Hi All,

We have  visit from DVLA on Monday 19th Jan. They don't believe our buggy is Vintage!
I have the Chassis number which matches the V5 document but if I can say how old the body kit is will help.

Can anyone help please?








Thank you
Alan & Simone Stein
Wales

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately there's no definite way of telling the body's exact age.

It's a GP Superbuggy, that body style was introduced in late 1975 and was in constant production (although the moulds changed hands a few times) until around the year 2000 or possibly a bit later.

The awkward thing is it is believed that the moulds still exist in the hands of Kingfisher Kustoms in Birmingham but I don't believe that they've actually had any moulded in the past 25 or so years. Maybe a phonecall to Dave Fisher could confirm that fact at least.

What's their issue with the age of the conversion?

Hi,
Thanks for your help.

We have been told they may dispute the status of vintage vehicle for taxation purposes. I know the chassis is 1969 but would like to try to prove the age of the body kit to help keep it's status and heritage.

Simone & Alan

Will try the number you suggested on Monday Thank you.

Even a buggy with a 50 year old body might still have been a Beetle last week, and an old body put on yesterday.

The chassis number matches the 1969 V5 but is the chassis number for 69 beetle, what prompted the visit
https://www.coolairvw.co.uk/vw-info/beetle/chassis-codes/

Is the car registered correctly or is it still down as a Beetle?

What actually triggered an inspection because changing tax class from PLG to Historic is just a paper exercise handled by the Post office, they send your V5C off to be changed, no direct contact with DVLA is needed. In fact the DVLA should never ever be contacted unless really necessary as the place is 90% staffed by undertrained idiots who for the most part don't know their own rules. You'll never get a straightforward answer off any of them, you'll only ever get their opinion...often incorrect.

[Is this a case of DVLA misunderstanding ? .The legal aspect is clear and indisputable.]

Is this a case of DVLA misunderstanding ? .
The legal aspect is clear and indisputable.
A vehicles legal identity is defined by    1). vehicle with a separate chassis....... the chassis is the vehicle identity. 2). vehicle that is one piece, ie monocoque, then the shell in it`s entirety is it`s identity. Where a vehicle has a separate body fitted, original or otherwise, as your buggy is then the body is of no issue. How you are experiencing difficulty in this respect is baffling. Give the K & R dept at DVLA a call and ask to speak to someone. (Phone number is in one of my threads within the IVA section of forum).
Bottom line.... VIN number stamped on chassis tunnel is proof of age but the V5C must match. (Ensure the Vin is original, not stamped somewhere along the line by using fingers to feel if there is any evidence of a weld around the vin number. There should not be. The metal should be smooth).

Changing to HISTORIC tax, as others have said, should be no more than a quick paperwork exercise at the post office - Dead easy to do and is based purely on the date the vehicle was first registered (as a Beetle)

It might help us to understand and assist more if we know EXACTLY what you have done, what you asked, who you asked, and what you were trying to achieve?

Were you trying to go for MOT excemption as well? or did you change the body type on the V5 to say Buggy?

I suspect there is more going on here 

It would also be really useful to know how your DVLA inspection went

Any information you can share may help others too

I'm not sure who does their inspections now, it used to be SGS but I think they lost the contract. Again it'd be good to know and expand the knowledge base.

SGS had one guy covering the whole of Scotland apparently, he must've billed some mileage...

Any news?     

When I looked into this 2 years ago it was still SGS with a few DVLA folks. Could be anybody and their granny now I guess...

Any news?     

Well some thing has changed a new V5C was issued on the 29 January 2026

Well that is good news it must have landed on somebodies desk who knows the system.