Who owns the car? old or new owner?

Question

my husband bought a car not even 3 months ago for £750 from a friend, we have not received the v5 back yet to date, the car has suddenly stopped working and have been told its the gear box, not worth fixing as its going to cost £1600+. the tax reminder went back to the previous owner and was past onto us to tax, but still no v5, who owns the car, we are sick.

Answer 1

it will be in your freinds name if the tax reminder went to him

Answer 2

Contact the DVLA they will tell you who's name it is registered under.

Answer 3

If the tax reminder went to him, it's still registered in his name and he hasn't sent the update details to the DVLA.

Not your car and, in theory, this means that your insurance has been invalid the entire time you've been driving it.

Not a very good friend it would seem.  :o(

Answer 4

The owner and the registered keeper are two different things.   Assuming you bought the car in a legitimate transaction, then you (or your husband) are the legal owner.

The V5 indicates the registered keeper.   If you have not received a new V5C from DVLA in 3 months, then it sounds as though (a) the person you bought the car from did not sent it to DVLA to register the change of keeper; (b) that notification went missing;  (c) the new V5C sent to you went missing; or (d) DVLA messed up somewhere along the line and didn't transfer the registration.  

Either way, you want to check the current status with DVLA.

Answer 5

EVERY ONE READ THIS.......

go and get your v5,any v5...go to section 5[green bit]..

inbetween the green bar and your first name..what does it say???

''THE REGISTERD KEEPER IS NOT NECESSARILY THE LEGAL OWNER''...

....thers your answer,or at least another question for you...

just cos your names on the docs doesnt mean its yours...

as for your question its your car...not the last owners

Answer 6

The previous owner is still the owner, so give him it back to sort out. You're in the clear.

Answer 7

Untill you get a V5 the other person is still the owner.

Answer 8

if the previous hasn't transferred the log book then they own it as far as im aware

as its not cost effective to replace the component thats failed send the car to a brokers yard and they'll pay you for it regardless of condition it'll only be about £50/£100 but it's better than nothing at all

as for the car developing a fault as you've bought it privately it is sold as seen so you've no legal right to demand any money back from them

i hope this occurance hasn't soured the relationship between your husband and his friend, if it has your husband has to consider is his friend trustworthy (if not why did he buy the car in first place), does his friend know about the car going faulty, how old is the car (if you've bought so cheaply i would guess it's older than 8 years old which increases the chance of it developing a fault), how many miles has it done (anything over 60,000 and again chances of it developing faults is increased depending on how it was treated prior to you buying it)

if you and your husband trust your husbands friend and it was an old high mileage car put it down to bad luck don't let it sour the relationship

but if you feel that your husbands friend is dodgy (the V5 form is a little suspect) and the car was not terribly old or high in its mileage (unlikely but still possible) then i would approach your husbands friend for an explanation and a possible small gesture from him to help cover costs of a new car

good luck and use your best judgement not you being angered by this

Answer 9

The registration document does not confer ownership. It only registers the keeper. If you paid for it you own it, end of story.

Answer 10

If you've bought the car you own it. I hope you've got a receipt, as you may have trouble proving it if the previous keeper still has the V5.

Answer 11

If your husband transferred the title into his name, he is clearly the owner of the vehicle.  If he didn't transfer it into his name it will show in the official papers as the previous owner, but all he will need do it tell them he sold it 3 months prior to your husband, and it will fall back on him.

Answer 12

If the tax reminder was sent to the previous owner it looks like the details were not changed with DVLA when you bought the car.

Contact DVLA to establish the whereabouts of the registration document, details on their website http://www.dvla.gov.uk/