VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 00:14
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - hatman

I've been looking at 2010/2011 VW Golfs and the one I'm most impressed with is a 5dr but it's V5, HPi report and VW UK all confirm it was originally listed/registered as a 3dr.

I'm sure that there is nothing dodgy with the car - it was originally a VAG owned lease car and then one private owner from 2 years old but I'd imagine that when I come to trade the car in within a few years this could present a problem. Is there an easy way to change the V5, HPi report and VW database so that they show as a 5dr version. Would the DVLA have to register another owner to achive this or am I just best to point this out when trading the car in and let the next eventual keeper ensure the change is made?

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 07:12
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - Simon
Are you sure its 100% legit and not a ringer or something? It seems a rather large error especially if VW have it listed as a 3dr, but made it as a 5dr. Even if it is just an administrative error I can imagine it will be easy to rectify. Is the car really worth all of the trouble???
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Fri 16 Dec 2016 07:26
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - RobJP

There are literally thousands of Golfs to choose from on the market

Why even bother with one that might, possibly, have the tiniest chance of being 'dodgy' ? Leave it, walk away, find another.

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 09:36
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - SLO76
This sort of error is not uncommon, just a simple mistake made when entering the data into the system and another reason why you only give the DVLA the minimum information you can get away with. Don't enter mileages in the V5 or driver numbers! You are not required to do so and it adds the likelyhood of a mistake being made.

I've had this in the past, recently on a Mitsubishi Colt 5dr I was offered that was a 3dr according to the V5. The seller contacted the DVLA and it was changed but I'm unaware whether he had to take pictures of it or had to let them view it or not. I didn't buy it because It was missing the full service history it was advertised with so it wasn't something I'd sell on.

Had another case many years ago when a mileage discrepancy showed up on an old Mazda 626 thanks to another DVLA mistake. This was a pain in the wallet with the car having to be sold on with mileage recorded as incorrect and at a lower price while we all knew it was fine. We knew it would flag up if the buyer then traded it in later on so they had to be informed.

Contact the DVLA by phone or email and ask how to proceed, you'll find them mostly quite obliging. Certainly in the case of the wee Colt they were and the V5 was reissued with the correct details.
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Fri 16 Dec 2016 09:39
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - Andrew-T

... when I come to trade the car in within a few years this could present a problem.

By the time you trade in, the car may be 10 years old and entering the banger market, and not worth a great deal. If it ticks all your boxes I would go for it. At trade-in time people may not examine the V5 closely anyway. Still worth investigating correcting it IMHO, if only for peace of mind. If someone has gone to the trouble of fitting every correct ID mark to the car then it's probably legit and a clerical error, or even one at the factory?

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 09:50
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - RT

It would be a concern to me that VW themselves have it listed as a 3dr.

DVLA can, and does make errors - HPI is probably just using DVLA data - but VW data will have come from the factory and followed the car through it's early years being serviced at VW dealers.

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 11:43
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - Bromptonaut

Very easy to pick wrong item from a dropdown list.

Activity tracking tool at work requires you to pick your name from a dropdown.

Hardly a day goes by without an absent staff member being shown as doing two or three tasks.

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Fri 16 Dec 2016 15:12
VW Golf - 5dr Golf registered as 3dr with DVLA, HPi & VW - galileo

It would be a concern to me that VW themselves have it listed as a 3dr.

DVLA can, and does make errors - HPI is probably just using DVLA data - but VW data will have come from the factory and followed the car through it's early years being serviced at VW dealers.

No doubt VW assembly line works to a barcode which at each station calls up the components to be fitted at that point. Impossible to build a 5 door when the barcode parts list is for a 3 door, so 99% certain VW are right and DVLA are wrong.

Edited by galileo on 16/12/2016 at 15:24

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