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Modded Minis And The New Law


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#1 garrett3

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 08:51 PM

If you car is reported modified be it from a member of publicto DVLA or an MOT inspector it must match the V5 (Its been law for 20+ years you must make notification of changes to dvla).
A dvla type person will inspect the car to verify the points system or if it has a modified chassic or mono construction.
If it does not have enough of the original car OR it has a modified structure then its put forward for an IVA.

Andy saunders car was reported modified to DVLA, He tried to remove a personal reg from the car and then the dvla sent someone to inspect it.
They sent him for an IVA and he failed! He then had to make his car "bentley insanne" pass 09 EU regs.

Nothing to do with VIC.

The IVA is a pre reg inspection, if you car is modded to the point of not matching the V5 or not having enough parts of the original vehicle left then the reg is "removed" by DVLA and you will be required to carry out an IVA. Simple >_<

The sva is the same law, BUT wasnt enforced like the new IVA will be,as the IVA will use the modern computerisation of MOT and V5's to weedle out the cars and they WILL enforce the law by inspection.

An IVA OR B IVA is £450 test fee and £90 for each fail.. expect a couple.

Here is an email from Any to me:

(Please be aware some of the email below has been removed as no longer relevant)



MAIN FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE NEW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION FOR MODIFIED CARS.



1) DVLA are targeting kit car events, 4X4 events, hotrod and custom shows, American car shows etc etc and collecting reg numbers of things that they don’t think should be on the road, placing their reg numbers of the targeted vehicle on the computer so that when you go to tax it the post office aren’t allowed to issue you the road tax.

2) (removed) DVLA allredy ask the MOT inspector to report cars that do not match the V5, this is not going to come in in 2012.. its here and now).

3) As from 2012 it will be illegal to carry out any modifications to a vehicle registered 2012 or newer. No spoilers, etc (Awaitng clarification)

4) The test is £450 with a £90 retest fee of which the slightest little thing that the tester doesn’t like is subject to another £90 retest as many times as he feels is required

5) The test as it is now is retrospect 10 years. Read on for my personal experience.




Six years ago when I finished the chopping my Bentley ( mentally insanne ) I had a letter from a Mrs Rhiona Richards at Swansea asking me to send her information on the car so she could decide if the car should be inspected, I sent a dossier to her and never heard another thing so I taxed it and used it for 5 years with out a single problem. Sept 08 I applied to take the cherished no from it and this is where the trouble started.



1) Stuart, an office worker from bournemouth DVLA, with no real knowledge of cars was sent to inspect it. He decided (completely on his own) that the cars was not fit for the road and he confiscated my V5, over riding a decision made by DVLA policy 6 years previous.( copy of all letters available)



2) Stuart requested from me details of Mrs Richards’ decision because DVLA no longer had records of my corrospondance between myself and Mrs Richards.



3) Stuart, the unqualified office worker has the power to destroy people’s professional work without as much as even getting a second person to inspect the vehicle. I requested over and over that someone else should have a look at it but dvla were happy with stuart s decision.



4) When I asked Stuart if he had looked at or inspected any of the other modified vehicles on display in Beaulieu’s ‘Art of Custom’ display, he replied “NO” I asked “Why not, there were 10 other heavily modified vehicles there you could have done all at the same time.” He replied “These were not brought to my attention by a number plate transfer as yours was?” ( this contradicts the whole idea and practise of their own ideas)



5) In a conversation with stuwart on oct 11th @ 10.30am when I asked him about his technical abilities he replied with and I quote “ that’s not my area of expertise, all I did was check the vin, I am not mechanically trained to give opinions, hopefully dvla will see sense and come back with the right decision. Unquote.



6) At a meeting with John Dyer in Dec 08 John asked me to ‘grass up’ a person I know that was given an age related plate on something that shouldn’t have had. According to my friend, the young girl doing the inspection had no idea what she was doing.



7) John Dyer has ignored my question ‘why was Mrs Richards’ decision overruled’ every single time I asked him.



8) Miss McDonald, the area manageress for the south west fails to answer the same question was an acceptable answer.



9) Miss McDonald ignores all of my attempts to explain to her about all of the vehicles on the road that have experienced modifications, such as mine, stating “that’s not what we’re discussing here, these vehicles haven’t been brought to my attention, and until they are I’m not interested.” So it is the same scenario as with Stuart – Surely if you are applying rules to one, the rules should be applied to all.



10) Steven Alexander ( of Swansea chief executives office) in letter form ignores the same question as John Dyer and Miss Macdonald ( copy of letter available)



11) I was asked by DVLA to get an independent letter to confirm the cars build quality and strength. This I did by having a long established Bentley expert complete me an inspection and statement. This was refused by DVLA. Yet after seeing the two bumbling idiots carry out an 8 hour test on my car I find it hard to understand why?



12) When I said to Stuart how unfair this decision was and that I would complain, he replied with and I quote “I hope you get somewhere, because the system is a mess and nobody really knows that they’re doing. This might help clarify things for us.” Unquote



13) Stuart tells me that if I choose Q reg, I don’t need an SVA test.



