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A family member has just purchased a car from an entity that was purporting to be a car dealer, and the V5C(W) (part of the document that defines the registered keeper) with which they were provided has the name and address of the current registered keeper obscured by black marker pen. It looks like this but much more effectively obscuring the address. Is it legal to alter this document in this way?

I had thought that the document remains property of the DVLA, and as such defacing it would be illegally damaging others property, but I cannot find anything online to confirm this.

Dave
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2 Answers2

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Is it legal to obscure the address on V5C(W)1 ?

YES

The V5C remains the property of the previous keeper, not the DVLA, and notwithstanding the government's advice to destroy it, they can deface it in any way they wish - especially if they are concerned about protecting their personal information and have given it the new keeper in error:

What should happen is the new keeper just gets the tear-off slip V5C/2 with only the vehicle's details thereon. The previous keeper should inform the DVLA of the changes who then issues a new V5C to the new keeper. (If for whatever reason one isn't issued, the new keeper can use the details from the V5C/2 to apply for one themselves.)

Note that if the dealership had the car "in trade", they are not obliged to re-register it in their name, and presumably they obliterated the previous keeper's details to protect their personal information. This is very likely the case even if they weren't applying the "in trade" procedures but bought and sold the car without re-registering it (a fairly common practice among some dealerships that avoids an official paper-trail and lessens the number of recorded previous keepers which can affect the price).

1 the W suffix denotes the document is the Welsh version.

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This is more than dodgy. Clearly someone doesn't want you to contact the previous owner. The only rational reasons are: 1. The dealer is lying about the care, like stating it has done 50,000 miles when the previous owner would tell you it's done 120,000 miles. 2. The previous owner went on holiday, someone broke into their home, stole car keys, log book, and car, and they don't want you to call the previous owner so this doesn't all come out. 3. There's something seriously wrong with the car, and the previous owner didn't know, so they erased their address.

On the other hand, I assume that DVLA should know the contact details of that previous owner anyway. I think you might be able to get that information for £3.50 from the DVLA.

gnasher729
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