Is it legal to sell a vin plate, V5 and chassis?

[shynsy]

Hi Folks,
Noticed a few people selling vin plates, V5 reg docs and chassis as combos.
Is this legal in the UK?
Tim

[Craven]

Yes as long as its not fraudulent

[berni29]

Hi

I am not a lawyer, but yes it must be. I know with our cars the identity is in theory with the body, but you are essentially buying/selling a car with some parts missing.

I would happily buy a chassis with a V5 and get a body later or put it under an existing one.

All the best

Berni

[rgh0]

I dont know the detail of the UK law but i suspect that technically the identity follows the body plate and registration documents as long as they are genuine. The subframe / chassis,engine, body etc are all replaceable parts and as long as they are of the original type do not affect the registration.

cheers
Rohan

[atthelimit]

I wonder what happens if the vin plate is sold, but the the original body and chassis are restored and go to be registered. One person has bought a plate and a v5 paper the other a car.

Any thoughts?

[RobertMaulden]

I am an official for another Lotus car club (Sunbeam - SLOC) & this crops quation up occassionally. It is basically illegal under UK law to transfer a VIN plate from one vehicle to another. However, this is rather more complicated in the situation when a historic vehicle is being restored.
Provided that a significant number of original parts are being used (this is too complicated to detail here) then a chssis plate / ID can be fitted to a different shell, provided that the shell is of original manufacture.
In the case of an Elan, it is of course possible to purchase a brand new shell (albeit that it wouldn't be of actual Lotus source) & if this were to be used, with an existing / new chassis & all the other parts from the original car, then the VIN plate / ID could be transferred.
What would be strictly illegal in the UK, would be to puchase a chassis plate / V5, & then build up a completely new car with shell / chassis / parts etc from a number of different sources.
However ... provided that the recreated car was built to an exact spec that matched the VIN / ID, then it is very likely that nobody would really know (ok - the engine number might not match the factory record but would that be seen as a real problem - I would guess that a number of perfectly legitimate Elans have non original engines fitted)
Sellers get around the legality of this by listing the sale as for "collectors" / "historic interest" only. It's then up to the buyer as to what they do with the items.
In the case of two cars appearing with the same ID, this would be picked up by DVLA when the second car was being registered, & then an argument arises as to which car is the legitimate "owner" of the actual ID. DVLA would then generally contact whichever car club they recognise as being the "experts" regarding the vehicle is question (DVLA has a register of such clubs) & seek their views, with a decision coming out of this response (SLOC has very recently been involved in just such a question - both vehicles were inspected & full cross checks made with the official factory production records)
To summarise ... in the case of Elans this is potentially a minefield!

[512BB]

'I wonder what happens if the vin plate is sold, but the the original body and chassis are restored and go to be registered. One person has bought a plate and a v5 paper the other a car'

I have often wondered about this very senario over the years. About 15 years ago, there were many Elan I/Ds on the market being sold by people I knew. I steered clear of buying them as I could potentially see a big problem down the track if say you bought, then sold an I/D, and someone came back to you saying that that I/D you sold me is already on a car and I want my money back.

No thanks, who needs the grief. Further, there are many Elans and +2s out there with non original I/Ds. Buyer beware.

Leslie