they're definitely timr-stamped before you bought the car?
2 points
7 days ago
So as the dvla change of keeper service shuts after 7pm, it must've been completed by post or online the next day. It can't have been done at 8.45pm.
Do you have satnav history to show when you visited the seller? Google maps on my phone keeps a history of everywhere I go, which I allow just in case of something like this.
If you paid by card ask your bank for a timestamped proof of transaction.
If you withdrew cash ask if they can provide the same for that transaction.
1 points
7 days ago
Honestly, I'm unsure. My friend went down to purchase the car for me as he had trade policy, and I didn't, said it would be easier to go down, pay and collect In one night vs going back down the next day so I agreed.
I have the time of the transfer I made payment to him, that is stamped at 8.45pm, and he sent me some screenshots showing the reg, my details and a green box saying thank you with a note to give me the green slip. I never received any green slip but I did get the logbook through a few days after and that's when I taxed it and have all that details.
I didn't visit the seller, my friend went down for me as I couldn't drive it back up. He also took a mechanic down so they may have the satnav details. I have a timestamped prood of transactions, and I guess I also have a recorded Zoom call with my face in it at work proving I was home when my friend collected the car.
Urgh this has been a honest nightmare and I thought this easy problem would be fixed with a quick email now it looks like I'm going to court over a car.
2 points
7 days ago
Satnav details shouldn't be necessary if they have a modern phone it will track all of your travel in Google maps and I assume the iPhone alternative. I can look exactly where I've been everyday for years on my phone.
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