Q Plates

[Ocheye]

Not sure if this is the right place for the following rant. I believe PC have been campaigning against some of the daft issues regarding kit cars and I wonder if there is any light at the end of the tunnel re 'Q' plates. They look so inappropriate on my car (Carisma Century) and I'm sure they affect the resale value. Swansea tell me they need a definite date of manufacture! I've got the original invoice for the kit but that's it really as the company went to the wall years ago. I suppose the first date of registration is the closest to a completed manufacture date but that's no good either. It's all a bit crazy as they would make money if I could transfer an old plate to the car and I am definitely not trying to pass it off as newer than it is (which supposedly is the purpose of the Q plate)
Any news?
BTW anyone interested in the Carisma Century or similar SS100 style replicas may find my blog interesting http://carismacentury.blogspot.com

[Ocheye]

Apologies as a newbie. I somehow posted this twice and don't know how to get rid of one of these entries if anyone can do that it would save my embarrassment

[CompoSimmonite]

There are already rules in place for kit cars -

If you use the original, unaltered, chassis then that provides the identify.
If you use a new chassis for the kit and all the rest of the components off one donor then you can normally get an age related number.
If, however, the car is a "bitsa" of several donors then there is no definative date hence Q reg.

Paul H

[Luxobarge]

Apologies as a newbie. I somehow posted this twice and don't know how to get rid of one of these entries if anyone can do that it would save my embarrassment

Done.

[TriumphDriver]

As composimmonite says you need to find out the donor vehicle. What chassis is it built on?
Swansea aren't being awkward, they just have nothing to go on as regards a definite date of manufacture.

[Ocheye]

I appreciate that Swansea aren't being awkward and understand the rules that apply. My car was built as far as I understand from one donor Cortina Mark 4 on a Carisma chassis. Many of the Carismas were given normal registrations but a few were stuck with Q plates allegedly because the local DVLA offices applied their own interpretation of the rules e.g No carismas used cortina instrumentation but this was frowned on by some offices. This was of course pre SVA/IVA and it is unlikely that they would pass the current tests requiring soft edges on just about everything including the leaping cat (a 'bagpuss' soft toy on the rad shell would look a tad odd!)
I don't know the full background to mine as I've never been able to trace the original builder but I was given to understand by club members that the only deviations from single donor were the later addition of a type 9 5 speed gearbox, uprated springs, spax dampers and wire wheels. Even a fair bit of the original wiring was reused. I still think however that the 'law is an ass' re. Q plates and also re. the Road Fund Tax exemption date never having moved forward annually which must be incredibly frustrating for anyone owning a late '73 car.I was kind of hoping that the lobbyists were making some progress with the coalition who say they want to get rid of legal anomalies, although they'll probably regard road tax exemption as being an anomaly and do away with that!

[JPB]

OK, so transferring off a Q isn't easy, but you can register the car in Northern Ireland, or certainly used to be able to do that to lose the Q plate. Possibly that loophole has now been closed, but possibly it's still a possibility. Worth asking the DVLNI or DVA as they seem to be calling themselves now.
That said, I know plenty of builders and owners of kit cars and one-offs for whom the Q is a badge of honour that says "I built this." Specialist insurers don't mind and values at a quick glance seem roughly equal to those of similar cars on age-related plates.
I certainly had no trouble finding a buyer for my Q-plate Dutton Sierra when I sold that some years back. Could have sold it several times over and at the same time as a similar one, but on a '69 H plate, was being advertised in the same column of the yellow paper.

[TriumphDriver]

OK, so transferring off a Q isn't easy, but you can register the car in Northern Ireland, or certainly used to be able to do that to lose the Q plate. Possibly that loophole has now been closed,

Yes, we now have QNI plates.

[Ocheye]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I'll have to live with it for the moment.