News Article

Unaccompanied Vehicle Demonstrations on Trade Plates Allowed

As dealerships plan a gradual return following the lockdown, we anticipate we will be required to operate the 2-metre social distancing between customers and staff. While this can be organised and controlled in showrooms and workshops, it cannot be arranged on test drives.

While the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) trade plate guidance gave information on the permitted uses of trade plates, it did not refer to the issue of test drives where customers would be unaccompanied by a dealership’s employees.

The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) approached the DVLA for formal clarification and we were advised by DVLA’s policy department that it was their view that a representative of the trade plate user/dealership should be in attendance while a test drive on trade-plates is carried out.

We, therefore, pointed out to the DVLA that this conflicted with the current COVID-19 Government legislation on social distancing and will most likely conflict with future advice as businesses start to re-open.

We are now pleased to confirm that, after further discussion with the DVLA, the trade licensing policy has been reviewed in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The DVLA has confirmed that test drives on trade plated vehicles may be carried out unaccompanied.

However, DVLA stipulates that trade plates are property of the Secretary of State and car dealerships should take all precautions to ensure that trade plates are not stolen by offering them to known and trusted customers, and, where this is not the case, dealers should obtain some form of security from the prospective customer. 

We advise dealers to contact their insurance company and inform them of this revised DVLA policy and ensure that vehicles are still covered on the insurance policy during an unaccompanied test drive.