Transferring a registration number to an A7

[Ian M]

One other very minor development has been my realisation that the chassis plate on the side of the battery box is not the only place in which the chassis number is recorded. According to an excellent article at the A7CA website, it's also stamped on the chassis itself, on the nearside rail just behind the engine. A quick wipe with a cloth and the chassis number was uncovered for the first time in several decades. I duly photographed it and updated the DVLA, in the hope that it might in some way help my case. And yes, the number does match the one on the chassis plate!

[Ian M]

A final update, just to say that all is now resolved. It's taken a while.

The DVLA eventually acknowledged my assertion that the anomaly arose due to an innocent mix-up from a long time ago. As a result, I have been permitted to retain the actual chassis number of the car, instead of the bizarre 17 character thing that the DVLA were previously trying to foist upon me. The DVLA did withdraw the age-related number that had been on my car since 1984, replacing it with a different age-related number. As soon as the new V5C arrived at the beginning of the month, I immediately transferred to the car a 'proper' period number that I had on a retention document. I was surprised at the speed at which the second V5C arrived - no more than just one week!

One thing I'd like to say to anyone contacting the DVLA about your own vehicle is to ensure all of the salient details on your V5C match up with the vehicle itself. In my case, I had owned the car for such a very long time it never even occurred to me that the car's chassis and engine number did not match the V5C. Had I realised this, my first port of call would have been my local club's DVLA representative, rather than blindly opening a can of worms with the DVLA directly.

The only thing I didn't get to the bottom of is whether there is another Ruby running around out there that my original V5C actually belongs to. Maybe I'll get to the bottom of that one day.

[Ivor Hawkins]

That is excellent news Ian.

I have been following the saga from the start and have refrained from comment as the DVLA were very helpful and efficient when I had a similar situation and I didn’t want to sound smug!

I’m pleased you got there in the end.

[Geoff101]

Well done Ian. Must be a relief!

Ivor - did you call them first (and if so the general number or a specific department) or just send off documents with a covering letter?

[Ian M]

the DVLA were very helpful and efficient when I had a similar situation

I do wonder if the difficulties I experienced were due to the particular set of circumstances that prevailed. Supposing I had spotted the chassis/engine number anomaly myself from the outset and written to the DVLA to enquire about getting the records corrected. Things might then have taken a very different direction. In my case, events were triggered by my initial request to put the existing age-related number onto retention, which might have set all sorts of alarm bells ringing at the DVLA once the anomaly with the V5C came to light.

[AustinWood]

When I bought my Citroen SM in bits in boxes the chassis No. on the V5C was wrong. It was obviously a transcription error.
I rang DVLA and they said just fill in the V5C changes section and send it with a rubbing or picture of the VIN. It'll take 2 weeks to issue a new V5C.
It worked but took 6 weeks.

[Ivor Hawkins]

Hi Geoff and Ian,
I sent the DVLA only the items required to allocate the new number rather than confuse the issue with two requests. 
By keeping it simple, all I needed to do was trailer the Austin to Northampton (local to me at the time) and the inspector checked that the car was 100% Austin Seven and the numbers were correct and Bob’s your uncle, a new V5 arrived the following week.

[Ian M]

rather than confuse the issue with two requests.

In my case, there was only one request, which was to transfer the car's age-related number onto a retention document. The subsequent transfer of a cherished number onto the car was always an entirely separate transaction, which itself was fast and trouble-free after all the other business had been sorted out.