If you decide to lease a car you might be wondering who the registered vehicle of the car is. There might be an issue with the vehicle or you might want to spend time overseas. Whatever the reason, this article aims to help you answer these questions and more:
The Legal Owner A Leased Car
The legal owner of the car and its registered keeper are different things. If you’ve never leased a car before you might not have come across these terms. However, you can own a car and not be the person who is driving it.
The legal owner of the car is the finance company that you have a financial contract with. This could be the owner of the local lease firm or a large finance company.
Lease Car’s Registered Keeper
The car’s registered keeper is the lease company. However, if you have a finance lease the registered keeper of the vehicle is the funder. This means you are then the registered keeper.
What Not Being the Registered Keeper Means
If you are not the registered keeper of a vehicle it means:
- You don’t have the V5C document (The logbook) – This means you are limited to what you can do. You won’t be able to sell the vehicle nor will you have to set up the road tax. In addition to this, you won’t be able to drive abroad as you the vehicle won’t be registered at your address.
- You won’t need to pay road tax – The finance company will pay the road tax but it’s likely that you will have to buy insurance. It’s worth double-checking with the finance company just to make sure that all the road tax is paid. This information is likely to be found in the paperwork you were given at the time.
- If you’re caught speeding the finance company will be sent the information – They will then pass this information onto you so you can deal with it. Alternatively, they could add the fine to your next payment after informing you of this.
- Travelling Abroad – If you would like to travel abroad you will need to seek permission from the finance company. They can give you the right documentation that you will have to show. Please note, that Brexit might change the paperwork that you need, or how often you need to show it.
How to Find out Who is the Car’s Registered Keeper Of Any Car?
You can find out who the car’s registered keeper is but the DVLA will not tell you who it is. If you need to find out who the registered keeper is of your car you should call your leasing company. You can use the DVLA’s V888 form but you will need to give them what is known as ‘Reasonable cause’. The DVLA could give this information to you if you have found an abandoned car and you need to trace the owner but it’s likely that they will withhold who the registered keeper is.