What did you do in/on/for your Porsche today?

[Winston Teague]

Ah, i've fitted a new master cylinder today! Better brakes, hooray. Crack on Neil, its a pretty easy job (as long as your pipe fittings undo ok) especially with an Easybleed kit.......

[neilbardsley]

Ah, i've fitted a new master cylinder today! Better brakes, hooray. Crack on Neil, its a pretty easy job (as long as your pipe fittings undo ok) especially with an Easybleed kit.......

Will do. I can only get to the car on the weekends. In Scotland this weekend and Rome the next but have some time off after that so should get it down.

[jwhillracer]

Oil changed, race wheels and tyres on, check through and clean - hopefully all ready for Loton Park at the weekend.

Seems worryingly simple ..............

JW

[KS]

More to the point, what I didn't do (or wasn't able to do)...

Well that's bollocks. Sent off my V55/5 over two weeks ago, after having my 914 MOT'd (which it didn't legally need, although I was told that by doing so the it wouldn't need to be inspected as an MOT includes a check on the identity – and physical presence – of the car) and hear nothing. I call after a week solely to check the paperwork had been received and was all in order, only to hear the words "It's not been processed yet. Try again in a few days...". I e-mail DVLA yesterday and get given a case number, so I do on-line chat late afternoon and was told I needed to speak to the First Registrations Team, but also that the public cannot speak to them directly. Anyway, turns out they knock off at 5.00pm so was told to call back at 8.00am and try again.

This morning, I do on-line chat (the best way as it stops me losing my temper...) at 8.20am and get told the First Registrations Team isn't in until 9.00am. Try again... This time I get told to ring the general DVLA number, wait in line for 12 minutes and finally get through to an advisor who takes all my details, including the chassis number (oooh, that's hopeful - not been asked for that over the phone before...) and, and, and.... "A letter was sent out to you on 12th April telling you that the vehicle will need to be inspected by SGS." But I don't have any letter – anyway, I was told I wouldn't need to have the vehicle inspected as it had been MOT'd – which it didn't actually legally need as it's a VHI. "Oh. all vehicles have to be MOT'd". No they don't. "Well I'm sorry, but you will need to call SGS to make an appointment. Would you like their number?". And so it goes on... Over two weeks wasted. Bring back regional offices where you could sort it all out over the counter.

And breathe.

[jwhillracer]

/\/\/\ Yes, Truro Licencing office were brilliant!

JW

[KS]

When I registered my old blue 912, I went in at 3.45 one Friday afternoon (working on the basis that they would probably be quiet – they were. The waiting area was like the Marie Celeste). I handed over all the paperwork, got given a registration number on the spot(!) and received the V5 in the post the following Tuesday! My blue Beetle Cal Looker took about a week all in, and El Chucho 10 days, including returning the paperwork to me because young Crispin had incorrectly dated the MOT certificate! Now it's already over two weeks – I've been in touch with SGS regarding an inspection, who tell me they will e-mail me in the next five working days (of course, two of those are lost thanks to Easter...) to give me an appointment sometime in the next two weeks.

[wildtexas]

If it makes you feel better Keith. I had to MOT the 912 over here in NI ( i do it anyway, regardless) even though it is already VHI status. Apparently, as the politicians can't be nice to one another and we don't have an assembly they haven't put the 40yr old mot exemption into law ! Couldn't tax it online or via the DVLA phone but wandered into the post office, they did it on the spot? Fun and games.

[Ollie]

I'm struggling to see how an inspection is required if the vehicle has already been entered into the MOT database, surely this verifys the chassis number?

I'll be following you closely on this as my car will be ready fairly soon an need regeristing before I can drive it home from Cornwall.

Good luck!!

Ollie

More to the point, what I didn't do (or wasn't able to do)...

Well that's bollocks. Sent off my V55/5 over two weeks ago, after having my 914 MOT'd (which it didn't legally need, although I was told that by doing so the it wouldn't need to be inspected as an MOT includes a check on the identity – and physical presence – of the car) and hear nothing. I call after a week solely to check the paperwork had been received and was all in order, only to hear the words "It's not been processed yet. Try again in a few days...". I e-mail DVLA yesterday and get given a case number, so I do on-line chat late afternoon and was told I needed to speak to the First Registrations Team, but also that the public cannot speak to them directly. Anyway, turns out they knock off at 5.00pm so was told to call back at 8.00am and try again.

