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How To Register Your Microcar

The Register of Unusual Microcars was started back in 1980 to help the owners of the most unusual microcars in the UK that were not eligible to join any of the recognised one make clubs and registers to get in touch with each other. Remember in those days there was no universal email system and Google had not been invented, Sir Clive Sinclair has not yet launched his first computer the ZX Spectrum or the C5 electric car. At that time few people owned working microcars, most had been scrapped twenty years earlier when the Mini burst onto the scene.

It was soon found that there were far more microcars in existence than anybody expected, and by joining the network many of them were brought back to life and reregistered for road use by swapping critical parts. Solutions were found for common problems. As the value of renovated vehicles rose, so the temptation to build replicas vehicles and sell them off as the original became a possibility. The register began to identify the genuine from the fake; helping to protect the value of the original. Next was stolen vehicles that came up for sale that could be identified by the register. With the advent of the internet auction sites, so we began to see fake sales appear trying to defraud buyers, by reporting them to the web sites many were removed before they could commit a crime. Unfortunately, some were not spotted quickly enough.

With many renovated vehicles needing to be registered with the DVLA to allow them to drive on the road, and hopefully to reclaim their original registration plate number, the register became part of the checking system that verifies the vehicles credentials and approximate of manufacture. This is especially important for vehicles that are imported from abroad and do not have any UK documentation. There are some vehicles that are almost impossible to register for road use in the UK. In those situations, we can only be of assistance by passing on the experience of other owners of similar vehicles.

Many new owners of vehicles that have been registered with the register are able to trace the development of their car since it was registered in terms of what has been changed, and where it has travelled. It all adds to the provenance of the cars.

If you would like to register your microcar, that is not eligible for registration with any other one make register, it is a very simple procedure.

If your vehicle has previously been registered with The Register of Unusual Microcars and you wish to update the register with your details, completion of the Change of Ownership form. If your vehicle has never been registered with The Register of Unusual Microcars you should fill out the New Vehicle Registration Form, Either form should be sent or emailed to Chris Thomas along with a set of clear recent photographs showing all sides of the vehicle along with copies of any other relevant documents like an old log book, bill of sale or similar. For new registrations there is a one-off registration fee of £4.00 per vehicle. It may be that the vehicle is already on the register, in which case there will be no fee to pay. If the vehicle needs to be added to the register then an invoice will be raised and the registration will be added once it has been paid.

Chris Thomas can be contacted by email chris@rumcars.org or by telephone on +44(0)1883724774 (before 21.00 hrs UK time)