what do you do?

Here is the scenario

You have a bike you no longer ride (not me) (yet) and you sell it on ebay. The buyer from another country sends you half the money, you send him one key, he sends you the rest of the money, you send him the V5. This happens in November. Because of snow he asks you to keep bike for him. In Feb he states he will come over with van on ferry to pick up bike 1st week in April. As it is now nearly June, bike still not been picked up, cannot contact buyer. Have 1 key but no V5 what can you do? anyone want to buy a bike with no V5?

you can reapply for the V5 and declare the other lost... ??

Originally Posted by SuZuKiBaBe

you can reapply for the V5 and declare the other lost... ??

is that legal or theft?

It is not illegal to request a new V5. If the procedure is done correctly when selling a vehicle, DVLA will already know who is the registered keeper. Did you/this person transfer the V5 correctly? I am quite sure you have to let DVLA know if the vehicle is being exported.

If the documentation was completed correctly, the new registered keeper of the vehicle will be sent a letter informing them that someone else is trying to apply for a new V5 document for that vehicle. I am not entirely sure if that still works after the vehicle has been exported though.

[dirtydog]

Yep the V5 was filled out correctly to show the bike being exported

[CheGuevara]

Stig is right - you need to complete a small section (brown I think?) dealing with exportation on the RHS of the form, and send that off to the DVLA with a covering letter.

This is what I did when my bike went off to Ireland a short while ago. They sent me a letter back a few weeks later confirming that I've been removed from their records as the keeper. Otherwise you might be liable for tax/SORN.

The rest of the V5 goes with the buyer.

Probably best to give the DVLA a call to explain that the export has not gone ahead and ask them what the procedure is.

As an aside, why was this method of payment arranged? It sounds quite suss to somebody who doesn't know the background.

failing that, break it on ebay

[gruntygiggles]

So, are you wanting to have the V5 back in your name because he's not picked up the bike and so you may as well put it up for sale again? I would say this is impossible if the forms were filled and sent off.

When you say you sent him the V5, did you send him the whole thing, or just the new keeper slip and you sent the rest off to DVLA?

I would call them and discuss this with them directly. You should have a DVLA office localish as well where you can go and speak to someone in person. It may be that something has happened to the buyer and no-one in his life knows anything about the bike? I take it you had no problems with the money?

I would just start with the DVLA, explain what's happened and ask what your next move should be.

Was there a bill of sale written out and exchanged? The V5 is only the registered keepers certificate.

I am still not sure what would happen regarding the DVLA contacting the new registered keeper regarding someone else trying to apply for a V5 for that vehicle because that person is overseas. I guess they would do the same thing as if it were someone over here and just send out a standard letter. If DVLA get no response back from the letter over a given period of time, they simply issue the new V5 to the person applying for it.

[Biker Biggles]

If you declared it "permanantly exported" some months ago then that is what the DVLC will have it as.I think you might need to reimport it before they will just issue another V5 and I bet that costs a few quid.
Best call them and ask.