This morning, I do on-line chat (the best way as it stops me losing my temper...) at 8.20am and get told the First Registrations Team isn't in until 9.00am. Try again... This time I get told to ring the general DVLA number, wait in line for 12 minutes and finally get through to an advisor who takes all my details, including the chassis number (oooh, that's hopeful - not been asked for that over the phone before...) and, and, and.... "A letter was sent out to you on 12th April telling you that the vehicle will need to be inspected by SGS." But I don't have any letter – anyway, I was told I wouldn't need to have the vehicle inspected as it had been MOT'd – which it didn't actually legally need as it's a VHI. "Oh. all vehicles have to be MOT'd". No they don't. "Well I'm sorry, but you will need to call SGS to make an appointment. Would you like their number?". And so it goes on... Over two weeks wasted. Bring back regional offices where you could sort it all out over the counter.

And breathe.

[911hillclimber]

Irritating dis-connected little boxes of offices still exist!
On line chat seems to work well in other areas too. Good luck.

See you at Loton Jonathan, the Lola is all ready complete with the new double spring detention gate blocker, what can go wrong?
Going to be good weather.

[AndrewSlater]

More to the point, what I didn't do (or wasn't able to do)...

Sorry to hear you're having such a hassle getting your car registered.
I was hoping that all would go smoothly and then I would copy the process in the next few weeks to get my car finally registered.

When I registered my 912 a good few years ago, I tried the postal approach but after several tries and rejections I gave up and went to my local Portsmouth DVLA office. They looked at all the correspondence and apologised for the incompetence of their colleagues at Swansea, and registered the car on the spot for me.

Given the perils of trying to get the car registered by postal correspondence, does anyone know if there is an option to travel to DVLA Swansea and process an application face to face?

Andrew

[KS]

I always used to go straight to the local office and, like you, get it sorted on the spot.

There is NO way to do it face to face at Swansea.

After being told over the phone that I would need to get the car inspected, I received a letter from the DVLA informing me of this, complete with the VIN number, suggesting the paperwork was in order and in the system. Imagine my horror, then, when a couple of hours later I get an e-mail stating that there was no record of my paperwork and I would have to resubmit it all, along with payment!

I e-mailed them back (not a simple process as you can't simply reply to the e-mail they send – you have to send a generic one to DVLA with your case number and hope it gets dealt with) asking them how could I possibly resubmit the paperwork as they had (somewhere) my US title, the NOVA form, the insurance certificate, the MOT certificate, a crossed postal order made out to DVLA, etc, etc. I also pointed out that the only way the DVLA letter could possibly have included the VIN number is as a result of someone seeing my application... Two hours later I get an apologetic e-mail saying there had been some confusion and thanks for being patient.

Utterly, utterly incompetent.

So now I have to wait for SGS to get back to me, make an appointment for an inspector to come to the house to check the car exists and then wait while that info gets to DVLA so they can issue me with a UK reg.

[AndrewSlater]

What a terrible situation to be in - but it doesn't surprise me.
I must admit I too have little confidence in the DVLA not losing my paperwork - so not keen to start the process.

Can I ask is there an extra charge for the inspection?

Maybe we should have a sticky topic explaining the current registration process with all it's pitfalls as a guide for other members.
Andrew

[Lightweight_911]

I recommend sending the paperwork via Recorded Delivery - I always do ...

[KS]

I recommend sending the paperwork via Recorded Delivery - I always do ...

Indeed - what was interesting is that my envelope containing everything was signed for on a Sunday by 'Mail Delivery Office', which I assumed was the mail room at DVLA. Wrong! DVLA spotted this and that's when they said that I had to resubmit everything! Fortunately they backtracked on that when, as if by magic, they 'found' my paperwork. They really are a shower these days – the number of stories I hear from hot-rodding guys about DVLA losing paperwork is scary.

[hot66]

Nice evening for a drive