Re registering a car when still with a finance company .

[Frederick]

I have just read that a guy working in the UK after 10 months  tried to ....and was unable... to pay the road fund tax he  wanted to pay to the DVLA because his car was registered in Slovakia. DVLA is not geared up to accept his  money unless the car is re registered....The car is still under the control of a finance company in Slovakia..... so they will not permit the re registering of the car while finance is still outstanding. DVLA told him his only option was to leave the country...then come back in I suppose for another six months ?. He wants to pay his tax..his car is insured. he wants to drive within the law....... but he is not allowed to ....Is this general throughout the EU ?...  you cant  export a car even  for a short time and pay your road fund taxes for it  unless you totally own it . and you cant unless its  free of any finance  ? If this is correct no wonder there are thousands of un taxed cars with out of country plates on the roads  Seems  an EU wide system is badly needed .

[Sunday Driver]

This has nothing to do with the lack of an EU wide system 

Your Polish guy doesn't own the vehicle - his bank does. 

In most countries, cars are acquired through hire purchase which means that the vehicle remains the property of the bank until such time as the final instalment is paid.  In Germany, for example, I believe you are required to hand over the original registration document to the bank for them to retain for the duration of the contract. I suspect it's the same in Poland.

In all cases, the bank's security lies with the vehicle and in the event of non-payment of the contractual instalment, the bank has the option to terminate the contract and re-possess the vehicle.  If they allowed you to export the vehicle out of their legal jurisdiction, then they would lose their title to the vehicle, therefore their security.

In France, if you sell a car, then you must provide the buyer with a clear certificat de situation/non-gage certifying that there is no outstanding finance on the vehicle.  If there is finance outstanding, then you can't sell it.

Finally, if you export a car for less than six months in any twelve month period, then you do not have to re-register it and pay the local taxes.

 

[Frederick]

Thanks SD  you seem to confirm that this guy from Slovakia is correct..........He gets a job outside of Slovakia  where he needs his car to get about.....wants to pay his taxes ...but is not permitted to because he is not allowed to re register his car as it is still  under finance ....So he cant comply with the law of the country he is working in....... in this case the UK..... so has to drive about on the UK roads tax free  after six months or go home and then come back every six months ....and this is the system in place ? ...........its a joke .....The guy wont go home ...he will continue driving tax free like thousands of others on UK  and possibly  other countries roads for years .....There should be some system where he can pay his tax to the country he is working in while still on his Slovakia  plates when over six months away from home ..... If road tax payment is the requirement . and the plate cannot be changed due to finance outstanding  ...He should still be.. .as in this UK  case able make his payment and  be issued with a  windscreen sticker to say tax has  been collected by the country he is a tenporary worker in ....The guy is offering to pay his tax due ....... and the UK cant take his money ...The  police say this is a DVLA matter and are not interested in the non payment of  UK  road tax on the Slovakia registered vehicle ....Read that as any non UK registered vehicle ... .and.... also unable to have an MOT done   no doubt . They save a few quid  compared with the rest of us dont they !

[jc]

Not only tax-free but not insured-he may claim to be insured-even have a piece of paper to say he is-but it is worth nothing.Does he have the Finance co.'s permission to take the car out of the country-if he hasn't,it's a stolen car-even if he keeps up the payments.

[Sunday Driver]

Frederick

You are complaining about the taxation and registration system but these are not the cause of this man's predicament.

Quite simply, he is driving around in a car that doesn't belong to him.  To drive it long term in the UK, it must be registered there in his own name.  The car's owners won't let him, naturally.

It's the same as if you hired a car from Hertz then tried to register it in your name in France.

 

[Onion van man]

[quote user="Frederick"]and.... also unable to have an MOT done   no doubt . They save a few quid  compared with the rest of us dont they ![/quote]

You can get an MOT test done on any vehicle regardless of where or if it is registered. It is exactly the same as they normally do them except they put the chassis number on the certificate instead of the registration number.

[PaulT]

[quote user="Onion van man"][quote user="Frederick"]and.... also unable to have an MOT done   no doubt . They save a few quid  compared with the rest of us dont they ![/quote]
You can get an MOT test done on any vehicle regardless of where or if it is registered. It is exactly the same as they normally do them except they put the chassis number on the certificate instead of the registration number.
[/quote]

Quite right OVM but not all testers know that.

Built a kit car and needed to get it MOT'd but then had to be inspected to decide if the donor registration could be kept. Popped in to my normal guy to book it and he asked the reg number. 'Hasn't got one at the moment'. 'Oh, I'll have to make some enquiries'. And as OVM says the chassis number goes on the certificate.

Plus, it was perfectly legal to drive it too and from an inspection so I drove it without plates 30 miles there and thirty miles back. Result - no one stopped me.

Paul

[Onion van man]

[quote user="P2"]Plus, it was perfectly legal to drive it too and from an inspection so I drove it without plates 30 miles there and thirty miles back. Result - no one stopped me.[/quote]

There are still quite alot of exemptions when you can drive without number plates in an unregistered car, Although they have cracked down on people abusing the system. You must have insurance but, you can drive a freshly imported car from the docks to your home. Also from your home to a garage for work to be carried out and from your home or a garage to the MOT station or VOSA SVA station and back home of course.

Of course the vehicle has to be of a roadworthy condition.