What happens if you lose your v5 document

While VED Vehicle Excise Duty - more commonly known as road tax - and the driving licence have both switched to a digital system, the V5C vehicle licence largely remains a paper-based system. If you need to make amendments to the car's details, then the V5C features a number of sections that you need to fill out and send back to the DVLA's head office in Swansea. However, if you sell the car on, you can now let the DVLA know there's a new registered keeper online.

It's important to keep this information up to date, so if any changes occur, whether you scrap it, move house, repaint the car or replace the engine, then you need to fill out the relevant section of the V5C and post it back to the DVLA.

The online system is straightforward to use, so its simple to amend the information, and means the information is up-to-date as soon as possible. When you sell a car, either online , through a dealer or at an auction , it's useful to have a service history and other documentation about the car's life. But the most vital piece of paperwork is the V5C logbook. It will have the information about the car that your potential buyer will want to know.

This section then tears off as a slip that you give to the buyer. It's important to remember that the V5C is not proof of a car's ownership, it says so in large letters on the document so it's hard to forget. The V5C shows the car's registered keeper, the person who will be responsible for any motoring offences related to the vehicle, and the vehicle's keeper is not always the owner. When you buy or sell a car you must complete the V5C paperwork so it's part of the ownership transfer process but don't take it as proof that the registered keeper owns the car.

A car could be owned by a finance company, a fleet operator or by another third party and the V5C would name the person who uses the car as the registered keeper. It is not advisable to buy a car that doesn't have a V5C document but the presence of the V5C is no guarantee that the seller is actually the owner. We'd recommend shredding the old V5C just to be sure it won't get into somebody else's hands. If your car's V5C logbook document has been lost, damaged or destroyed, there's a straightforward process for getting a new one.

Applying online is the quickest route to getting hold of a replacement and should take around 5 days. You can get started immediately on scrapping your car — all you need to do is fill in our instant online quote form.

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