5284

[Swiss Toni]

5284

As of 17 August 2009, that's how many Mk1 Toyota MR2s remain taxed and registered in the UK.

I had to make several Freedom of Information Act requests to various government agencies before I found one that would answer, but there you have it.

More than I expected, but of the 36000 (?) sold in the UK, quite a number to survive into their second decade without disolving.

I would compare this with the suggestion that half of all Land Rovers built still survive (although a huge proportion of them will have been built in the past 10 years anyway).

5284.


Probably 5283 by now.

[PeteW]

5284
Probably 5283 by now.

This is exactly why I'm offering mine to whoever can sort it out as I hate to scrap the car!

If only I could weld...

[jon_st205]

A good few hundred imports in there I'd say, assuming the query was based on MR2's between 1984 & 1989 etc.

[Swiss Toni]

A good few hundred imports in there I'd say, assuming the query was based on MR2's between 1984 & 1989 etc.

I asked for a search of Toyota cars where the chassis number fitted the criteria XXXXX AW11 XXXXXXXX (where X is any letter or number) and which were currently taxed - I *think* the superchargers had different chassis number formats, so they won't be included (if they had the same format, they will be included).

DVLA denied they had access to this information readily and invited me to pay for doing the search

[lion_yo]

How much did it cost to do the check?

[Swiss Toni]

How much did it cost to do the check?

The DVLA reply was....


The reply from the DVLA....


Thank you for your recent e-mail. Below you will find an explanation of how the length of time and cost is calculated.

In order to extrapolate the relevant information using a bespoke scan the scan parameters would first have to be designed (‘design work’). This could be expected to take 1 day. Following the design stage, development work would then have to be carried out and that would take a further 3 days with another 2 days of testing. DVLA’s IT provider has advised that the 1 day design stage would ascertain exactly what type of parameters, coding, software, script type would be required to run the scan against the relevant shared network database. The 3 days development stage is the actual physical writing/coding of the scan script in the appropriate software tool that will be used. The 2 days unit testing is the stage whereby the scan is run in a test environment and the output checked to make sure it delivers what it has been designed to deliver. It is only following successful testing that the scan is actually run. It should be noted that DVLA’s IT suppliers will charge between £650 - £1,000 per day. The time and expense to actually then run a scan for the information requested will divert time from core business activities as well as essential public funds to operate DVLA effectively. As the above sequence of events take place to merely determine if the required information is held, we have not performed a series of further calculations to show the further costs of locating, retrieving and extracting of the information. DVLA is of the opinion that the above process at £25 per person per hour would itself exceed the appropriate limit of £600. The section 12 exemption was therefore applied taking account both the costs of designing, testing and running the initial scan and the subsequent location, retrieval and extraction process.

If you wish to formally appeal the decision and request a review. Please could you indicate this in your reply.

[Ben]

So how much did you actually pay then?

I hope you did't stump up 600 quid!

[Swiss Toni]

So how much did you actually pay then?

I hope you did't stump up 600 quid!

DVLA were suggesting 5 days at £650-£100 per day!!


(I should have gone into IT.... )


I didn't pay £5000, I asked the Police instead.

[kaiowas]

How can they justify 6 days to write the equivalent of "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tbl_cars WHERE Manufacturer = 'Toyota' AND ChassisNo LIKE '%AW11%' AND IsTaxed=true"?

Still quite a lot more left than I'd have thought. Especially when you consider the number that must be SORNed which were not included in the query.

[Charged]

Hi,

interesting stuff! May I ask, can you scan in any document to prove the figures? I do not disbelieve you but it is nice to have these things in black and white!

Also, you state the figure refers to cars taxed and registered in the UK.. those are two very seperate things. Does it include the sorn mk1s?

How sure are you about the 36,000 figure? I thought it was less than that, maybe half? I could be wrong.

Well done and thanks for doing the research.. I'd be intersted in knowing figures for some other cars as well!

Cheers

[Karl_T]

This is so cool. Just the sort of useless info I love.

We should start here and try and keep a running total, 'Battlestar Gallactica' style and update the number on the wall when we get news of any more biting the dust.

Karl_T

[Swiss Toni]

Hi,

interesting stuff! May I ask, can you scan in any document to prove the figures? I do not disbelieve you but it is nice to have these things in black and white!

Also, you state the figure refers to cars taxed and registered in the UK.. those are two very seperate things. Does it include the sorn mk1s?

How sure are you about the 36,000 figure? I thought it was less than that, maybe half? I could be wrong.

Well done and thanks for doing the research.. I'd be intersted in knowing figures for some other cars as well!

Cheers

No documents, I got the reply by email.

The figure won't include SORN'd cars - I wanted a realistic figure of useable cars so figured that there were fewer SORN'd than registered and not taxed (eg scrapped but DVLA not informed - cars can be "inactive" for 3-5 years before the record drops off).

36000 was a figure for the number sold by Toyota I read elsewhere.

[Swiss Toni]

Someone prompt me in July 2010 and I will askthe same question then to get some idea of the rate of "loss" from that figure.

Why doesn't someone else ask the DoT how many Mk1s were traded in under the scrappage scheme?

[ligertigon]

so far, I have imported 3 from the UK into Ireland.

Don't worry, they are all safe and sound

[kaiowas]

Why doesn't someone else ask the DoT how many Mk1s were traded in under the scrappage scheme?

I was tempted to try and chop mine in after I crashed it purely to see if I could. Technically it met all the criteria however it was undriveable and already destined for the scrap heap.

[Tiamat]

Why doesn't someone else ask the DoT how many Mk1s were traded in under the scrappage scheme?

I was tempted to try and chop mine in after I crashed it purely to see if I could. Technically it met all the criteria however it was undriveable and already destined for the scrap heap.

should have done Phil, my former father in law traded in his volvo 740 even though the auto gearbox was broken. after all, they only going to scrap it anyway!

[kaiowas]

If I was actually in the market for a brand new car I'd have had no hesitation.

[Charged]

No documents, I got the reply by email.

The figure won't include SORN'd cars - I wanted a realistic figure of useable cars so figured that there were fewer SORN'd than registered and not taxed (eg scrapped but DVLA not informed - cars can be "inactive" for 3-5 years before the record drops off).

36000 was a figure for the number sold by Toyota I read elsewhere.

Thanks for the reply

I agree there will be fewer cars Sorn..but there will still be a fair few (eg I have three Mk1s at the moment, two are Sorn.

I wouldn't mind soms clarification on the 36,000 figure.. anyone know for sure?

again though, good work

Cheers

[kaiowas]

I wouldn't mind soms clarification on the 36,000 figure.. anyone know for sure?

Found a link which has some numbers although they're a bit different:

http://www.megaboost.co.uk/mr2/frames/t ... .htm#sales

That suggests just over 31k total sales of all MR2s up until 1999 with somewhere in the 14-17k region being mk1s (depending on exactly where the switchover to mk2 falls.)

Based on that a 1 in 3 survival rate doesn't sound too bad really.

[Charged]

Cheers Phil..

here are some figures published in the most recent MR2 Only magazine:

1985 - 2116 units
1986 - 2429 units
1987 - 2868 units
1988 - 3159 units
1989 - 3008 units

No mention of 1990 buit I guess it would cross over with the Proble figures.