10:56 am, November 13, 2026
Used car dealers are open to the ‘positive step’ of merging the DVLA into the DVSA but have warned that costs can’t be allowed to ‘spiral out of control’.
Car Dealer reported earlier this week that PM Andy Burnham is considering axing the DVLA and bringing its responsibilities under the authority of the DVSA as part of his ten-year plan for Britain.
While government officials are remaining tight-lipped on the proposed move, the motor trade appears to be receptive to the idea.
Car Dealer has spoken to multiple retailers from across the motor trade in an attempt to gauge opinion.
While overall, the mood has been positive, many added a note of caution before backing the merger outright.
Richard Norris, founder of Drive Green, told Car Dealer: ‘I can certainly understand why the government are looking at possible efficiencies, and my only comment is that if part of the process involves modernising and improving how the DVLA works that would be great, as I believe there is plenty of room for improvement in how they operate currently.
‘In particular better contact-ability and communication, digitising trade plate applications, and the V62 process also, are the key pain areas for us and doubtlessly most dealerships.
‘Hopefully change isn’t just change and is actually a chance for improvement.’
Fellow electric car dealer, Estelle Miller, also supported the proposals, especially as the government looks to implement its upcoming pay-per-mile charge on EVs.
She said: ‘I think it would be a positive step particularly looking ahead to pay per mile VED.
‘It is difficult to see how e-VED is going to work in practice with mileage data being verified as part of the MOT test monitored by DVSA and VED being calculated and collected by DVLA.
‘It risks either mis-matched data or duplication of data and effort. I support it being merged into one department.’
The DVLA has come in for criticism from the motor trade over the years, especially in relation to long waits for V5 documents and repeated strike action.
In the summer of 2021, IMDA boss Umesh Samani told Car Dealer that the agency was ‘absolutely horrendous’ and accused it of making dealerships ‘like graveyards’.
However, since then a dedicated team has been set up at the DVLA to help independent car dealers, which holds regular meetings with the IMDA.
Samani would not be drawn on speculation of a merger when approached by Car Dealer but vowed to continue working with the government, regardless of what the structure looks like going forward.
He said: ‘The IMDA has a strong and positive relationship with both the DVLA and DVSA, and we value the work they do to support the members of our association.
‘It’s probably a bit early to say whether a merger would be a good or bad thing, as a lot would depend on how any changes were implemented.
‘From our point of view, the most important thing is that dealers continue to receive the support they rely on.
‘Whatever the outcome, we look forward to maintaining the positive working relationships we’ve built over many years.’
‘It’ll end up being a disaster’
One car dealer who rarely sits on the fence is Car Quay boss Jamie Caple.
As a former Dealers’ Dealer of the Year winner at the Used Car Awards, his is a view which carries weight among the industry.
He told Car Dealer that while the idea sounds like a ‘natural fit’ on paper, he has major concerns about how it would be implemented in practice.
He said: ‘It doesn’t sound like a bad idea, any efforts to streamline the public sector and save the UK money can’t be a bad thing, and these two departments seem a natural fit.
‘However, any potential savings will be wiped out by costs – which will inevitably spiral out of control – and poor management of the project and it’ll end up being a disaster – you heard It here first!’
For now, the exact nature of the plans remain unknown, although the PM has said he will publish his ten-year vision for the country’s future before Christmas.
He said the document would ‘lay a new path’ for the country and ‘break with the failed policies of the party opposite [the Conservatives]’.
In response, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said his Government was ‘adrift’ and Labour had left the UK in ‘limbo’.
During this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch derided the apparent plans to merge the DVLA and DVSA in the decade-long vision and said: ‘I’m not surprised he’s asked management consultants to help him write his 10-year plan. He needs all the help that he can get.’