Trouble with Certificate of Conformity???

[Ginger Phil]

I haven't had my Taishan Commuter very long but I was the highest bidder on eBay at £371 and got the bike from a company in Lincoln called Bike Mart Direct. When I received my Certificate of Conformity I went to my local DVLA in Norwich to "try" and register the scooter. The woman behind the counter told me that my CoF meant nothing and that I'd have to get the scooter to Norwich (which is 25 miles away, how the hell do you get a scooter 25 miles up the road without riding it???) and have it tested which would cost around £70.

I came straight home and phoned Bike Mart Direct who told me to send all the stuff back and they'd register the bike for me - which they did.

So it seems that the woman at the DVLA in Norwich was talking rubbish and cost me a lot of time & hassle.

Has anyone else had trouble with their Certificate of Conformity because I've noticed a few auctions on eBay saying the bike will need a DVLA test and this applies to all imported scooters.

[scooterboy]

I never had any trouble with my Taishan. I took all my stuff to the DVLA and around a week later the scooter was registered.

[beefjurky]

I got my boatian from bike mart at lincoln with all the relevant paper work,went to dvla at nottingham to register, then got some jobs worth kid telling me my certificate of conformity was no good,after a little persuasion (mainly intimidation) he went off to see his boss and then came back and scoot was regisitered,so no dvla tests or anything need to be done to register, jobs a guden.

[Ginger Phil]

beefjurky said:

I got my boatian from bike mart at lincoln with all the relevant paper work,went to dvla at nottingham to register, then got some jobs worth kid telling me my certificate of conformity was no good,after a little persuasion(mainly intimidation )he went off to see his boss and then came back and scoot was regisitered,so no dvla tests or anything need to be done to register, jobs a guden.

I got my ped from BMD too which is interesting. When the woman at my local DVLA said the certificate wasn't good enough I wasn't 100% sure whether she was right or wrong which is why I didn't argue.

It's strange that What Bike magazine say it meets all the European laws and that Bike Mart Direct have never had any problems registering a bike yet I've seen a few auctions on eBay saying the scooter will need a DVLA test before registering. It seems to be a luck of the draw.

Still, that's the good thing about this club - if anyone reading this buys a Taishan or a Baotian and their local DVLA won't register it without a test at least they can argue safe in the knowledge they're in the right!!

[silverkaren]

i wish i had read this before, as i have had a lot of trouble trying to register my scooter,and now have to take my scooter to norwich on tue-5-7-05,so much messing about i could have been going to work on it by now. still not long now.

[Ginger Phil]

silverkaren said:

i wish i had read this before, as i have had a lot of trouble trying to register my scooter,and now have to take my scooter to norwich on tue-5-7-05,so much messing about i could have been going to work on it by now. still not long now.

Where abouts do you live Karen, you can't be too far from me?

Well there's two of us who have been to the DVLA in Norwich and been told the certificate is worthless, my advice would be to go back to them and ask to speak to a manager - give them the address of this club so they can read this topic if you like?
There's something going wrong somewhere that a magazine (What Bike) say it passes all the EU laws, most sellers on eBay can register the scooter for you but as soon as you go to certain DVLA offices you hit a brick wall.

Like I said, go back to the DVLA and get it sorted because if you have to have a test done on your scooter how much is that going to cost?

[silverkaren]

i live in denver, it costs £45 and my husband and myself a day of work, but i love the scooter, i have got a yamaha pasolla called charlie,it goes like a little rocket.

[Ginger Phil]

silverkaren said:

i live in denver, it costs £45 and my husband and myself a day of work, but i love the scooter, i have got a yamaha pasolla called charlie,it goes like a little rocket.

Well I'd still suggest another way as the £45 you're going to splash out on Tuesday is for something you don't need. The only people gaining anything are the DVLA. If I and many others can register the bike then there's no need for this test.

[Ginger Phil]

silverkaren said:

i wish i had read this before, as i have had a lot of trouble trying to register my scooter,and now have to take my scooter to norwich on tue-5-7-05,so much messing about i could have been going to work on it by now. still not long now.

How did the test go today?

[scooterboy]

Any news?

[Ginger Phil]

scooterboy said:

Any news?

Yes, I p.m'd silverkaren yesterday and her scooter sailed through the test.

[scooter]

I bought a Baotian 2 months ago from Bikemart Direct in Lincoln, off ebay, and it's still not registered. I've had all the paperwork sent back 3 times now. After reading some of the other problems, I will go to my local office in Worcester and have it out with them. After all, they can only say no.

[Ginger Phil]

scooter said:

I bought a Baotian 2 months ago from Bikemart Direct in Lincoln, off ebay, and it's still not registered. I've had all the paperwork sent back 3 times now. After reading some of the other problems, I will go to my local office in Worcester and have it out with them. After all, they can only say no.

Welcome aboard Scooter, I take it you're the guy I've been emailing today?

It's already been mentioned in this topic that there is nothing wrong at all with the certificate. For some unknown reason various DVLA offices just won't accept them while other offices will, my local DVLA in Norwich wouldn't accept it so I sent all the stuff back to Bike Mart Direct and they got it sorted for me.

My advice would be to go down to the DVLA as soon as you can and don't leave until you've spoken to a manager and ask him/her for proof that your certificate isn't valid.

Here's a post from beefjurkey earlier in this topic:

I got my boatian from bike mart at lincoln with all the relevant paper work,went to dvla at nottingham to register, then got some jobs worth kid telling me my certificate of conformity was no good,after a little persuasion (mainly intimidation) he went off to see his boss and then came back and scoot was regisitered,so no dvla tests or anything need to be done to register, jobs a guden.

As Punch would say: That's the way to do it!! Let us know how you get on.....

[jules30]

i had no problems at my local office, must have been lucky

jules

[Ginger Phil]

jules30 said:

i had no problems at my local office, must have been lucky

jules

Yeah it seems to be the luck of the draw. The thing is you should be able to go into any DVLA office and get the bike registered but some of the people working in these offices are monkies plain & simple.

[onamission1989]

The dvla clearly need some more training, when i took mine to register at the stockton office i had left the documents with them for a week, rang to see what was happning and they said it needed testing as it was trials bike, when it clearly stated a scooter. they then registered it straight away,
my advice is clearly state what you want registering

[Ginger Phil]

I agree and just to clarify things again:

A Taishan Commuter or Sport does not need any sort of testing, if the DVLA tell you otherwise they're wrong.
Don't leave the office until you've sorted it all out!!

[scooter]

Re: Trouble with letter of conformity.

Thank you Ginger Phil for the advice. Must get to my local office ASAP and get this sorted out.
Gonna have a go at de-restricting it meself too.