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Hello - to cut a long story short my bike is a 79 sport so has been eligible for historic vehicle tax for a year or so but I hadn't got round to it due to resto and moving house.
Bike completed a month or so ago just ready for a sunny day, so I taxed it as I didn't want to be riding illegally and went out. Just over a week ago I used the .gov website to change the registered address as I had finally sold my old house - thought I would register it as historic once all the documentation had been sorted.
Documents came back very quick but a few days later came another v5 with an accompanying letter saying I had registered it wrongly, it was a historic vehicle and they had made the changes for me hence the new V5.

I don't have a problem with this as it saves me some effort but I had always thought that historic vehicle was a choice you applied for not an obligatory characterization. Any thoughts - Duncan

The DVLA told me my '75 Suzuki GT550 triple was Historic: I didn't apply to them!

Nick

I received a new V5 in the post unbidden!

Not a choice, I fear.

Thanks - seems somewhere down the line I had got the wrong end of the stick.
Duncan

I think it started that you had to apply but has changed to be automatically applied.

If they want to give money away....

Same happened to me a few years ago. I taxed a Norton that had been off the road for years and paid up as I wanted it done asap. Within weeks a new V5 arrived with a cheque refunding the tax, all without me asking.
I have also recently taxed the flat track bike which has been sorned for years, and went through the V112 process as laid down on the gov. website. It was noted as taxed and historic immediately via online checks. I got a bit worried when the new V5 didn't show up and emailed them twice with no response. Well, the new 'historic' status V5c turned up this week after approx 8 weeks wait. I still think a lot of DVLA sub/small departments are handled by humans instead of the dreaded computers. Hence the applications like these or the NOVA/import one are all a bit haphazard and random, depending on the particular human doing it or whether they are on strike or under pressure from reduced staffing levels due to COVID.
Still, all's well that ends well.