14) DVLA’s letter states that I must have an SVA to get a Q reg. Of which it transpires that I cannot take cause the car isn’t aligable for an SVA ( copy of letters available)



15) I requested a meeting with Mr Shanahan to try and explain my situation – it was ignored.



16) I have written to Mr Shanahan five times now, requesting a signed personal reply – I have not received a single letter signed by him. ( copy of all letters available)



17) One letter from Mr Shanahan is unsigned all together – this I find an insult.( copy available)



18) According to a computer expert, Mr Shanahans signature cannot be forgotten on a template letter, it had to have been removed.



19) Mr Shanahan has ignored my question ‘why was Mrs Richards’ decision overruled’ three times.



20) I received a letter from DVLA which said that if I wasn’t happy with the decision, I could ask for an appeal, which I did. My solicitor and I both received a letter saying that my appeal was being prepared. I then received another letter saying that they thought the handling of my case was satisfactory, so my appeal was no longer being lodged. ( copy of letter available)



21) In one letter from Mr Shanahan, it says that my language expressed to the Bournemouth Staff would not be tolerated, and that it had done nothing to help my case. But as a democratic country, I feel that Mr Shanahan stating that my attitude and feelings are liable to jeopardise my case is wholly unacceptable. Mr Shanahan is infringing on my human rights with this statement.( copy of letter available)



22) I enquired to the SVA testing station in Exeter I am told by Byron the SVA tester himself that a vehicle such as this CANNOT receive a Q plate. It will go back to its original number plate, contradicting both Stuart and the DVLA email.



23) I received a form stating that vehicle reg number Q___LEL must be registered SORN. The vehicle has no V5 or DVLA record so how can it have been allocated a Q ? As the vehicle at that moment was without a V5 it doesn’t exist? ( copy available)



24) I had no option but to apply for an SVA test, after applying I had a phone call from Mark Vickers (head of VOSA) asking me about the category I had chosen to be tested in. Mark said that it was not a professional build as that was for cars built ground up, he said yours is a modified production car, I agreed. He said ‘sorry Andy but there is NO category to SVA modified production cars’. Four people at DVLA said I had to get an SVA test to get a registration document and yet it wasn’t even allegeable to do so. Mark stated in this conversation and I quote " off the record Andy I feel so sorry for you but there is no answer, DVLA have taken it off the road and under SVA there is no way forward" this conversation took place march 19th 2009.

25) February 09 I wrote directly to the independent complaints assessor, a Dame Elizabeth Neville DBE QPM, she point blank refused my complaint because for her to do anything about it has to come from Noel Shanahan at DVLA( copy of her reply available)

26) I wrote to my MP asking if he could lodge my complaint with the government ombudsman. His reply stated that he would but the process would be slow as the government ombudsman “was swamped!”

27) I lodged a complaint with the Government ombudsman. There findings were that although everything was flawed it was not important enough for them to follow up.(copy available)

28) February 26th I managed to tax the car at the local post office even thought the car has no V5 document or record at DVLA ( copy available)

29) I had no option but to take the new IVA test. Which is a new test brought I to play on April 1st 09. I filled in all the forms correctly and asked for a no delay service, it was returned by post stating I had not given the correct answer to one question even though I had asked them to phone me if there were any problems.

30) I was subject to the IVA test on 2nd June; it took 8 hours for two men who hardly knew the front from the back of a car. The seat belt anchorage points were the main concern of Mark Vickers, this inspection took about 3 minutes, the other 7 hours and 57 minutes were spent making it look as though there job was of some kind of service to me.



31) The two testers spent from 8am till 8.40am bickering between them selves on how I should obliterate the old chassis number from the flitch panel.



32) The two testers had a coffee break from 10am till 10.45am.


33) The day after the test I had a phone call from the tester (Bryan Dean) stating that he had posted the failure list but had forgot to ad the rear hub assembly and that he had re-written the list and could I ignore the first failure.(both copies available)

34) During the test I was told that the side repeater flashers were failing because they were too sharp and the exhaust tail pipes were too long and sharp. Neither of these items appeared on the failure list.

35) At the time of the IVA test the car had chopped coil springs, this was not noticed.

36) During the test, Brian stated that plastic could not be used for the side windows at all. I phoned him the following week about what I should do about this and he said phone Mark Vickers straight away cause there has been a significant amendment on glass.



37) On the retest Bryan did not check the chassis number stamped into the body under the bonnet, he did not check the hand brake of the car for operation on the rolling road, both of which were on the failure, neither did he check the side repeater flashers or the tail pipes , but he did say most derogatory..."oh dear oh dear oh dear" when I told him that I had removed the front fog lights. He seemed absolutely dismayed when his little round ball would not go through the holes that had been left by their removal.

