Euro Transit Plates - Any Takers???

[tweetyduck]

for many months now i've been trying to figure out the best way to get my Defender back into the UK. The make it REALLY difficult to bring a car back thats been out for so long. So long that the car is "exported" but the UK plates are still on the car. However according to some in the DVLA they aren't ! You know how you ring 5 times and get 5 answers. We don't even have the new (red) V5C which according to the DVLA website our old one is still legal as "its the last issued" and the blue one.

So....

http://www.transit-plate.com/

They sell plates that mean you can drive an unregistered car anywhere in Europe. I know someone thats used them on an Itallian car getting it through the tunnel from Italy to Kieth Gott's. So they must work on customs and they are legal according to the law. I bet the DLVA don't like them.....or know about them.

They are slightly expensive but they seem foolproof and no tickets and no police/ANPR problems. Straight to home and then figure out the 6 week process for getting my UK plates back after an MOT locally. The MOT, may or may not reactivate the plates according to the DVLA. Yeh....right,,,,, i'm sure that one is bull !!!! This would be mucg easier if the local offices were still open. Its all post now.

Neill

[miketomcat]

I assume you're coming back via ferry/tunnel. Surely you could just drive onto the ferry in Europe and have a trailer waiting for you here I know several people daft enough and with trailer that I'm sure if you ask some would do it for the cost of fuel etc. Though I don't have a trailer I know someone who does and I'm sure he/I could help if you're coming back in via Portsmouth/Poole area.

Mike

[tacr2man]

When I came back from Australia I still had my Aussie plates and rego sticker on my 110 , all I did was get my Insurance company to cover the vehicle . Then I MOT'd it and just went and got my tax disc on the original UK plate number , and it had been out of UK for 15+ yrs . So if your regd in a different country you can use to drive in UK and then sort out the reimport side of things . Things might be a bit different now due to SORN requirement HTSH

[Eightpot]

There isn't an easy way to drive it back - I presume you haven't actually exported it and it's still registered in the UK?

If it has been registered in another country, as a UK resident you can't legally drive it on UK roads until it has been registered here, taxed, MOT'd & insured.

DVLA don't have a process for taking a car out of the UK for over a year - when I did it I just SORN'd the car before I left. You need to reSORN every year or get fined but I just called DVLA and explained the situation when I returned and they were fine with it - no penalties.

When you bring the car back you have to MOT, tax and insure it to drive it on the road, so you are probably looking at trailering it back - that's what I did.

Don't know about transit plates but I suspect you probably can't use them here (as a UK resident you can't drive a vehicle with foreign registration) - for a start you still need to get someone to insure it for you as green card cover wont be valid here.

hope that helps..

[Sheffield]

I'm not sure about this "can not drive a foreign registered vehicle if you are a UK resident", You can not drive a foreign vehicle in the UK for more than 6 months and thereby avoid UK road tax, but in the sort term I believe it is alright. My wife, who is still a UK resident and working in the UK, hired a French car while she was here in France on holiday, and took it over to the UK for a week. The French rental company knew and were fine about it, and she had no problems with Customs or with the UK Police.

[tacr2man]

No prob with driving a foreign reg veh in UK , look at stobarts trucks registered in belgium , but some with brit drivers .

Germany do transit plates , around the 100 euro I think they have a very limited duration , can be used in any EU country HTSH

[Jamie_grieve]

Interesting, I've been having no joy with the DVLA on exactly the same thing. I'm looking at bringing a Gaz 66 back to the UK after it's been in Ireland for a few years. It's on Irish plates and currently road legal. It was registered in the UK prior to going to Ireland and a copy of the old V5 still exists.

There must be a motor trade between the North and South of Ireland so how is it done there?

It seems ridiculous that a vehicle taxed, tested and insured cannot be driven on Uk roads by the new owner yet the same vehicle can be driven by anyone else on UK roads with the owners consent. Transporting vehicles by trailer such long distances by trailer is just silly. Not so bad with a car but what about heavy goods vehicles?

There will be a procedure somewhere but those plates look like a great alternative the the DVLA which doesn't work anymore.

[Orgasmic Farmer]

Yep, you can definitely get them in Germany. A friend from Moscow came over to Germany when I lived there and I helped him buy a VW which we then got the red plates for that gave him the few days he needed to drive it back to Russia without hassle. Worked fine. No reason why the UK would not accept them.

[tacr2man]

Interesting, I've been having no joy with the DVLA on exactly the same thing. I'm looking at bringing a Gaz 66 back to the UK after it's been in Ireland for a few years. It's on Irish plates and currently road legal. It was registered in the UK prior to going to Ireland and a copy of the old V5 still exists.

There must be a motor trade between the North and South of Ireland so how is it done there?

