I have recently purchased a Toyota Tundra pick-up from a reputable, long established American car dealer. The vehicle was manufactured in 2003 and imported into the UK from Florida in 2005.

Since being imported it has had approximately 3 registered owners, the last being the garage from which I bought it. When inspecting the existing V5C it came to light that the engine size is and since being imported always has had, the engine size incorrectly recorded; I have copies of all relevant paperwork including V5Cs for previous owners and MOTs etc since its importation and copies of much of the paperwork for the 18 months or so it was driven in the USA, including engine number, chassis number and VIN details and everything ties-up. When going through the change of ownership process with the dealer, we agreed that the DVLA would be notified of the fact that the engine size is not 3500cc as recorded but is in fact 4700cc, which he did at the same time the change of ownership details were sent-off the the DVLA.

I traded in a Ford Ranger when purchasing the Tundra and the dealer also sent the V5C for the tundra and the details of the Rangers sale from its V5C at the same time.

I waited a few weeks and when the notification slip indicating that the Ranger had been sold did not arrive, I contacted the DVLA who stated that the slip had already been sent to me and confirmed that the change of ownership had been recorded. They also offered to send me another confirmation slip, which I agreed to. Some days later I received two separate slips in the post, on the same day.

So, given that the DVLA had received the notification of change of ownership of the Ranger, and the information related to both vehicles was sent at the same time, they must also have received the V5C related to the Tundra.

When two weeks or so later, I 'phoned the DVLA and asked them why I hadn't received the V5C for the Tundra I was told that they'd received it that very day and that it would take another four to six weeks to process the paperwork and send it to me, so if I hadn't received anything by then I should 'phone them again. Believing I was going mad, I contacted the dealer, who re-affirmed the fact that both documents had been sent to the DVLA at the same time but being a sceptic, I remained open-minded regarding who was lying to me.

It's now been a few day short of two months since I bought the vehicle, I still haven't received the V5C and therefore, I 'phoned the DVLA again. This time I was told that the DVLA had indeed received all of the documentation related to both vehicles on the same day, nearly two months ago, which means that the DVLA lied to me the last time I contacted them but they were not prepared to issue the V5C because despite having sent a letter some weeks ago asking the dealer to confirm that the engine had been replaced "with an engine considerably bigger than the original one", they had not responded, so the DVLA were going to send another letter out today.

When I remonstrated with the voice from the DVLA regarding the fact that the engine hadn't been replaced, but that the details on the V5C had always shown the incorrect engine size and that the vehicle type had never even been made with this size engine, I was put on hold for a few minutes and then told that they would send the letter to me instead, as I was now the owner of the vehicle (but not the registered keeper thereof). When I again told the voice that there was no point in sending the letter to me as the engine hadn't been replaced and repeated that the capacity had been incorrectly recorded when imported, he seemed loathed to accept this. I stated that the DVLA must come across incidents like this all the time and on that basis, asked him what laid-down, official procedures the DVLA had for such circumstances, at which time he stated that there weren't any such laid-down procedures but that I would have to contact the Toyota UK and ask them to confirm the original engine size, number and the vehicle VIN number. I told him that this would be a waste of time as the vehicle was imported from the USA, so he said that I'd have to contact Toyota USA (the truck was manufactured in Indiana) and ask them to confirm these details. I then told him that this was impractical and that I was unlikely to get a response from them as this type of vehicle is not sold outside North America at which time he was unclear as to what to do in the event that I couldn't get an answer from Toyota USA; in fact it seemed like he was just trying to get rid of me off the 'phone.

What should I do to resolve this issue?

Why isn't there an ombudsman service related to poor service and co-operation from and by the DVLA and its appallingly unhelpful staff?

Edited by Plumbsolvency on 30/11/2013 at 03:01