IVA & Vehicle Registration
I thought I'd dedicate a page to the trials and tribulations of getting my car through the IVA test and Registration process. Once I get my registration I will complete this page and hopefully
it can act as a guide or reference for anyone doing the same as me. This is only my experience of the IVA process and should not be taken as gospel, I'm sure everyone else will have
slightly different experiences, but this is how I faired. Hopefully this may help someone out.
I think it’s important for anyone reading this to understand where I started from. I decided to build myself a Dax 427 De Dion - which is based on Jaguar XJ40 running gear.
These are the major items I bought in rough order:-
01. Dax 427 De Dion Chassis
02. Jaguar XJ40 Donor
03. Ford 351 Cleveland
04. Engine Stand
05. Engine Crane
06. Tremec Gearbox
07. Dax Body
08. Image Wheels
09. Bright Work
10. Interior Kit
So the Jaguar was driven home to have the engine removed, at this point it was declared "SORN" an Important step as you need to keep the V5C. The Ford engine was given a quick service and
then fitted very roughly to the Jag shell for testing. What I didn’t do at the time was to register the Jag with the engine or get the engine's age verified. Both of which should have done. If you want
emissions to be visual smoke only you need a PRE 1975 engine and need to be able to prove the age.
IVA Test Application
Below are the forms I used:-
IVA Application Form
Amature Build Form
This is used to declare which parts you have fitted to the vehicle yourself, as you can see I ticked all items.
Choose your Test Station
As you can see from my application for I only entered one test centre, I called DVLA and this is fine, it just means you wait till the specific station has a space.
Current list of test Stations (Correct November 2014). You need to select one from the M1* column
Include Build Photos
You also need to send photographic evidence of the build, fortunately as I've been doing this web site this was easy for me. What I did do was to include them all into one Word document
so I could add a header and footer to each page with the Chassis Number and my details on in case they got lost or separated from the rest of the application. Probably OTT but my eternal
pessimism with government agencies and paperwork made me do it ;-)
Engine Age Verification
As my engine is pre 1975 I needed to prove its age for the emissions test. I used a company called Knight Racing Services who I took the engine to and they verified that the
block was as stated and produced me a letter of conformation.
Other Documents you need to include with the application are:-
1. Payment £450.00
2. Receipts for the Major Components (Dax Kit, Gearbox, Wheels, Jag, Interior etc.)
That's about it, put it all in a large envelope and send it recorded delivery to
DLVA
Swansea
SA99 1BA
I think I then only waited about two weeks until I received the letter with my test date. As a foot note at this point in the process the only thing I hadn’t realised is that I would need
an MOT to then apply for a registration. Had I have known then I would have booked one at the IVA centre, which would have yes been a bit presumptuous but I would have explained my
position to them at the time of booking.
Now in my case I managed to pass first time (with a couple of minor fixes) and was issued with the IAC certificate, which now entitles me to proceed to the next stage of the process - Registration.
Registration
Once you have the IAC you can then enter the mysterious world of the DVLA. From reading various parts of their website I was able to gleam that I have NOT built a kit car, I've actually produced a
Kit Converted Vehicle, an important difference. Basically a Kit Car is built 100% with new parts and therefore would gain a current reg. (i.e. AB64 ABC)
So a Kit converted vehicle is where new parts are added to old chassis or old parts (i.e. donor Jag parts) are added to a new chassis and this is how the Dax is built. In order to gain the registration you
need to complete two additional forms. First is a V627/1 "Built up vehicle report" which is where you list the donor parts used. As you can see from mine its fairly straight forward, but I did add a little bit
of explanation on the reverse as I REALLY didn’t want a Q plate !
You also then need to complete the form V55/5 which is to apply for first vehicle tax and registration of a used motor vehicle. As you can see from my form below it was not possible to fill in every box, and
this is how I sent it in and it was obviously fine as about 2 weeks later I received my new registration and MOT in the post !!
And that’s pretty much it. So the last set of paper work sent to the DVLA was
01. Original Jaguar V5C
02. Driving License Photocopy
03. First Registration fee £55.00
04. Year's Tax £235.00
05. MOT - (Another builder has informed me that this may not be required, please verify yourself)
06. Insurance Certificate
07. IAC Certificate
08. Photocopies of Receipt’s for Major Components - Same set sent with IVA application
09. Build Photos - Same as sent with IVA application
10. V627/1
11. V55/5
That's about it, put it all in a large envelope and send it recorded delivery to
Kits and Rebuilds
DLVA
Swansea
SA99 1ZZ
So there you go - how to register your kit car - well this was my journey anyway, I'm hoping it helps at least someone out there, and if it does please drop me an email to let me know how you
got on or if you find anything here to be incorrect.
Thanks
Ant