It seems ridiculous that a vehicle taxed, tested and insured cannot be driven on Uk roads by the new owner yet the same vehicle can be driven by anyone else on UK roads with the owners consent. Transporting vehicles by trailer such long distances by trailer is just silly. Not so bad with a car but what about heavy goods vehicles?

There will be a procedure somewhere but those plates look like a great alternative the the DVLA which doesn't work anymore.

Just drive it back , its irish at the moment , when you get it to the off road destination in the UK , remove the irish plates , put on UK ones, as per V5 . take for mot , when passed take V5 mot and insurance and away you go . Probably best to insure in ireland on irish reg , as all EU insurance has to be valid in all eu countries (unless you have a good UK insurer who will help you out) . The requirements of limit to foreign vehicle in UK can be upto 6 months , unless you know at time you will be permanent resident , in which case you need to change over as soon as practicable. HTSH

[Eightpot]

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/overview

DVLA categorically state that foreign registered vehicles can be driven for up to six months by thier owner, but not if the owner is a UK resident.

UK residents must first register thier vehicle.

One thing you could do in a rule bendy way is to book an mot test on the way back from port, but if you're getting it tested in Manchester and dock in Southampton you might be on shaky ground if stopped..

[mmgemini]

One thing you could do in a rule bendy way is to book an mot test on the way back from port, but if you're getting it tested in Manchester and dock in Southampton you might be on shaky ground if stopped..

Yes very shaky ground. I once asked that question about bringing a car from Exeter to Teeside. NO was the very firm answer.

This company comes recomended to me

http://www.shiply.com/vehicle-delivery/cheap-car-transporters.php

[Jamie_grieve]

The problem with just driving it back if I understand correctly is that as a UK subject I'd be driving on the Queens highway without me having paid my dues to do so. The fact it's on Irish plates and whatever taxes have been paid to drive the length and breadth of Europe whilst on those plates seems irrelevant to the DVLA who say if yer a Brit you pay tax end of.

These plates really do look like a viable alternative.

I have some friends who drove back from Kabul to Cork in a VW beetle with Afghan plates last year who had less bother than this. I think they avoided the UK as it's just a bureaucratic hell hole.

[Eightpot]

It's not so unusual really, unless there is a reciprocal beneficial reason between neighbours, governments don't allow free passage.

I can't take a car outside Europe without a carnet, can't import a car to another country without being resident, and can't keep my car long term in any other country without registering it there - tried to do it in South Africa and had to buy a local car in the end.

It's not so bad really, I'd rather be slightly put out trying to get a foreign car into the uk than share the roads with loads of dodgy imports that shirk mots tax and insurance?

[Nigelw]

Is it not possible to get hold of a trader with trade plates to stick on it for the journey from the ferry? Or have I really been out of the UK for so long

[mmgemini]

Is it not possible to get hold of a trader with trade plates to stick on it for the journey from the ferry? Or have I really been out of the UK for so long

Nope. The vehicle must have an MOT before Trade Plates can be used

Trade Plates only cover tax and insurance.

No passengers unless road testing for sales.

I didn't like working on trade plates.

Oh ! yes.

Trade plates are not supposed to be used on long journeys. You must never stop anywhere with trade plates fitted. Well I used to !

The above apply to LIMITED TRADE PLATES. Those with a triangular tax disc holder.

General Trade plates, those with an oblong tax holder are no longer available. Those plates allowed you to do so much more. If you look close at the Leyland transporter that Land Rover had, you'll see they had General Plates fitted.

[Lewis]

Veering wildly off topic here,

Mike, can you quote a law or regulation that states as you have said above?

I work for a defence contractor and using trade plates to cover long distances (midlands to Glasgow, midlands to Dorset, 200mile road tests) is a daily occurance. Likewise the use of trade plates on vehicles without MOT, those which are not registered and those which are registered in another country is also routine.

Considering the lengths the company goes to to comply with the letter of the law in other aspects of the business it seems unlikely they have overlooked this matter

[western]

have a read of these

https://www.gov.uk/trade-licence-plates

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration-schemes-for-the-motor-trade

vehicles taken out of UK for less than 12 months https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk/for-less-than-12-months

for more than 12 months https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk/for-12-months-or-more

[mmgemini]

Lewis

There used to be a big government poster on the wall at work. I found that bit about not stopping down the bottom. That included parking on the road

Trade plates are not to be lent out. Something I found yesterday !!!

Trade plates only cover TAX. The owner of the plates is expected to have insurance.

There are a LOT of company managers who do not understand or know the rules for limited trade plates.

I found this yesterday, looking for something else http://www.policeuk.com/forum/index.php?/topic/17478-numberplate-location-uk/ The second page makes interesting reading.