38) It took Bryan 45 minutes to fill in my certificate. The certificate only had 45 boxes and 14 of those were N/A. ( copy available)

39) The car was MOT’ed the following day and it failed on the O/S track rod end being so dangerous it was about to fall off, there was NO mention of this at any point what so ever, yet regarding the mot side of faults the washer jet had been failed on the first test? The track rod end was so bad that I would not have driven the car there if I had have known. ( copy of failure and worn track rod end available)


40) According to Bryan the car is now up to 2009 spec and as such will be registered as such and yet it doesn’t get a 2009 registration number, it gets a Q reg. At the end of the test the tester takes pictures of every side of the vehicle











Just a foot note, here are a couple of other interesting facts and stories regarding the inconsistent way that dvla enforce their ridiculous plans and how some are already being made to break the law just to enjoy the freedom of their hobbies.



There is a Cobra kit car for sale in this area, it was built about 3 years ago, it is fibreglass, it has a box section chassis etc etc , it was inspected by another local DVAL expert ( like stuart) but this time she had so little idea of what was going on that the owner has been issued with a V5 document stating that it is a 1965 COBRA. I have seen the car and the documentation.



Last November there was another similar case to mine which I was asked to get involved in but it was at the time when my dad was in hospital dying of luekhemia , I was just unable to think what my name was let alone help someone , but this guy went onto to fight his case as far as he could. He is local to me and he had built a daewoo matiz pick up for work, he filled in all the V5 stating what he had done and sent it to dvla, they wrote back saying they were confiscating his V5 until he had taken the SVA test, he like myself applied for this but was refused because there are no catogories for small commercial. This man did manage to get two write ups in the local Bournemouth Echo but to no availe, he sold the vehicle as scrap.

That pick up is back on the road wearing different registration plates. I have a photogragh of it in its new owners drive.




ANDY SAUNDERS

Edited by Ethel, 30 July 2009 - 06:39 PM.


#2 Jordie

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 08:56 PM

Havent read it all, but I work with one of the best fleet in the public and private sector in the UK. We work closely with VOSA and attend all the meetings and forums hosted by VOSA. I am unaware of this, but will look into it tomorrow.

#3 Saxo-Fiesta-Mini

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:02 PM

Jesus Mary Joseph Amen if this is what our government is coming to i dont want anything to do with any modified car ever again !!

its cause of all their paper work i didnt decided to stop my teaching degree

#4 Ouster

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:03 PM

Wow, that's some reading if it's true...

#5 dazzul

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:03 PM

It says on cars register after 2012, there not gonna be many minis with a 2012 reg plate.

#6 garrett3

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:03 PM

Havent read it all, but I work with one of the best fleet in the public and private sector in the UK. We work closely with VOSA and attend all the meetings and forums hosted by VOSA. I am unaware of this, but will look into it tomorrow.


So Was I untill I looked into it.

Seems so unfair doesnt it..

http://www.transport.....A leaflet.pdf

"People re-building older cars with significant modifications"

this alone will end all of my mini builds. I have done roof chops and double fronted cars etc etc and all far exeed MOT standards but cannot pass the IVA.

This above is just the basic form... Do some homework guys as is in effect now.

Edited by garrett3, 20 July 2009 - 06:14 PM.


#7 huntface

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:04 PM

There was a poster on here the other week saying this pretty much is already the case in France.

#8 garrett3

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:05 PM

It says on cars register after 2012, there not gonna be many minis with a 2012 reg plate.


Please read it again... Thats just a section of the email.

Did Andy build his car in 2012?

Like I said its a long email and I dont blame you for skim reading it but It really is worth a closer look mate

#9 Down&Out

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:05 PM

WHAT!!!??. So basically, by the time im around 18/19 years old, i wont be allowed to run my Mini. Well that seems like i've wasted 3 years and countless amounts of money on something i enjoy for nothing?. if this is true, this is going to kill our scene, the Veedub scene and pretty much any other car scene there is.

I hope they scrap it...

#10 yorkshirechris

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:06 PM

"People re-building older cars with significant modifications"

this alone will end all of my mini builds. I have done roof chops and double fronted cars etc etc and all far exeed MOT standards but cannot pass the IVA.


There's a bit of a difference between "rebuilding with significant modifications" and putting arches on a mini though?

#11 1987_ParkLane

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:07 PM

I just can't see this being totally true some how >_< , really need more evidence.

#12 Rosslin Racing

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:07 PM

welcome to the EEC the reds have sold you out!!!!

#13 RetroRay

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:09 PM

a hell of alot of people may go out of business if this is true !

#14 garrett3

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:09 PM

"People re-building older cars with significant modifications"

this alone will end all of my mini builds. I have done roof chops and double fronted cars etc etc and all far exeed MOT standards but cannot pass the IVA.


There's a bit of a difference between "rebuilding with significant modifications" and putting arches on a mini though?


Yes mate there is..

It effects the builders out there at the moment but with the new computer system the mot inspector will be educated on tougher stances and the onus will be on them come MOT time to report you the car presented does not match the V5. then you will not be able to tax your car without further inspection if its significantly modded from its standard form.

A set of arches will prob be fine but I'm talking about the heavily modded minis and kit based minis.

our shows will be spot the different arches?

Edited by garrett3, 20 July 2009 - 06:17 PM.


#15 Sieve

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Posted 13 July 2009 - 09:09 PM

If that's true, that's completely mad. Also think of all the businesses that are going to go bust because of it!




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