28 replies to this topic

[Woody]

You will need to tell them about the shell swap as the new shell has its own vin number
you will need to get the new vin number onto your V5
you should be able to keep your old reg number if you swaped all or most of the parts off the old shell (there is a points system and has been gone into in many other threads)

[directorydaz]

Somebody will give the the propper answer in a minute

Legally you shoud inform the DVLA, and then they will prob ask for it to be SVA'd as you have changed such a massive componant, then depending on how you score points wise will depend on if you keep the ID of the car, or it may be assigned a new one or a Q

if you dont do any of the above, and you get stoped by VOSA and they smell a fish, they will send if off to be inspected as above

Personally i wouldnt tell a sole, as the above is time consuming and costly

If you do get stopped you need answers like "yeah it was in this good nick when i brought it etc etc" "really this looks like a new shell? the last owner must have really loved it" "the numbers matched the log book, its not a cut and shut so how do i know?"

You may also get asked why its taken you 6 months to tell them?

[Jammy]

LMAO, someone will give the right answer in a minute, but it certainly won't be that!

For a start the DVLA no longer uses the points system, and I don't believe it would be that costly to get through the SVA.

Anyway, phone the DVLA and tell us what they say!

[The Matt]

Somebody will give the the propper answer in a minute

................Personally i wouldnt tell a sole, as the above is time consuming and costly

If you do get stopped you need answers like "yeah it was in this good nick when i brought it etc etc" "really this looks like a new shell? the last owner must have really loved it" "the numbers matched the log book, its not a cut and shut so how do i know?"
..............

The voice of reason!

[Silicon Skum]

..........You know, I'm begining to see *why* there are such a large amount of ringed minis!

I'll contact the DVLA once I've found off the documents I need, just hope I don't have to go to the local office - it's a pain in the bum to get there.

SS

[miniT]

You will need to tell them about the shell swap as the new shell has its own vin number
you will need to get the new vin number onto your V5
you should be able to keep your old reg number if you swaped all or most of the parts off the old shell (there is a points system and has been gone into in many other threads)

I re-shelled my car with a heritage shell in '04/'05, i'm sure my shell didn't have its own vin number, i just notified the DVLA that i had reshelled it (i needed to tell them of engine cc change anyway, altho this was done some years before i just never got round to telling them!), i kept my original reg plate and the only bits transferred from old shell to new was the pedal box, steering column and front subframe.

I encountered no problems with the whole re-shelling process, just spent loads!

[minislapper]

As per the above, a brand new heritage shell does not have a VIN plate/number.

[mini1976]

At what point did the rules get firmed up to say that the new shell definately had to be a new one. As didnt this used to be an even greyer area than it is now and it didnt specifically say it had to be a new shell so people used to use pre registered shells.

[Jammy]

Quite a number of years ago now, as long as I've been interested in minis at least anyway, so 5 years plus. You simply can't use a pre-registered shell and retain your original ID.

[The Matt]

At what point did the rules get firmed up to say that the new shell definately had to be a new one. As didnt this used to be an even greyer area than it is now and it didnt specifically say it had to be a new shell so people used to use pre registered shells.

I have emailed the DVLA asking them this exact question, but as yet I have had no response. I will do an FAQ someday (or add to the existing one) to try and draw a line under all of this!

[Bungle]

as long as I've been interested in minis at least anyway, so 5 years plus

is that all 5 years thats not very long to be intrested in mini's

i have owned my mini longer that you have been into minis

[Woody]

LMAO, someone will give the right answer in a minute, but it certainly won't be that!

For a start the DVLA no longer uses the points system, and I don't believe it would be that costly to get through the SVA.

Anyway, phone the DVLA and tell us what they say!

I am so sorry for adding to the miss-information
I have never re-shelled a mini into a new shell
but i have reshelled a:sierra, fiesta , escort MK5 (probs a few more)
and they ALL came from the manufacturer with the VIN number stamped in the correct place and had the new VIN number added to the V5 (but the last one done was about 6 years ago)
it was only about 6 months ago that a friend ( a police engineer) gave me advice on what needed to be kept and how many points were for each item (things change fast if you take your eye off the ball )

[Dan]

Well then 6 months ago your Police engineer friend was already wrong! The points system was dropped over a year ago, it's about 'major assemblies' now.

When the points sytem was in place (which was around for many years) it definitely said 'original or brand new unused original specification shell'. It has been a very, very long time since a second hand shell could legally be used to repair a car. It may have come in with VIN numbers actually (since a VIN number refers to a vehicle build as a whole and not a body like a body or chassis number does which is why you don't get a new one automatically with a shell) which would mean it was around 1980.

When I did mine (when new shells were first available from BMH back in the days of the points system) it was not actually required to report the change so long as you had enough points to keep the ID. They only wanted to know about it if you didn't have enough points and so needed an ID check. If your shell came with a new VIN you just sent the V5 off with it written in, if not you didn't do anything pretty much as Woody says above. It is very very different now though!

As for shell cpecification, the Mk4 shell is sold as a Mk4 shell and says that on the receipt. That's what's important. If you compared the first original Mk4 shell off the line to the last one there would be many differences (placement and type of wiring brackets is one thing I can think of), specification changes a lot during any production run.

[jack_marshall]

if you dont do any of the above, and you get stoped by VOSA and they smell a fish, they will send if off to be inspected as above

Personally i wouldnt tell a sole, as the above is time consuming and costly

If you do get stopped you need answers like "yeah it was in this good nick when i brought it etc etc" "really this looks like a new shell? the last owner must have really loved it" "the numbers matched the log book, its not a cut and shut so how do i know?"

Lying to VOSA is like signing your own death warrant.

I'd just ring DVLA and ask them.

I'd tell them for peace of mind.