Hi All,
I bought an unregistered trike in May this year and put it through the registration process myself.
My main concern was the MSVA - which was why the chap I bought it off was happy to sell it before he had to go through that. Not that he or I had any concerns about the trike, as it was very well put together. Chevy Rick had come with me to see the trike and he didn't have any qualms either.
I had read that disabled riders (which I am) didn't need to go through the MSVA but as I wanted it to be above board if I sold it, I thought I would still have to if I wanted to sell it to a non-disabled rider. This turned out not to be the case as once the trike is registered no other tests - other then the normal MOT - are needed. I went to my local DVLA and double checked this and they were very helpful. That was good news because it meant we didn't need to trailer the trike to the MSVA inspection depot which in our case, is Southampton. As long as the weight of the trike was under 450k and I signed a declaration (something the DVLA put together) when I registered it to say I am disabled then all is okay. This saved a lot of time and worry. All the DVLA did, was come out to my home and check the trike over to make sure part numbers matched up with the registration form I had filled in and that the trike was what I said it was.
The chap who came out was very nice and helpful and he thought the trike was very nice - he was very complimentry. I told him I had a VIN the chap I bought it off had given me but he said I had to use one provided by them and that he would post it out to me in a couple of days so it could be stamped on the bike. He was happy for us to do that and Chevy Rick stamped it for me. The only downside to doing it at this point is Rick had to remove some of the paint on the forks to stamp the numbers properly. However, I can't see how it could have been done any other way in this instance.
Once I had got this far and booked the MOT and checked I could get access to a weighbridge, I insured the trike. They would only issue cover for 14 days (normally it is 30) so that did put a bit of pressure on me in case something went wrong - 14 days soon whizzes by - but fortunately nothing went wrong. The insurance needed loads of information about the trike but fortunately I got cover and at a reasonable rate - £160 for a year fully comp and starting with no no-claims. For me, this was probably the most difficult bit as some of the quotes I was getting were ridiculous - £700 - and these were from the well known bike insurers.
The next step was to get the trike weighed and MOT'd. The MOT garage would need to check the VIN and sign a separate letter provided by the DVLA to confirm the VIN on the trike. I then had to return this and the weighbridge certificate to the DVLA when I registered it. The weighbridge certificate came in at 310 kilos which is well below the limit for this taxation class. I did this on the way to the MOT even though I shouldn't have really because of the insurance - but hey, I was on the way to the MOT!
Once I had all the necessary paperwork, all I had to do was go the local DVLA and hand it all over and pay for the tax. That was it. Fairly painless and all done within about a fortnight. Maybe I was lucky our DVLA was so helpful and fast.
Here is a previous post relating to my trike if you are interested with some piccies.
http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5550.msg68884#msg68884Hope this is helpful, JJ