DVLA registration records

[2009jamesb]

How far back do DVLA keep a record of number plates? My Austin 7 went out to the States I think in the '70s and I would like to put the car back on its original plate.

[Mike Costigan]

The DVLA records go back to the time when everything was transferred to  Swansea, which I think was the mid-1980s.Try typing the registration into the DVLA search here:

https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla

If the DVLA does have your car recorded, it will show up something like this (this is for a car which I sold to Japan in 2009):


  Untitled-1.jpg (Size: 153.43 KB / Downloads: 431)

If the equiry comes up as Vehicle not Recognised, then you will need to be able to provide the DVLA with an original log book to retain the number.

[2009jamesb]

I have tried that and it does not recognise the registration

[AllAlloyCup]

If your local licensing office transferred it’s paper records to its local Council/city Museums or Archive Service they may have a documentary record of your registration number and matching chassis and original engine number. If your local Austin 7 Club can find the chassis number on
your chassis, you have a chance of getting the number back on the car.( but it won’t be transferable)

Also the Kithead Trust salvaged several sets of local registration office records and they too might be able to help.

However the whole thing is a postcode lottery as the majority of paper records held locally were destroyed. An old buff logbook would solve your problem but they do often get lost when
cars are exported.

There are ways to get “age related “ registration numbers , usually starting BF xxxx
But that’s another story, with lots of posts on that subject on the old forum.

Regards



Regards

Bill G

[Colin Morgan]

I recovered an original Kent registration a couple of years ago from the DVLA for a Seven that had been out in America for 43 years. The evidence used was paperwork obtained from the DMV in Oregon, where the car was exported to in 1969. The Oregon DMV had a microfiche copy of the car's 1950s buff log book and a bill of sale in their records and were willing to provide a certified copy of them for a small fee.  (A local librarian kindly obtained the copies, which she signed as genuine and posted to me.)  The DVLA accepted this as proof and reissued the original number.  The car was registered with a BF age related number on its return prior to the original number evidence being tracked down.  I doubt that the DLVA had any record of the car prior to its return.  

Regards,
Colin

[Martin Prior]

The fact that the registration didn't come up on the search doesn't mean that DVLA doesn't hold a record for it.  

We were given a 1952 Austin Somerset last year that had been off the road since 1978.  It had a very early computerised V5 from 1977, but didn't show up on the online search facility.  However, after some prodding, it turned out that DVLA has a deeper level of records and it WAS in those.  

After some frustration, we have a new V5C and the original registration.

[Ian M]

If your car was exported during the 1970s, I would say you will now require very strong evidence of the vehicle's history in order to persuade the DVLA to allocate the number back to you. Good luck with it.

[Jeff Taylor]

The transfer of registration records from local authority control to Swansea was spread over a long period of time - around 10 years. Only cars that were currently taxed at the time of transfer had their records placed on the DVLC's computer database. In the late 1970's I owned a 1936 Morris 8 Tourer that I'd recently taken off the road and was therefore not taxed - its registration records were therefore not transferred to the Swansea database.
In the early 1980's the DVLC ran a publicity campaign in the various classic car magazines of the day (Practical Classics, Thoroughbred & Classic Cars etc) requesting owners of vintage and classic cars that had been off the road undergoing restoration for a number of years and had therefore not been placed on the database, to send their old buff / green log books to Swansea and in return receive a new V5. The implication of non compliance with this request was that the DVLC was at the time considering selling off all the registration numbers that hadn't been transferred onto the computer database as 'Cherished Plates' - this has never happened. I duly sent off my green log book for the Morris 8 Tourer and in return received both the old log book and a new V5 back from Swansea - the cars registration details were also placed on the the computer database where they remain to this day - I still own the car though sadly it hasn't as yet returned to the road - it's shown on the database as 'Not taxed for on road use' in a green box.
It's possible your car was exported to the States whilst its registration records were still under local authority control and those records were never transferred to Swansea as the car would by then not have been taxed.
If you let us know the two or three letters of the registration, I should be able to tell you if the record cards still exist in the relevant local authority archive department or if they're known to have been destroyed - for example all London records were destroyed.

[Dave Mann]

I think there is something which deletes official records after number of years. In 1987 when someone tried to register an RN saloon stolen in 1986 they were turned down, on visiting the address given the Police found a derelict house. Twenty years later someone else found the car, a real basket case, rebuilt it and returned it to the road with all it's original numbers.

[2009jamesb]

Thanks for your posts. the registration on the car is OK9365 which was issued from Birmingham.