New MOT legislation and more...

[gridgway]

Yes it is. The DVLA does not exist as a commercial independent entity - its web site is part of .gov.uk I would suspect it comes under Minister for Transport, good old Chris Grayling, my very own MP (for good or ill). So for example, when I asked CG about some matters regarding the behaviour of HMRC (their ethos, not my specific tax affairs), he shot my question over to a Treasury dude who wrote a very nice two page letter in reply that came back via CG. By toeing the party line, I don't mean party political, I mean the official policies of HMRC (in this case).

ETA: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -transport

Anyway, we shall see, it'll be interesting!

Graham

But it's not a government thing - it's DVLA working on an EU/UN directive. There is no colleague to give an answer – the only answers can come from within DVLA/DVSA. These are the people who will dictate what can and can't be done to a particular car, with each case taken on its individual merits.

It's unlikely to get any attention at HoC level, especially over the next few months. Can you imagine a debate on what constitutes structural panelwork on a unitary body design, or which parts of a chassis can be removed to stay within the 8-point rule? Nor me...

[KS]

What I'm implying is that there isn't suddenly a change of staff/management at DVLA every time there's a change of government.

[gridgway]

Indeed!

What I'm implying is that there isn't suddenly a change of staff/management at DVLA every time there's a change of government.

[911hillclimber]

I always thought the DVLA was just another office of the Civil Service infrastructure who put into place any changes a minister / government desired on vehicles?

One thing I'm not sure of on this topic is come May '18, do people with modified cars HAVE to inform the DVLA or do you wait until you tax the car and answer their Modified Question with a Yes?
I believe it triggers when you tax the car on line or in a post office whenever tax is due after '18.

[Tosh]

Tax car in post office? That be madness.

[KS]

Triggered either when you next come too tax the vehicle or if you go to register a new import in the historic class.

Like many Civil Service departments, DVLA and DVSA are pretty much autonomous. Anyway, it's all about implementing EU/UN directives...

[sisu]

"So as I was saying if I could just speak to someone here at the DVLA about the changes next April....."

[simon james]

This whole thing is totally skewed.
I have a friend with a mini. Said friend has several minis.
One of them was made in 1996. He has a few early ones and has owned one of them, a mk 3 cooper since 1985ish.
The cooper had been re-shelled a long long time ago using an even earlier mk2 shell.

Said friend acquired the 1996 car and yes, you've guessed, gave it the full mk3 treatment with centre dash and the Mk3 log book.
The engine is an MG Metro one, so essentially nothing relates to the mk3 cooper apart from the chassis plate.

In Daniels eyes this car is legitimate and just has a different engine fitted.
Then we come to Graham, who has what is essentially an original car but with the steering wheel moved.

How can this be right?

[KS]

Said friend running a 1996 car on a Mk3 logbook and chassis plate is breaking the law. I suspect if he is caught the car will be crushed.

[theorangeperil]

Said friend running a 1996 car on a Mk3 logbook and chassis plate is breaking the law. I suspect if he is caught the car will be crushed.

i dont really understand this? I thought there were lots of re-shelled 911s out there? Surely as long as neither car is stolen it isn't a problem?

[Darren C]

Triggers Broom Syndrome, Peter

http://www.middlebridge-scimitar.co.uk/ ... er%201.pdf

and what about the Isleworth Mona Lisa Syndrome ?

Seriously though, as I see it, Old No1 has set a legal precedent here and could make the new law fall flat on its face.....

[simon james]

Said friend running a 1996 car on a Mk3 logbook and chassis plate is breaking the law. I suspect if he is caught the car will be crushed.

I agree. I've told him. I wind him up over it, but until someone in the know inspects it, it will not flag up and then he will argue he put a new shell on in 1996, at a time it was legal.
However, the subframes are all 1996, as is the wiring loom, the under bonnet, in fact the whole car!
BMC kept things "similar" for many years.
This whole DVLA thing has so many twists and turns.

[theorangeperil]

ok, so it's the fact that it's a 96 car pretending to be an earlier one that's the issue.
So in Porshe world an SC with a 72 chassis number grafted on would be a similar situation.
Where's the line though? I thought back in the 70s race cars were often rebodied?

[KS]

I thought back in the 70s race cars were often rebodied?

It was illegal back then, too. Just that there were no computer records to cross-reference. You can't simply transfer the identity of one car to another shell, and claim it's the same car, same VIN and same registration number. It becomes a car built up out of parts – AKA 'Q-plate'...

[911hillclimber]

How do the 'BMC' Heritage shells fair in this discussion?
Rusty as hell MGB get a new shell, old mechanics and what chassis ID? They seem to retain the reg number of the rusty one too.