Good luck with it Tom. I learnt a very long time ago that when dealing with government agencies not to assume anything. Always take the belt and braces approach and send them everything you've got. It is amazing how even if all the systems are integrated and a click of the mouse can show whether an MOT exists they won't do it. They say the onus is on us to send them what they need.
Now that you have, hopefully you will get your V5 soon. Good luck.
You could apply for NOVA without it but it is 100% needed by DVLA for the next stage. Although, it could only strengthen your NOVA application if you sent it in at the same time. Contact Birketts they'll help you with dating certificate.
If I remember correctly I didn't fill that part in. I think I have a copy of what I sent somewhere at home. Can check tonight and let you know. Fill in as much as you can and write a covering letter to explain the situation. Here's what I wrote:
NOVA
HMRC
Personal Transport Unit
Building 22, Priory Court
St John’s Road
Dover CT17 9SH
Date:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Further to my telephone conversation with Mr X yesterday, I am writing in
support of my application to have my motorcycle entered on the NOVA system so that I can
then have it registered for road use with the DVLA.
Please note the following:
The company which imported my bike into the UK when new, is no longer in business and I
don’t know who they were either. The current importers were unable to provide me with a
dating certificate because they did not import my bike.
The manufacturer of my motorcycle – Scorpa – also went out of business a few years ago
and were bought by Sherco. Sherco still make bikes under the Scorpa name and have kindly
provided me with a document confirming the year of manufacture of my bike as 2003 by
verifying the VIN number against their records. Please see enclosed. - (if you have a dating certificate send a copy of it)
I am a private individual and I purchased the bike from a private individual. As the bike has
only been used off-road, it has never been registered with DVLA. But I would like to do so.
I hope this is sufficient information to have my bike put on the NOVA system so that it can
then be registered with the DVLA.
Please do let me know if you need any further information.
That's good news. You now just need to fill in the NOVA form (ask HMRC to send you one. Don't fill in the online one). Write a covering letter and submit it. They will add it to system. See my previous post.
No worries. All vehicles imported into UK attract a fee. Import duty, VAT, etc. Legally imported vehicles will be fine as the importer (dealer) will have paid the necessary fees. Sometimes people drive over to Europe buy a used bike and bring it back in a van or whatever. If it's an off road bike there is no need to register it for road use so difficult for customs officers to check. For all they know you could've taken the bike out of UK to ride in Europe and may be on tour way back home.
So long as the bike remains off road it'll most likely get away without paying customs duty. But if you want to put it on the road you have to prove the bike is here legally and all taxes due have been paid.
So you need to contact Birketts (see my previous post for contact details and step by step instructions). Give them the chassis number and they will be able to provide you a dating certificate. Once you have that the rest is just following procedure.
Good luck.
Oh, and if I were you I would still ask the seller for a receipt although you won't need it to register.
No worries. All vehicles imported into UK attract a fee. Import duty, VAT, etc. Legally imported vehicles will be fine as the importer (dealer) will have paid the necessary fees. Sometimes people drive over to Europe buy a used bike and bring it back in a van or whatever. If it's an off road bike there is no need to register it for road use so difficult for customs officers to check. For all they know you could've taken the bike out of UK to ride in Europe and may be on tour way back home.
So long as the bike remains off road it'll most likely get away without paying customs duty. But if you want to put it on the road you have to prove the bike is here legally and all taxes due have been paid.
So you need to Ring HMRC Personal Transport Unit on 03000 583020 to check if your bike is in the NOVA (Notification of Vehicle Arrival) system. If not ask them to send you a form. There is a form online but you can't use that because you won't have all the information & it won't let you proceed.
4. Fill in the NOVA form as much as you can & write a covering letter explaining anything you need to. If bike was imported to UK properly by a dealer then chances are you won't be liable to pay any VAT or any fees. I didn't have to pay a penny.
HMRC will get back to you pretty quickly & tell you that your bike is on the system & give you a reference number plus a letter saying there is no VAT due.
If your bike is not on the NOVA system DVLA will reject your application.
Then contact Birketts (see my previous post for contact details and step by step instructions). Give them the chassis number and they will be able to provide you a dating certificate. Once you have that the rest is just following procedure.
Good luck.
Oh, and if I were you I would still ask the seller for a receipt although you won't need it to register.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like to see copy of my letter to hmrc. I'll see if I can dig it out.
Also as an aside, I was wondering why you did not get a receipt??!! How are you going to prove the vehicle is legally yours if you don't have a receipt for it and it is not yet registered in your name? Forgive me for saying this but surely its common sense to get a receipt when you purchase something.
Hmm...curious. I have registered 2 bikes in the last two years and used two different MOT stations. Neither batted an eyelid. Just did the test. Where snouts are you? I'm in Eastbourne & used TPS motorcycles last time.
