Changing date of first registration on V5C. Can it be done?

[pryantcc]

Hello folks,
Has anyone had to do this? I have a '79 Jeep which has 1981 as the date of registration on the V5C. I'm thinking that might be the date of import from the US rather than date of registration. Has anyone been through something similar? Anyone know what the DVLA require to change the V5C?

Thanks,
Paul.

[JPB]

Put simply; no, it can't. If the Jeep came to the UK in 1981 then that was its registration date for the purposes of DVLA records and its two earlier years, before being brought in, don't count.
However, the DVLA will still recognise 1979 as the date of manufacture so, from the POV of date-related test regulations and that of eventual free VED status in the UK, there won't be a problem if the club that caters for the car is affiliated to the federation of classic car clubs and, as such, is recognised as a source of accurate information for dating purposes.

[harvey]

Unless it's on a "Q" plate, although it has the date of registration as 1981, somewhere on the V5 it should say someting along the lines of "...Declared as manufactured 1979, previously registered/used overseas...." That manufacture date is what governs all the testing regulations as stated above. The date of registration is nothing more than that, the date it was registered in the UK. I've got one like that at the moment, and have had several others.

[pryantcc]

Thanks for the info guys. I ave a few old MOTs which say 1979 as the "First Used" date. Does anyone know about this parameter and where it would have come from?