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[Supercal2007]

Hello all. Today I asked for the registration  number of a vehicle that was advertised for sale. The vendor claimed it was worth thousands (yeah, yeah, not that old chestnut), so I felt I was quite within my rights to ask what the number was. The vendor refused to tell me!
Am I being thick or naive here? What's the problem with divulging the reg? The reg has to be in full view when on the highway, so what's the problem? Is someone really expected to buy something that is supposed to be worth a lot of money and not actually know what they are buying? I don't think so pal. I just found his refusal absolutely idiotic. Needless to say, I will not be pursuing it any further.
Calum

[scotty]

Hi  Could it be he doesn’t want any prospective purchasers checking the MOT history, seems ridiculous to me but the amount of cars advertised with the number plate blurred out I do ask if the vehicle is of interest to me and normally they will give the reg no but if not I dismiss it full stop  Paul

[Wittsend]

I can't understand why people do this - withhold the reg number - and/or fuzz out the number plate.

What are they hiding is my first thought.
Do they really think I'm going to bung DVLA some notes to get their address and then lift the vehicle in the dead of night
What's the problem with looking at the MoT record
Just because it failed something 5 years ago - means nothing.
Even a current ticket means nothing.

And so, if I were looking for a vehicle and met this attitude/behaviour from a seller, I'd walk away.

 

[lynall]

If its a low price car then the mot might have been a dodgy one.
Been reading quite a bit recently how many are about and one commented that he bought and sold cheap cars and almost every one he had looked at to buy had a dodgy ticket on it!

[James Pothecary]

Only reason I can think is to stop people without insurance copying the reg so they can drive around in the same model car??

Thing is if your selling, this should not be an issue for you...might be for the purchaser though!

[agg221]

I think in some cases there may still be a hangover from the earlier days of the internet. Around 15-20yrs ago there was a lot more fear of giving away information - it was somewhat irrational and very ill thought through, but it was the root of a lot of the anonymous usernames etc.

There is of course personal information which should not be given out, but increasingly people have become aware that data theft is far easier by hacking databases than trawling the internet to track down facts about one rather ordinary individual - much like writing down your pin number where it has now been accepted that your average thief is very unlikely to go through your house reading every scrap of paper in every drawer in the hopes of finding it (compare that with Paypal wanting you to be permanently logged in on your mobile to make Ebay payments easier!)

I find some people haven't quite caught up with this realisation yet and end up refusing to give out the information which is actually necessary. Of course the outcome is still that you walk away so they end up losing in the end.

Alec

[Simon K.]

Was it this one ?

auction: #183940471944

[w3526602]

Hi,

I worked at DVLC/DVLA for twelve years. So did Barbara .... for a lot longer.

Neither of us knew that insurance "economic" write-offs are recorded on the V5, but without going into detail ... (Even LOST KEYS can result in an economic write-off).. I suspect that the insurers can make a profit out of an economic write-off.

What-ever, the Jimminy was an economic write off, which I didn't realise until the new V5 dropped through my letter box. I've no complaints, but I'll know next time. Ebay should require EWOs to be declared.

602

[Formerlyjeremy]

The MOT records disclosed by the DVLA are well worth checking when purchasing a used vehicle.  The question of write-offs can be checked as well.

Having recently purchased 2 road cars for us I found it very interesting to see which cars had had welding work done - sometimes on multiple occasions - as well as those vehicles which have never received any maintenance between tests.  Its also interesting how often advisories come up year after year!  The mileage is also recorded - so it makes it easier to form an impression as to accuracy.

[oddjob]

Totally agree the past tests are a great insight for a used car buyer. A cared for car that is properly serviced each year should sail through its mot’s.  One that is constantly getting advisories or fails and re-tests probably isn’t very cared for.

 

[scotty]

Hi  i totally agree, that is why i do a Mot history check it not only gives a good impression of the past owners view of importance regarding Maintenance also welding issues over the last however many years and its a free check so why not    Paul

[Herald1360]

Was it this one ?

auction: #183940471944

If it is, whatever the registration number is, it won't be worth anything unless the vehicle meets the requirements for transfer! Quite where a complete running vehicle with a V5, historic status and MoT exemption stands isn't very clear.

[w3526602]

Hi,

I wonder if I could persuade DVLA (?) to include Economic Write Offs in the MOT histories? I mean, they have the facts and the computer.

602