Warning: Is your car taxed?

I received a letter from the dvla. From the envelope, it looked like the familiar tax renewal letter. Now I have two cars, one is off the road but was taxed. This is the car I got the letter about. No problem I thought, I don't plan to use it for a while, I'll SORN it.

It wasn't a tax renewal letter. It is a penalty notice. The tax expired already.

It seems, unless our postie lost the letter, that they don't remind you anymore.

 

You can check online here:

https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/

 

But I thought the car only needed to be taxed if it was on the road and not on private ground ie. your drive.

 

You're right Sheal, but you still have to declare it off the road.

My problem happened because although it has been off the road for a few weeks, I didn't declare it off the road. I figured I'd just do so if the tax reminder came before I was ready to put it back on the road. No tax renewal form ever came, so I just assumed it was still taxed because I couldn't remember if I'd bought 6 or 12 months last time.

 

No Sheal, if it is not taxed, MOT'd or Insured, You have to SORN it and have it off public roads, or an instant fine follows
If you then need to MOT the car you need to book an MOT and only drive the car straight there and back at the specific time
I have left my expired disc in the carrier, as a reminder, Well it was a photo copy of a NEWCASTLE BROWN ALE Label :-)

The Government have only managed to clamp and tow away 60,000 cars at £800 a pop so far this current year
Also of course if you sell or buy a car the current tax is instantly VOID so if you sell after the 1st of the month you have lost the full month if you try to claim it back, As with buying, if you buy on the 28th of the month You have to pay for the full month from the previous 1st

Aint our Government wonderful

Jack McH

 

Blimey! We can't sneeze without being fined or taxed these days, it's ridiculous! I'll check this out on the island as I don't know whether it applies here.

 

Trying to understand. We have to pay for our plates annually and provide proof of insurance every renewal. We can store a vehicle and cease insurance such as liability but if we do not renew our plates (read tax) we have to get the vehicle recertified fit for the road if we want to resume the status of being allowed on the roadways. We have a classic car that must carry plates 12 months of thd year but can reduce the insurance over the winter.

do I take it that your plates also provision insurance coverage?

 

Newcastle brown I LOVE that stuff but restrict myself to one every 6 months......if I got into that habit, people would need to show me how to use a set of stairs..over and over...

 

@ARMANDII, Lori's tax identification is on her cars registration plate which have to be replaced when the tax is renewed.

Lori, our system is different to yours. Our tax and insurance isn't related to our registration plates. The plates only carry the vehicles registration number. Up until recently a printed disc was carried in the car's windscreen and proof of insurance is on paper. This is the system we still have on the island as we are not part of the UK. Perhaps Clueless or Jack can update you on how the system works since the demise of tax discs.

 

Lori, we (more or less can not pick our plates they come with the car to identify it for life)
We have to take out separate Insurance,( Comprehensive, Fire and Theft, or just third party)
Comprehensive covers your car and the other persons property, Fire and Theft is for your car and the other persons property, Third party covers just the other persons property
Then you have Road Fund Licence (Road Tax) It used to fund the roads, but the Government now use most of it for other things, thus the bad state of the roads
MOT any car over three years old to prove it is road worthy (A nice little earner for garages, without the certificate, you can not have the car on the road, and most garages find something that needs done before they issue the MOT)

Jack McH

 

@Jack McHammocklashing I know how the system works Jack, but I hadn't realised the DVLA had changed the fact you have to notify them that the car is off the road. That is a more recent thing.

We don't have an MOT here on the island.

 

How is it policed
Before anyone could see if your Vehicle was Taxed, by the disc
Now every major road has automatic recognition devices, that give all information straight to the HQ, Stay in your own neighbourhood, and mobile police cars carry the same equipment that instantly displays if you are legal or not

Next year we are all to have tattoos on our foreheads, and will be read as we enter the shopping mall

Jack McH

 

@CanadianLori, our vehicles have to be taxed, and separately covered with at least third party liability insurance before they're allowed to be on a public road. They also have to be inspected annually and certified road worthy (mot). These are three separate things, and the renewal of each might never align. We usually get a renewal through the post for tax (except I didn't this time), and the insurance companies normally warn you when your policy is due for renewal, but we have to just remember when the mot test is due.

None of these requirements apply if the vehicle is going to be spending time off the road, on private land, but in that situation we still have to tell the private company that masquerades as the government (the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) that the car is off the road.

I'm not sure how that compares with your 'plates'. I think each country probably has a system so complicated and confusing that it only makes sense after living it for a while

Still, at least it's not France. There you can get fined on the spot, at the roadside, for just about anything at the discretion of the policeman that stops you.

 

France :-)
You have to carry in your car, Two Breathalyzer units, Red Triangle, High Viz JACKETS for every seat in the car, A full set of all Bulbs
If stopped then it is 60 Euros CASH or 100 Euros for each offence paid to the French Government

I think I know where the CASH payment goes :-)

Jack McH