NOVA/Re-registration

[JonE]

Has anyone got (or recovered from) recent experience of going through the NOVA process? It struck me that the arcane and disconnected information available needs to be clarified for others.

My experience:

1. NOVA1 notification IS required for reregistering British vehicles that have been off the road and aren't on the system, despite the form's advice notes not suggesting that its for this purpose at all!

2. DVLA will tell you you need NOVA, but won't give you the right reason why, leading you to believe that you are trapped in a morasse that could involve VAT payment and through some mistaken belief that you are importing from outside the UK.

2. NOVA applications can be done online, but advice from the HMRC PRU is that you can't do "our" sort of application online, because the form cannot be appropriately doctored to fit our needs (i.e. of being a UK car).

3. DVLA wont proceed with a V55 application for registration unless the car details are on the NOVA system, so essentially you are providing the same information to NOVA first.

[Stuart Giles]

Can't offer any direct experience on the UK aspect of this as I've only imported cars under the old C & E form 386 or with a straight NOVA form which has been handled by the UK shipping agent.

But it does sound like you've landed in a Franz Kafka novel. Would be weird if you really had to use a NOVA form in this situation - the acronym is Notification Of Vehicle Arrival, and of course is all about VAT and Duty as the notes confirm.

Are you trying to register a UK manufactured vehicle? they've always been a bit hot on complete cars being imported as a pile of bits and then a UK registration being applied for without the relevant duty being paid.

If this isn't yet another DVLA cock up, could you register the vehicle as a "reconstructed classic" you'd need to find some receipts for the parts, but the car would only need an inspection by a motor club V765 representative to get the car registered. More info here. https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/...c-vehicles

[JonE]

No, UK car. Matching numbers.

The NOVA form 7/17 now expressiy says its also for UK cars which have been unregistered for a period. It would be interesting to know when this changed, as its plainly a shoehorning-in for when British cars dont appear on the system due to passing of time. You can see that the advisory note and the application don't tally!     

[JonE]

I was surprised this did not generate more discussion, but I can see (in hindsight) it's because heads are kept down during the process and then one doesn't care anymore once its over!

My 1929 age-related application is now through (BFs are now in the low 8600s, by the way... I wonder what will come next?)

I did intend on seeking the truth about NOVA, but I'm just too jaded from it all now. I can only surmise that because my car was from Ulster and purchased from south of Belfast, some DVLA gonk decided it was "foreign" and pressed the wrong button. In the end I went through with it in the same way one would just nod if in a meeting with Kim Jong-Un... it just seemed, on balance, the right thing to do.