From what I can gather, most correctly registered Fugitives are on a Q plate, with make & model on the V5 as UVA Fugitive, and have passed an SVA test. Nice and simple.
It also seems that if enough of the donor car's parts were used, then the original reg. number can be retained. But, is the make and model still changed on the V5 or just the body style? And does it still need the SVA certificate?

Might sound dumb questions, but I'm pretty new to all this and the vast majority of sandrails I've seen advertised are still Beetles on paper.

I did have a home made rail that still used a Beetle 'pan, 'box, engine and suspension, which as far as I know is the only legal way to have 'Volkswagen' on the V5.

Spot on, except for SVA certificate, We didn't have that system when Fugs were first built. But yes, absolutly true, if it's Volkswagen on the V5 you can't drive it legally, in any istance, no matter how much of the original car was used, unless V5 was changed. You could buy one registered a Volkswagen and put it through an IVA test, but it'd be a mistake unless you'd paid basically nothing for it, as it'd be expensive and pretty tricky to get through, but not impossible.

I'm of the opinion that VW Beetle = very bad and will cause you a problem eventually even if you can find friendly places for MOTs at the moment.

Then there's stuff in between that I'm fairly certain will be fine, including how mine was originally registered "2 axle rigid body convertible" as the model I think - hard to claim that the DVLA were not informed that it's no longer a VW Beetle.

Mine was then switched in the amnesty period prior to the introduction of SVA to Make : VW/UVA, Model:Fugitive Kit Car (or similar) - this is pretty bullet proof.

As Bob states SVA/IVA will only come into play if you try and register a kit that's not been road registered correctly before or try and switch something like a Beetle V5 to state UVA Fugitive now.

Mine is classed as a Utility / 4x4 / Special, as to be honest there is not much of anything original left, not even UVA.

This has affected many across the kitcar community, I know people running Cobra reps with Jaguar still on the log book. Although its not right , they are open about it it and don't seem to have any problems, the law 'seems' to turn a blind eye to the 20 yr old builds, but you deffo wouldn't get away with it now...

DAMMIT! Why are all the Fugitives that have come up registered as sodding Volkswagens!! :angry:

Seriously, I'm watching a load on ebay right now and they all say something like "Oh its registered as a VW so no insurance worries" or some such sh*t! :(

Given up looking for now anyway, got a Beetle project to finish. :(

All small volume Kit Cars built during the time of Fug kits took the Reg and often the ID of the donor car .
There is nothing wrong with these , that is how it was done back in the 'good old days'
I don't know why you are getting into such a state about it ?
Its only ones that were not registered as road cars and used off road or never completed that you need to be wary of .

I agree, thankfully not all is as black and white as some may post on here... :ph43r:

I would suggest anyone with a problem regarding correct registration of a kit etc to ring up DLVA, they are actually human and there is a way around most things...thankfully B)

May I suggest contacting DVLA with a hypothetical scenario. The second you give your registration along with it's V5 description, then explain what you've actually got parked in your drive, the answer may not be the one you're hoping for. This will then blow the whole " I didn't realise, I thought it was ok" form of defense right out the water.

Actually 100bob, I did :D

I really know I shouldn't rise to this, but you're saying you told DVLA that you have a 2 wheel drive sandrail with a 4x4 utility V5, a discription which would indicate something like an army vehicle or agricultural quad bike and they were ok with that. Assuming this to be the case, there really is no Fug registration issues whatsoever, if they're cool with that, Beetle, convertible, buggy etc. will all be fine and I stand corrected.