defender van/car

Afternoon people

I am currently in the final stages of buying a defender 300tdi which is having a few mechanical issues sorted out and then i will be doing the money bit.

The problem i have at the moment with it is that i have just gone to get insurance for it and to my surprise its classed as a van. Now the insurance does not cost that much more to insure as a van rather then one as a car but ideally i would prefer to own one registered as a car.

what would it take to re register it as a car or is that not possible?

is there any issues that i could be getting myself into owning it as a van (if i didn't re-register it) like tax, usage, emissions etc?

what are the differences between a van and car legally?

many thanks for any infomation
chris

I'm in the process of putting seats in the rear of mine and so turning it from a 'van' into a 'car'. I believe I need to take it for a VIC check to get it inspected once the seats are in and then I can change the V5 and finally tell the insurance and start using the rear seats

If it isn't a CSW it's a Van. Not sure why peeps seem surprised at this. After all an escort van is a van and an escort car is a car.

As to "turning it in to a car" any seats/seatbelts/mounting points etc will need to meet Construction and use Regs. seats will need to be forwards facing with a 3point seatbelt. There must be reasonable access to the seats.

Marmaduke said:

I'm in the process of putting seats in the rear of mine and so turning it from a 'van' into a 'car'. I believe I need to take it for a VIC check to get it inspected once the seats are in and then I can change the V5 and finally tell the insurance and start using the rear seats

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Actually you don't need to do any of that. Just inform the Insurance of the new seating arrangement. They may want you to get an engineers report, stating that the seats are fit for purpose. but there is no requirement for a VIC Check.

Flippin' result, I thought I'd have to get it inspected as a matter of course cos my V5 will show 3 seats and it will eventually have 5

I suppose i was surprised that it was classed as a van because i was under the impression that even if it was a 2 seater with a panel back to it that it could be still classed as a "car" where as i have always classed commercial as working/trade vehicle only.

I have no issue with seat layout or panel choice etc of a van i think that i am more concerned with potential changes of law/legislation that could be imposed on a "van" rather then a "car" of the same vehicle. I could also be worrying about nothing lol.

Thanks for replying guys

As far as I've understood this issue is that if it's a van it doesn't have tax (VAT?) applied to it. And therefore, if you want to change it from a van (PLG - Private / Light goods Vehicle) to a car, then you'll have to pay the tax. The interior and seating has got nothing to do with this. But if you change the seating arrangement then you'll need to do that properly too.
I'd love to change my TD5 from Van to Car as it would mean it can go into the LEZ in London (would be good if I needed to pick someone up from Heathrow). However I'd have to pay £5 more VED (tax) per year for that privilege.

Easiest is to leave it as it is, or buy one that's already a car. I've not really seen any downsides having a van vs. car so far. I can't go as fast on the roads - but it's a Landy, it's not fast anyway. I can't got into LEZ, but we have another car and I've never needed to. I won't get car no claims bonus, but that day that worry. A van is cheaper to buy and has cheaper tax.

Good luck, tell us what you do.

Thanks for the reply Joker.

What have you done in relation to insurance? because i have built up 9 years no claims on a car policy and as far as i am aware i couldn't take them across to a van policy.

deadeyedik said:

Thanks for the reply Joker.

What have you done in relation to insurance? because i have built up 9 years no claims on a car policy and as far as i am aware i couldn't take them across to a van policy.

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I think they accepted some (or all) of my car NCB, but they told me that I wouldn't be getting them back if I switched to a car. So the insurance isn't that bad, but it is a Van insurance.
Worth noting is also that you cannot drive another car on your van insurance. So I have to be a named driver on my partner's car (and she's on my van). Luckily she's very handy with dealing with insurance companies.