I recently tried to renew the tax on my van, but the DVLA told me that the vehicle had been registered as scrapped. This was news to me.
The DVLA insisted I take it up with my insurer, which confirmed that the vehicle is still insured and roadworthy.
I was required to send the DVLA evidence of this and was told that the investigation would take at least six weeks, during which time the van could not be driven.
I live in a rural area and am reliant on it. I’ve since received a further letter from the DVLA naming the insurance company that wrote it off, and telling me to contact them.
So basically, a random company has incorrectly, or possibly fraudulently, passed on my details, leaving me stranded, and the DVLA won’t help.
MD, Aberdeenshire
Not only did the DVLA decline to help you, it got the name of the notifying insurer wrong.
Service Claims was the culprit it named despite the fact that no such company apparently exists.
You eventually discovered that your van had been written off by a claims handling company in the north of England.
It told you it had confused your van with a vehicle with a similar registration plate. (I contacted the company for a comment, but it did not respond.)
What unnerves you, and me, is that the DVLA will happily write off a vehicle on the say-so of an insurer without alerting the registered keeper.
Even more troubling, the van was recorded as salvage in January 2024, since when it has been successfully taxed once and passed two MOTs – a fact recorded on the website of the DVLA’s sister authority, the DVSA.
The DVLA told me that it is reliant on information being provided correctly by insurers, and that if a mistake is made, the notifying insurer is welcome to let them know.
It declined to comment on your case but its system is now showing your van as hale and hearty, and you are legally back on the road.
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