Are you about to embark on a Land Rover rebuild, looking to buy a second hand Land Rover, or unsure if your land rover qualifies for tax exempt status? Then this is the article for you.
The DVLA says
The vehicle must score eight or more points to retain the original registration mark. If less than eight points are scored or a second-hand or modified chassis or altered monocoque bodyshell is used, an enhanced single vehicle approval (ESVA), single vehicle approval (SVA) or motorcycle single vehicle approval (MSVA) certificate will be required to register the vehicle. A 'Q' prefix registration number will be allocated.
Scoring components
The following values will be allocated to the major components used:
This is taken from the DVLA's Website
So what does this all mean to average Joe rebuilding his land rover in his Garage? Well each section has been broken down below with real world land rover examples
Chassis or body shell
This is the most important item in keeping your vehicles original Identity, and also one of the most discussed as it carries the most points. If you can keep the chassis identity it is usually very easy to keep the rest of the vehicles identity too.
You can either use the original chassis with or without running repairs, or a brand new chassis built to the same specifications as the original. You will need to be able to provide a receipt as proof.
What constitutes running repairs? Well patching a hole with steel plate the same thickness as the original chassis is perfectly acceptable. Replacing a rear cross member, half chassis, or any section of the chassis with new parts is also no issue, again if you keep the receipt.
There is no real limit to how much of a chassis can be patched, but often it becomes impractical to keep patching an old chassis. The general rule her is either patch your original chassis with steel plate or buy new replacement parts.
Welding a rear half chassis from another vehicle onto your existing chassis is not acceptable as that will have its own chassis number.
With monocoque land rovers such as the Freelander, the body is the basic shell, anything you can bolt on/off does not count. You can swap and change doors all day long as long as the shell is not modified it will keep its original chassis number. The only time you would ever really loose the points on a Freelander is if you rebuilt a Freelander onto a scrapped shell or did a cut and shut
Suspension
This is quite a simple one, if your land rover left the factory on leaf springs then you can only fit new or replacement leaf springs, this includes parabolics as they use the same principal.
If your Land Rover rolled out of the factory on coils then it needs coils fitted to keep the points, heavy duty or progressive spring are also fine here.
Both front and rear suspension must be original to retain the two points. If you change the rear only you loose both points, it is not a point per axle set.
Axles
This relates to the axle cases. As long as the axle casing is the same spec as when it left the factory then your vehicle will keep the points. You can swap and change the diffs with no loss of points. This includes fitting diff lockers etc. Changing a rover rear axle to a salisbury axle will loose you these points.
Transmission
This is similar to the axle points. As long as the casing and drive type is the same as it was when it left the factory you keep the points. This would include changing gear ratios or replacing a suffix B type box with a suffix D. An overdrive or PTO attachment are additions to the transmission so do not affect the points.
Steering Assembly
The steering assembly is not often changed in land rovers with the exception of adding power steering to a vehicle or during a front axle change (series to defender etc). If you are adding power steering as an addition to the existing steering setup then you keep the points, however if you have to change parts of the steering assembly you will loose the points.
For example if you were fitting power steering to a series and used a Haystee hydraulic ram kit then you would keep the points. However if you used a defender steering box and linkages you would loose the points.
Engine
Fairly simple again. The engine holds the least value as far a the points scheme goes, probably because this is the most common modification to any vehicle. If the engine is replaced with a second hand or new unit which is the same as the original then you can keep the points. You will however loose the points if you change the fuel type, capacity, configuration or make.
So changing a 2.25 petrol to a 2.25 diesel will loose you the points. But changing from a three bearing 2.25 petrol to a five bearing 2.25 petrol will not loose your points.
NOTE: DVLA gave written permission for the use of the information used within this article.
The DVLA says
The vehicle must score eight or more points to retain the original registration mark. If less than eight points are scored or a second-hand or modified chassis or altered monocoque bodyshell is used, an enhanced single vehicle approval (ESVA), single vehicle approval (SVA) or motorcycle single vehicle approval (MSVA) certificate will be required to register the vehicle. A 'Q' prefix registration number will be allocated.
Scoring components
The following values will be allocated to the major components used:
- Chassis or body shell (body and chassis as one unit - monocoque ie direct replacement from the manufacturer) (original or new) = 5 points
- Suspension = 2 points
- Axles = 2 points
- Transmission = 2 points
- Steering assembly = 2 points
- Engine = 1 point
This is taken from the DVLA's Website
So what does this all mean to average Joe rebuilding his land rover in his Garage? Well each section has been broken down below with real world land rover examples
Chassis or body shell
This is the most important item in keeping your vehicles original Identity, and also one of the most discussed as it carries the most points. If you can keep the chassis identity it is usually very easy to keep the rest of the vehicles identity too.
You can either use the original chassis with or without running repairs, or a brand new chassis built to the same specifications as the original. You will need to be able to provide a receipt as proof.
What constitutes running repairs? Well patching a hole with steel plate the same thickness as the original chassis is perfectly acceptable. Replacing a rear cross member, half chassis, or any section of the chassis with new parts is also no issue, again if you keep the receipt.
There is no real limit to how much of a chassis can be patched, but often it becomes impractical to keep patching an old chassis. The general rule her is either patch your original chassis with steel plate or buy new replacement parts.
Welding a rear half chassis from another vehicle onto your existing chassis is not acceptable as that will have its own chassis number.
With monocoque land rovers such as the Freelander, the body is the basic shell, anything you can bolt on/off does not count. You can swap and change doors all day long as long as the shell is not modified it will keep its original chassis number. The only time you would ever really loose the points on a Freelander is if you rebuilt a Freelander onto a scrapped shell or did a cut and shut
Suspension
This is quite a simple one, if your land rover left the factory on leaf springs then you can only fit new or replacement leaf springs, this includes parabolics as they use the same principal.
If your Land Rover rolled out of the factory on coils then it needs coils fitted to keep the points, heavy duty or progressive spring are also fine here.
Both front and rear suspension must be original to retain the two points. If you change the rear only you loose both points, it is not a point per axle set.
Axles
This relates to the axle cases. As long as the axle casing is the same spec as when it left the factory then your vehicle will keep the points. You can swap and change the diffs with no loss of points. This includes fitting diff lockers etc. Changing a rover rear axle to a salisbury axle will loose you these points.
Transmission
This is similar to the axle points. As long as the casing and drive type is the same as it was when it left the factory you keep the points. This would include changing gear ratios or replacing a suffix B type box with a suffix D. An overdrive or PTO attachment are additions to the transmission so do not affect the points.
Steering Assembly
The steering assembly is not often changed in land rovers with the exception of adding power steering to a vehicle or during a front axle change (series to defender etc). If you are adding power steering as an addition to the existing steering setup then you keep the points, however if you have to change parts of the steering assembly you will loose the points.
For example if you were fitting power steering to a series and used a Haystee hydraulic ram kit then you would keep the points. However if you used a defender steering box and linkages you would loose the points.
Engine
Fairly simple again. The engine holds the least value as far a the points scheme goes, probably because this is the most common modification to any vehicle. If the engine is replaced with a second hand or new unit which is the same as the original then you can keep the points. You will however loose the points if you change the fuel type, capacity, configuration or make.
So changing a 2.25 petrol to a 2.25 diesel will loose you the points. But changing from a three bearing 2.25 petrol to a five bearing 2.25 petrol will not loose your points.
NOTE: DVLA gave written permission for the use of the information used within this article.
