The Toll

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HI, I'm looking for some advice about what I need to do to add rear seats (benches) to my 1977 Series 3 88. It was originally a 3 seat truck cab and I've taken off the roof, rear door and front door tops and added seatbelt risers for the the two front interia reel belts (there is no centre lap-belt) and added a drop-down tailgate. I've been given a pair of bench rear seats which will bolt nicely into the rear fitting rails. The question I have is that the vehicle is registered and currently insured as a 3 seater, what do I need to do to enable it to carry passengers on the rear seats? Is there a simple process / form to notify the DVLA of this now being a 7 (or 5) seater or is there an exhaustive set of checks, inspections etc. required? Once the DVLA piece is arranged I can look at the insurance bit.

Just for information - the rear seats will be used only for very short runs at low speed (I live in a tiny village) and I won't be looking to install any seat belts on them as they're side-facing.

Any helpful advice you can give would be really appreciated.

Thanks all.
 
The question I have is that the vehicle is registered and currently insured as a 3 seater
The question really is. Is it?
Have you checked the logbook to see if it has number of seats listed? My guess is, it won't have seats listed. Therefore this is not an issue :)
 
HI, I'm looking for some advice about what I need to do to add rear seats (benches) to my 1977 Series 3 88. It was originally a 3 seat truck cab and I've taken off the roof, rear door and front door tops and added seatbelt risers for the the two front interia reel belts (there is no centre lap-belt) and added a drop-down tailgate. I've been given a pair of bench rear seats which will bolt nicely into the rear fitting rails. The question I have is that the vehicle is registered and currently insured as a 3 seater, what do I need to do to enable it to carry passengers on the rear seats? Is there a simple process / form to notify the DVLA of this now being a 7 (or 5) seater or is there an exhaustive set of checks, inspections etc. required? Once the DVLA piece is arranged I can look at the insurance bit.

Just for information - the rear seats will be used only for very short runs at low speed (I live in a tiny village) and I won't be looking to install any seat belts on them as they're side-facing.

Any helpful advice you can give would be really appreciated.

Thanks all.

Thanks for the response, you're right - the V5 is silent on number of seats, so this appears to be just an insurance matter..... :)
 
Many thanks for the helpful advice. You're spot on, the V5 is silent on seats so this would seem to be solely an insurance matter which I can sort-out.

Cheers :)
 
No seat belts required on side-facing seats, though if present they must be worn - even though they are lethal and you are better off without. Side facing benches perfectly legal to sit on. Side facing benches were fitted until 2007.
For some reason the DVLA put '2' in the number of seats box. I sent my V5 to DVLA and corrected it to 6. Was corrected and returned no issues.
 
just bolt them in and away you go! sometimes its better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
if no seat numbers on log book and you inform your insurer, otherwise you might have issues in a crash if someone gets injured sitting in the rear seats
 
HI, I'm looking for some advice about what I need to do to add rear seats (benches) to my 1977 Series 3 88. It was originally a 3 seat truck cab and I've taken off the roof, rear door and front door tops and added seatbelt risers for the the two front interia reel belts (there is no centre lap-belt) and added a drop-down tailgate. I've been given a pair of bench rear seats which will bolt nicely into the rear fitting rails. The question I have is that the vehicle is registered and currently insured as a 3 seater, what do I need to do to enable it to carry passengers on the rear seats? Is there a simple process / form to notify the DVLA of this now being a 7 (or 5) seater or is there an exhaustive set of checks, inspections etc. required? Once the DVLA piece is arranged I can look at the insurance bit.

Just for information - the rear seats will be used only for very short runs at low speed (I live in a tiny village) and I won't be looking to install any seat belts on them as they're side-facing.

Any helpful advice you can give would be really appreciated.

Thanks all.
if no seat numbers on log book and you inform your insurer, otherwise you might have issues in a crash if someone gets injured sitting in the rear seats
just realised im replying to a year old chain of posts🤣
 
How would they know you didn't have the seats in there already?
because my insurer asked how many seats it had when i insured it, when i added the bench seats and informed them it made no difference to the premium though, so the lesson is if it doesnt say how many seats on the log book tell your insurer it has seven (SWB)
 
Good question this.
One insurer, who advertises as a LandRover specialist, refused cover for a 7 seater.
 

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