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fast track service for replacement V5?


Eightpot

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Has anyone ever tried or been succesfull in getting a new/updated V5 issued quickly from DVLA?? I'm wondering if there is a process maybe through the local vehicle registration office where they can escalate a request and get someone to press the 'print' button faster than six weeks?.

We're due to set off on our trip to South Africa in a few days, and four weeks after I sent off my V5 to get my new engine number corrected, nothing has turned up. DVLA only advertise one phone number to a centralised switchboard now, so I can't call my local office, and for the last few days they have simply put a message on saying they are too busy to take any calls, look on the internet. Great. My local office is quite a way away, so before I go down there it would be good to ascertain if I'm likely to have any success or will be wasting time I don't have, and unfortunately they can't be reached by telephone.

I managed to get an email response (only took four days), and they say they have no record of processing my V5 yet :angry:

I am going to be soooo p1$$ed if we have to delay our start because DVLA can't get thier act together. I did think five weeks should have been ample to get a new document printed out and shoved in an envelope, apparantly not :angry:

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I do get annoyed when I hear civil servants complaining that they don't get paid in line with the private sector - even staff in the worst of the large corporate companies would struggle to get away with such poor service, and I'm stunned that they think it's acceptable to just turn all the phones off for days on end! I've had to deal with a few government agencies over the past couple of months and I can't get over how little anyone is prepared to do - I'm positively looking forward to African beaurocracy, it can only be an improvement.

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i bought a 90 in october, sent log book off,got a letter in end of december asking for details of chassis number , and engine number, colour and registration.. sent back the details and got the log book end of january, there useless!

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and they say they have no record of processing my V5 yet :angry:

I had exactly the same last week , and have now sent off for a replacement form which they say would take upto 20 working days. They would give me a new one over the phone in 5 days if i payed the £25 fee but i declined due to it being their fk up.

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Photoshop is your friend ;o)

I was going to call you tonight to find out when you are stopping by, but I guess that is also dependant on the DVLA??

Looks like we're going to have to delay a few days - no way a V5 is going to turn up this week, and we're struggling to get everything sorted out in time - we've just had a chat and may go Tuesday instead - I'll let you know.. I'm not going to delay past that, if the log book doesn't show in time we'll set off anyway and I'll just get it couriered out to us wherever we are

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:angry: Well thanks for nothing DVLA - four weeks after I sent in my V5 for ammendment, together with a hand written letter explaining the importance of the need for the document back in the shortest time - ie we will be handing our house over to the new tennant, have both given up our jobs and need the doc before we can leave for Africa - they have finally managed to get something back to me today....

a letter saying they cant issue a V5 without a receipt of purchase from the garage that installed the engine confirming the details, or an independant inspection report - or a letter from the engine manufacturer confirming the engine number and size :angry:

tried to call them earlier, but yet again they have shut all thier phones down so they can bugger off early for Easter :angry: what a bunch of utter %$@@!*$

So the process starts all over again on Tuesday. Meanwhile my car tax is now out of date, wonder which document I'll get first - the fine or the V5??

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It's a tactic the DVLA have adopted as of the past few months. I got the letter when I tried changing my engine fuel type from petrol to heavy oil. Because I am aware of one or two who didn't get a letter, I've sent it off again with just the correction and shall see what happens. :ph34r:

Why they are doing this I am not sure. The DVLA don't carry any risk at all, that's for the insurance companies! Nothing to do with trying to employ more civil servants is it? :unsure:

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I did think five weeks should have been ample to get a new document printed out and shoved in an envelope, apparantly not :angry:

To be fair, it does state quite clearly on both the website & on the recorded voice message when you call them, that any changes to a V5 take from 4 to 6 weeks, and you should only chase them when this time has been exceeded.

Mine took 6 weeks to the day. I did call them anyway (after enduring the "we cant answer as we're too busy" line for a couple of days) and when I managed to get through, played the forgetful, ditzy card and said I can't remember when I had sent my V5 off initially. They tracked my details down & said it could not be processed any faster than 10 days from that phone call.

I am not saying that this is by any means definitive, but I would be prepared for a lot of no budging on their part and a potential delay to your trip :(

As with any Government department, what may seem very simple to most, has to go through an extraordinary amount of procedue & red tape, just to happen. I now work in Local Government (Bedford Borough Council) and I know first hand how these things work.

Last week I requested a box of branded pencils to use at a volunteer recruitment fair I ran today. The pencils arrived today. The thing is though, they came from the office block right next to where my office is....I can see it from my window & could have walked over & collected them & been back at my desk in under 5 minutes.

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After three beers I'm feeling a little more zen like, and am consoling myself with looking at pictures of Land Rovers in Africa instead, my socks still damp from the day of rain I've been stood in making finishing touches to the car.

As you say, I also wonder why they want such proof of the engine number unless I was trying to maybe change the taxation class - and as I pointed out to them, if the number I've given them doesn't match the number they print on my V5, I won't be let in to any country in Africa!

Oh well, at least I get a few more days to do all those last minute jobs and enjoy the bank holiday :(

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After three beers I'm feeling a little more zen like, and am consoling myself with looking at pictures of Land Rovers in Africa instead, my socks still damp from the day of rain I've been stood in making finishing touches to the car.

As you say, I also wonder why they want such proof of the engine number unless I was trying to maybe change the taxation class - and as I pointed out to them, if the number I've given them doesn't match the number they print on my V5, I won't be let in to any country in Africa!

Oh well, at least I get a few more days to do all those last minute jobs and enjoy the bank holiday :(

My wife inherited her mothers car on 9th Feb, when we searched her house we could not find any of the docs for the car. We applied for a new V5 and sent back the driving licence with a covering letter. We received a letter after 3 weeks because we had not put the reg no. of the car on the form so I phoned the number through and we got the docs on the 13th March, a day after receiving a ticket for having no road tax. We forgot to check in all the chaos when it expired.

Eightpot you could always file off the number on the block and stamp in your old number. It is not illegal as long as the block is not stolen ;)

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We sent ours off recently for an engine number change and a change of address.

Surprisingly, it dropped thru the door 2 or 3 weeks later with no problems.

Thier website does say evidence needs to be provided on changing the engine:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/ChangesToYourRegistrationCertificate/DG_4022054

So i guess we probably confused them by changing the two things at once!

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Eightpot you could always file off the number on the block and stamp in your old number. It is not illegal as long as the block is not stolen ;)

It never had an engine number on the V5 in the first place! Of potential nerdish interest to some (me!) my '83 Rangie ambulance started life in '79 as a left hand drive CKD kit and went off to Wadham Stringers, after Spencer Abbott stretched the chassis. (for months I wondered why the rear window wiper switch was on the left hand side of the dash. And there was no rear window wiper.)

The logbook has very little info on it, not even weight. They should be glad I'm telling them something!

Anyways, I'll speak to them Tuseday morning, with luck and a bit of plaintive charm they may accept a faxed copy of my engine receipt, meanwhile we're going to go off camping for a week to try the rangie out - glad I bought that electric heater last week :)

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