Road Tax Question

JOHNSTONE1

Hi i wonder if anyone could help with this situation.

My husband had a car last year that was taxed up until October 2007. In May 2007 we split up and i moved out. He then bought another car, switched his insurance to the new car and parked his old car in the Barracks where he worked which is private property. He didnt declare it off road as he was intending to sell it. He then had a bit of a breakdown and went AWOL from the army returning in March 2008, when he returned the car was gone. He reported it to the army who said that there was a posibility that they had towed it away as he had left it there for so long and that they would look in to it. As he was obvioulsly in a lot of trouble with the army they were less than helpful in getting any answers for him and just kept fobbing him off saying they would try and find out. He then got put in to military prison until August 2008. When he got out, fed up of waiting for the army to get back to him he decided to just report it stolen with the poilce, once the police were involved they confirmed with them that they hadnt taken it so it must of been stolen. It could have been stolen any time between august 07 and march 08.
My question is obviously it hasnt been taxed all this time or declared off the road presumably now its reported stolen the police inform the dvla that this is the case but he must still have fines on it. How much are these likely to be in a worst case scenario, will the dvla take this situation into consideration or not?

Thanks in advance for any help x

MX5huggy

Don't presume that it has fines on it, my parents in law managed to drive around for 5mths without tax (just an oversite on there part not a plan!) and they never heard a peep out of the DVLA this was about 2 years ago. All they did was thank there lucky stars and got some tax.

What address was the car registered to? would you have recived any notifications from the DVLA. Don't presume the Police tell the DVLA its stolen.

flutterbyuk25

Normally the fine for not taxing your vehicle is £80 plus 2 months arrears of road tax.

If a fine was issued a letter would have been sent to the registered keeper's address 2 months after the tax expired, a reminder would then have been sent 4-6weeks later. If payment is not made it is normally passed to a debt collectors for them to request payment on behalf of DVLA.

If your ex is no longer at the address held by DVLA then he won't have received any correspondance.

The only way to find out is to contact DVLA to see if a penalty has been issued. He needs to ring them (0870 240 0010 or look for alternative on saynoto0870 website). They can let him know if a fine was issued and give him the tel no for the appropriate enforcement office so he can query amount due.

If a fine has been issued then there is the option to appeal. This has to be done in writing to the relevant enforcement office. He would need to provide the background story and any evidence that will help his appeal eg doctors letters/letter from army stating he was AWOL and then in military prison/crime ref no for theft etc. It's up to the individual enforcement office to decide whether an appeal will be granted. This usually takes 21 days for a response.

When he rings DVLA he can also check that the vehicle is recorded as having "police interest" (DVLA cannot use the word "stolen" to confirm this!). Normally the police electronically inform DVLA of a theft but if the report was made a long time after the date of theft then it may not have been done by the police.

Hope that helps

x

JOHNSTONE1

Hello,

I asked this question some time ago and did get a couple of responses. I know the only way of us finding out if theres fines on the car is to call up the DVLA and ask but we're a bit scared (stupid i know)

Could anyone tell me how much he is likely to owe them and does the debt get larger the longer you leave it?

Thanks in advance for your help x

JOHNSTONE1

Just called them as i couldnt stand not knowing anymore explained situation and gave them reg number she said it comes up with nothing but the car is still in his name and we need to write in. I asked if this mean there are no fines and she said the penalties department deals with fines so she would know but as it was two years ago she thought they would of traced him by now her only suggestion was to wait and see...what do you reckon??

flutterbyuk25

JOHNSTONE1 wrote: »

Just called them as i couldnt stand not knowing anymore explained situation and gave them reg number she said it comes up with nothing but the car is still in his name and we need to write in. I asked if this mean there are no fines and she said the penalties department deals with fines so she would know but as it was two years ago she thought they would of traced him by now her only suggestion was to wait and see...what do you reckon??

The department that you spoke to there should have been able to tell you if any outstanding fines were on the record (I used to work there).

Other than ringing again to double check, you could mention in your letter when you write to say the vehicle is no longer yours/husbands.

x