Registration

[David_W]

Hi all,

First time on the forum and I’d appreciate some guidance on vehicle registration. I’ve read a lot on this but I’m trying to understand the subtleties of how it would be applied on my potential project.

I already own a suitable donor car for the kit car project I’m considering. It has a cool number plate which I’d like to keep (it’s only 6 digits, so would look better than a random 7 digit plate assigned by the DVLA).

The car I’m planning to build would not use the donor’s chassis or main structure, but it will use several major components, so I would be expecting to receive an ‘age related plate’.

Is there any way I can transfer my donors plate to the completed kit car? The donor car is currently on SORN without an MOT, so would the following laborious process work?

1) Repair the donor car sufficiently for it to scrape through an MOT.
2) Put the donor registration on a Retainer.
3) Get a random period plate issued on the donor
4) Build the kit taking lots of photos to prove the year of the donor.
5) When complete, get DVLA to issue a random age related plate to the kit car.
6) Transfer the original Retained plate from the donor onto the kit car.

Would this work or is there an easier way?

Is stage 6 even allowed? (i.e. replacing an allocated age related plate with an alternative from the same year or earlier?)

Assuming there isn’t a way to keep my existing plate (and I’d prefer an age related plate to a Q plate) does the donor car need to have an MOT when I start the process, or does it just need to be on the DVLA database?

Many thanks
David

[Paul L]

David - Welcome to the forum.

Whilst I am no expert, I have done a lot of research on this myself.

Unfortunately, the devil is in the detail, so can you explain your plans a bit more?

In particular, what chassis will you be using, as this is the key.
- If you use a chassis built by an "official" supplier it is one thing.
- But if you build the chassis yourself, or get "someone" to build it for, it is another.

It is the "sum of the parts" that will give you either a 'Q' or 'Age Related' plate.

But if you end up with a "Q" then it can not be changed.

Hope that helps, Paul.

[David_W]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the information.

The donor car is an MGB which my wife has owned for 30 years. It's too rough to be restored, and we have another one that is perfect, so rather than going down the 'MGB Heritage Shell' route, we thought we'd do something more interesting and build a 289 Cobra.

While she is happy for me to do this, she really wants her original registration number to survive in the process.

The kit would be a Hawk 289 chassis and body, utilising many MGB parts, but not the engine and gearbox (unless we build their AC Ace version which I'm less keen on).

Cheers
David

[Paul L]

Hi David,

I've had a quick look at the Hawk 289 kit, which (unfortunately) leads to a few more questions…

If you are not planning to use the donor car's engine & gearbox, then the list of remaining "major components" is small.
- Suspension (front and back)
- Axles (both)
- Steering assembly

Note: Using both axles counts as one component, not two.

The key is these must be "original" and the Hawk website talks about "modified" suspension.

However, if I’ve understood the following links correctly, there may be some good news.
( Assuming you can use two original major components. )

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registrat...erted-vehicles

https://www.gov.uk/keep-registration-number

Your Hawk couldn’t have the donor’s registration, but could get an age related plate.
( The donor car's V5C may also be required as proof of age in addition to photos. )

Your donor’s registration number could be retained without an MOT, if already SORN.
( Although it is not clear if your donor gets a different reg. number at this point. )

So the idea of transferring the registration from the donor to the kit may be possible.

The key point here is to ensure you know how the kit car will be registered before you start.

As there appears to have been some confusion in the DVLA recently about the 8 point rule and "historics".

Which leads to a final question about the age of your donor car.

The advice on "Rods 'n' Sods" is that you should ensure your car is switched from PLG to Historic before anything else happens.
( Assuming that this hasn't been done already. )

Cheers,

Paul.

[David_W]

Hi Paul,

Great advice - thank you.

The car is a 72 MGB registered as Historic and has been tax exempt since that rule was first introduced.

I would us the original components you mention and can hold off on any Hawk upgrades until a later date.

The second link you sent me is really interesting as it implies you can now retain the registration of a car on SORN without an MOT (it used to say it must have been taxed - and therefore MOT'd - within the last 12 months). The page is dated July 2016 so this is either a change on the rules, or an error on the page.

Don't worry, I intend to have all of this nailed down before I start!

Cheers
David