I enquired about getting a bike motd without any documents at all and was told they wouldn't or couldn't touch it as they need a date of when it was made so you must have got lucky someone doing it with no evidence of anything.
Sorry to ask the obvious but did the MOT station know the bike is not registered yet? And that is the reason you are after an MOT?
They can carry out an MOT by confirming the frame number and entering "Not known" or "Unregistered" in the registration mark box. My bike's make and model wasn't even on the DVLA database so the MOT guy just entered the make as Sherco and Model as Scorpa. That was not so important because the frame number and engine number were what mattered. I had the make and model corrected subsequently of course but for the first MOT it didn't matter.
I recently got my Scorpa registered for road use. It is a 2003 bike and had never been registered before. DVLA rejected my application three times for different reasons instead of telling me all the things that I needed to do in the first rejection. Anyway, I thought I'd share with you all the procedure I had to follow to get my bike on the road. Hope you find it useful.
1. Get your bike MOT'd (full or day time use only depending on if bike has lights etc.)
2. Ring DVLA and ask them to send you a V55/5 Application for first vehicle tax and registration of a used motor vehicle
3. Ring HMRC Personal Transport Unit on 03000 583020 to check if your bike is in the NOVA (Notification of Vehicle Arrival) system. If not ask them to send you a form. There is a form online but you can't use that because you won't have all the information & it won't let you proceed.
4. Fill in the NOVA form as much as you can & write a covering letter explaining anything you need to. If bike was imported to UK properly by a dealer then chances are you won't be liable to pay any VAT or any fees. I didn't have to pay a penny. HMRC will get back to you pretty quickly & tell you that your bike is on the system & give you a reference number plus a letter saying there is no VAT due.
If your bike is not on the NOVA system DVLA will reject your application.
5. Get a dating certificate. I had a bit of trouble with this because the original importer and original manufacturer are no longer trading. People who claim to be able to supply you a dating certificate for any bike couldn't supply me one because they either had incorrect information which conflicted with what I knew or they only dealt with Japanese bikes. I managed to get a certificate from Sherco factory who now manufacture Scorpas but DVLA rejected it. Don't know why - I couldn't get any sense out of the bloke I spoke to. Eventually the top people at Birketts especially a lady named June came to my rescue and the certificate she provided me was accepted by DVLA.
As a courtesy to Birketts please ensure you have either paid any VAT due or have a letter from HMRC to say there is no VAT due so that it reassures them that they won't somehow become liable for it.
6. Once the bike is on NOVA system, fill in the V55/5 form as best as you can - all I filled in was tax class, make, model, type of vehicle, colour, number of wheels, fuel type, chassis no. , engine no. & cc. The rest of application was blank. Don't forget to fill in year of manufacture & question 50 about type approval. If older than 10 years you don't need type approval but you need to say that on form. I didn't answer this question and DVLA rejected my application.
7. Send it (signed for, they lost my first application!) with cheque for registration + tax, dating certificate original (keep copy), recent utility bill, copy of drivers license, MOT certificate.
You should hear back in about a week all being well.
Sounds complicated but it needn't be. MOT > NOVA > DATE CERTIFICATE > DVLA.
Hope this helps. PM me or reply here if you want to see any examples of my forms.
After many conversations with DVLA/HMRC it now appears despite what the form says that you do NOT need insurance to register a trials bike for road use.
Unless the law has changed I don't know why someone there has told you that. To register a bike for the road means it has to comply with
the regulations for use of a vehicle on the road, which means it has to be taxed as you're registering it for road use. To tax it you have to have insurance, so how can they say you can register it without insurance...? it's an offence to have a taxed vehicle uninsured.
Only last week I successfully got my Scorpa registered for road use after three rejections from DVLA. So I have written out the procedure I had to follow in case it is of use to anyone in future.
Chris2604 is right - if you are registering the bike for the first time i.e. if it has never been registered before, you need to send the DVLA both the registration fee and the fee for road tax. You cannot insure a bike without a number plate. Therefore the registration and taxing the bike comes first.
Just SORN it before you sell it and you'll get a refund
When you sell a vehicle, you automatically get a refund for the remainder of of your tax sent to you. You do not need to SORN it.
Registering A Trials Bike On The Road
in Road Legal, MOT, Insurance etc
Posted
Good luck with it Tom. I learnt a very long time ago that when dealing with government agencies not to assume anything. Always take the belt and braces approach and send them everything you've got. It is amazing how even if all the systems are integrated and a click of the mouse can show whether an MOT exists they won't do it. They say the onus is on us to send them what they need.
Now that you have, hopefully you will get your V5 soon. Good luck.