When I worked for a delivery company many years ago. I wat instructed by another depot manager that he would send the plated so one of my mechanics could take vehicle without an MOT to his depot. Now this was a manager you didn't argue with. I did on this occasion. I said that nobody from my depot would drive a vehicle without an MOT on plates. He didn't like it but I stuck to my guns. Later he rang me back to say I was right....

Again you see passengers in a plated vehicle that's not a demo.

Plates have to be in the same place as a numberplate, so those magnetic ones are a no no.

Thanks for that link about the less than twelve months. I'm told time and time again that you don't need to do that.

[Eightpot]

As Mike says, trade plates can only be used by the person who paid for them, and it's only to cover trade users who need to test or transport vehicles without taxing each one.

In short, and speaking as a car trader who regularly transports, imports and exports vehicles, and an ex police officer, before you can drive a car on the road in the UK it must be insured, mot'd or on the way to or from an mot and taxed unless on trade plates if you are a trader transporting, testing or demonstrating a trade vehicle (and specifically not your own vehicle) or on the way to or from an mot.

Insurance is the main thing, if you have no mot and get stopped and prosecuted the fine may well be less than the cost of transport or an mot test!

If you got stopped or reported with no road tax you might just get away with it so long as you bought some straight away and it was back dated to cover the period. But you also risk having to pay the entire amount of tax since last taxed or just having your car crushed. And then of course even if you got insured but didn't have tax or mot and there is any kind of accident, then you'll pay out of your blowhole for ever.

Last time i got a car picked up by a transporter from Southampton and delivered to the Midlands, it cost £150 and I didn't have to take a day off work which seems pretty decent.

[Blanco]

Well the price of those plates doesn't seem too bad to me, including as it does the green card insurance. (Which, until UKIP get somewhat more influential, should include the UK!). I have discovered over the years that policemen are not, and seldom claim to be bang up to date on the letter of the law. I think if you check out the quality of the insurance first then it should be fine. Any policeman presented with full documentation (licence, insurance and old V5) is unlikely to want to get into the paperwork headache even if he thinks there may be a technicality. You may get someone on a bad day who wants to 'caution' you, but I think it is unlikely. I personally would certainly go for it. And I am pleased to have the linky, thanks .

[FridgeFreezer]

Get off the ferry, into the 1st layby/services, pull the wire off the fuel stop solenoid* & call the breakdown truck to taxi you home.

* Or maybe something less obvious - crimp a fuel hose

[reb78]

Get off the ferry, into the 1st layby/services, pull the wire off the fuel stop solenoid* & call the breakdown truck to taxi you home.

* Or maybe something less obvious - crimp a fuel hose

I was thinking along those lines

BUT.... i guess its a bit of a sad way for a landy that has literally been driven round the world to return to your drive in the UK!

[tweetyduck]

Get off the ferry, into the 1st layby/services, pull the wire off the fuel stop solenoid* & call the breakdown truck to taxi you home.

* Or maybe something less obvious - crimp a fuel hose

We were thinking that and its been considered but as Richard pointed out its a bit carp coming home on a truck.

We have got the car up for sale over here as we can get enough to buy a new one easily in the UK. However theres a bit of a glut of them in Canada and we can't sell to the USA lot as she's not old enough. We'd easily get $40,000 for her in the USA maybe $50K. Canada is less but its not stopping me trying. If i can get £18 for her she's going and we'll get another. However it would be nice to drive home,,,,legally and not worry about MOTs and carp until we are on the drive.

[Eightpot]

So in a rule-bendy stylee, you could just arrange for some insurance, when you clear the docks take it straight for an mot.

Long shot it's going to pass after a long trip, but if it did, you can just buy some tax on the way home on your smart phone and you're all set.

If it doesn't pass the MOT, you've at least got some excuse for being on the road if you were stopped, and though you're supposed to take it to your local station, you can clearly demonstrate the car has been out of the country long term and you have taken it immediately to a testing station, which will seem reasonable to most people and better than not doing it at all.

Again road tax is an issue, but if you can get the car MOT'd quick and get some tax on it to cover the date you drove it back, you may well be ok - would also be worth calling DVLA to explain the car has been out of the country hence the gap in licence fee and ask them if they can add a note against the vehicle records in case you got pinged by ANPR and a fine is on the way. When I came back DVLA were actually pretty helpful and made sure I didn't get any fines or have to pay for the gap in licensing.

[reb78]

I don't know If this is any help Neill, but my parents have a cottage in the village where they live that they rent out. It's in a village called Woodchurch about 30 minutes from Dover. If it was free on the dates you arrive back, you could get the 110 there and have it mot'd at the village garage. I guess you've as much chance of getting seen by anpr doing that though as you would if you drove it back to Yorkshire.

That's presuming you are coming into Dover of course.