If you’ve ever bought or sold a van before or any other vehicle, then there’s a great chance that you’ve heard of V5 documents before. It’s a really important document relating to your van, so it pays to know something about it. Unfortunately it is not a piece of paper that reduces your van’s insurance or grants you free parking wherever you go, but is important, especially if you’re wanting to sell your vehicle.
What is it?
The V5C document stands for your vehicle registration documents that register the vehicle with the driver/owner and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The document contains essential information about your vehicle such as the sate it was first registered, its manufacturer, model, colour and engine size.
The information on this document should all be correct, however, if there is a mistake on it, whether that to be information related to the car or your personal details, you’ll need to contact DVLA to change it.
What if I don’t have one?
If you don’t have a logbook for your vehicle, it is highly recommended that you apply to the DVLA for a replacement. A replacement usually takes around 4 weeks to arrive and costs around £25. A lack of a logbook will make it impossible to tax and extremely difficult to sell the car as potential buyers will not trust buying a van without the key document. If you have bought a van with no logbook, this could be a clue of a stolen vehicle. Without a vehicle logbook, you can still get a full vehicle history check.
It is important that whenever you buy or sell a vehicle, that you have a copy of the V5C documentation that you can pass onto the buyer, or can receive on payment.
The process of completing the V5C form is simple enough. It is important to ensure that all of your details are correct and that all of the details of the new owner are also correct. Simply then send the new information to the DVLA.