Vehicle Registration Document - (V5C)
If you intend to sell an End of Life Vehicle (ELV) and you don’t have the log book, you need to read this.
What we are going to tell you could save you £25 and help you to avoid some of the less reputable scrap car dealers out there.
Don't pay £25 for a duplicate Log Book!
Legally, you do not need to have the V5C document to scrap a car. Usually, to replace a V5C document you have to apply to the DVLA and pay a fee of £25.
However when scrapping your vehicle, you can simply notify DVLA to let them know you have sold the vehicle to the trade as scrap.
There is no fee involved at all, so if the dealer tries to knock the price down by £25, they are pulling a fast one!
All you will need to do is provide DVLA with your information, the details of the company that bought the ELV, the registration number, make and model of the car, and the date of the sale. They will then update their records so that you are no longer the registered keeper of the car on their database.
Why do some companies try to pull the wool over people’s eyes? Because they can. Most people don’t sell ELVs on a regular basis and aren’t familiar with what is required by DVLA, so just fall for whatever the dealer tells them. But now that you have read this, you won’t fall into that trap.
Refusing to buy a car without a log book (V5C)
Some companies will not buy a scrap car from you unless you have the log book.
This is often because, in the past, some local authorities put pressure on the dealers to have documentation for sales and purchases. But having the log book is not so important anymore, as the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 means dealers have to get photo ID and proof of address from sellers, so there is even better traceability.
Unfortunately, some scrap dealers are set in their ways and insist on doing things the old way.
When you sell your vehicle to Remove My Car, you are extremely unlikely to run into this situation. Nearly all of our members are willing to accept ELVs without log books. If you happen to live in one of the few areas where our members still demand log books, and you don’t have yours, we’ll do everything we can to help. The very few times this has happened, we have been able to convince our member to accept the scrap car or have made an alternative arrangement that works for everyone.
Rest assured that we will do everything we possibly can to buy your car. It helps if you have the log book, but it is not essential. What we do have to ask for, by law, is photo ID and a utility bill of the person selling the car.
Beware of Other Crafty Tricks Too!
The £25 log-book ploy is just one way that some scrap dealers will try and make more money at your expense. There are other sneaky tricks they may try too – you can find out more on our Sneaky Tricks of the Scrap Car Industry.