Rant!: DVLA

[Lucio]

Ok, these guys have got to be living on another planet! Not only is it nigh on impossible to get hold of a human, when you do they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot! All I wanted to do was pay my extorionate car tax bill, but it turns out they've altered my V5C document to correct the fact it was missing my house number (their fault not mine, I checked the photocopy I kept) and means I don't have a valid document.

Seems simple enough, send me the new docment which they obviously forgot to do so/lost in post, probably along with the last 3 years worth of reminders they say they've sent. No, aparently that's "impossible" without charging me £25....


Right now so tempted to just ignore the stupid bloody tax and make them waste their time and money chasing me! Or maybe just register the car to my wife as new keeper, then keep swapping it back and forwards between us a few dozen times.

[greenpanda]

i know how you feel, have to deal with the dvla on a daily basis at work.
they have 20+ different departments so calling them is useless, sending a letter, well i can't imagine the post room they must have. pretty sure there is a shredder under the postbox.

best option is to do it online.

[Behemoth]

They did that to me on my Nissan Bluebird, on their records and on the document it was listed as an LX model when it was an LS. I left it alone in the end and just insured it as an LX.

[Lucio]

best option is to do it online.

Would love to have done it online, but don't have the right document number!

[mmh]

hmm, i had the opposite experience with them just this morning...

I didnt have my V5C as the guy i bought the car off last eyar never sent it off (or it got lost on the way in the post, but i doubt it) and i went to DVLA today to sort it, was there 15 mins (queue) and got greeted by some really good staff, especially considering the mouth breathers they seemed to be dealing with all day!

[Syd]

Would love to have done it online, but don't have the right document number!

I realy empathise, the DVLA are generally speaking the most difficult, jobsworths and will seem to go out of their way NOT to help you, and be grateful you are not involved in the trade, then they take on a whole new level of obnoxiousness

hmm, i had the opposite experience with them just this morning...

I didnt have my V5C as the guy i bought the car off last eyar never sent it off (or it got lost on the way in the post, but i doubt it) and i went to DVLA today to sort it, was there 15 mins (queue) and got greeted by some really good staff, especially considering the mouth breathers they seemed to be dealing with all day!

Frame the moment - that is an extremely unusual response - you were very lucky!

[kalniel]

They were good for me when I didn't get sent the form by previous owner as well. Quick phone call, they were helpful, and the form came quickly in the post. Maybe they actually get trained for that circumstance?

[pauldarkside]

Didn't have any problems dealing with them recently - very polite on the phone with a bit of banter thrown in, did what they'd said they'd do and were quick about it too. It's pot luck who you get with any company, some just employ a higher ratio of muppets.

[pauldarkside]

They did that to me on my Nissan Bluebird, on their records and on the document it was listed as an LX model when it was an LS. I left it alone in the end and just insured it as an LX.

Isn't that a bit risky though? Although you had a better model insured, perhaps you wasn't insured for the car you were driving.

[Behemoth]

Isn't that a bit risky though? Although you had a better model insured, perhaps you wasn't insured for the car you were driving.

It probably was, but it was less hassle to leave it as it was than to change it at the time. Only had that car for 10 months, the next owners after me used it as a banger racer.

[Rave]

The DVLA are well known for 'losing' people's motorcycle entitlement when they send their licence back to them for whatever reason. All three times I've sent mine back in the last few years I've taken a photocopy, because I've read dozens of stories in MCN about people having to retake their motorcycle tests- including, in the most ridiculous case, a motorcycle riding instructor of 20 years standing.

I initially sent it back in 2006 to get a Category D provisional added. Since I got my full motorcycle licence on 3rd Jan 1997 I just fell foul of the two year restricted licence rule (long story). In any case I'd been entitled to a full unrestricted motorcycle licence since 3rd Jan 1999. It came back as a restricted licence.

When I passed my Category D (bus) test I put a note in asking them to sort themselves out, and only then did they credit my licence with a the full entitlement I should have had all along.

It's total incompetence really. For a start I don't see how it should be hard to program their computer to update licences automatically. And even if that for some reason is hard, it'd take 10 seconds to assess manually from the date the test was passed what kind of motorcycle licence a person is entitled to upon renewal.

[fray_bentos]

I've had to speak to them a few times over the last year and I've always found the DVLA one of the best organisations to deal with - always got through to a human who was happy to help (generally oldish sounding women). Probably depends on how difficult your problem is...apart from losing entitlements to things though which is badly designed systems.

[Russ]

heres one for you.. try changing your address, using the stupid goverment gateway thing..

now i have to change it again, i dont know my log in details, so they will send me my log in details to my old address 200 miles away where i dont have access too...