car dealer telling the truth re. taxing a new car

slimer3k

Ring up the DVLNI (or DVA, or whatever they call themselves these days) in Coleraine on (028) 7034 1514 during office hours and they will tax your car over the phone. They will stick the disc in the post, but your all legal even if stopped.

Go down your Mini dealer and ring the same number, and they will confirm to the dealer that the car is in fact taxed (and insured).

Thesr is a small chance that your insurer is not on thier database, but chances are they will be.

http://www.dvlni.gov.uk/vehicles/renewtax.htm

vaio

plane_boy2000 wrote: »

I dont see it as the dealer being obstructive. I think he has a moral obligation to satisfy himself that the car is "legal" at the point its driven off his forecourt. Personally I have no objection to him wanting to see insurance for tax purposes .....

Nope, it’s none of their business. They have a moral (and legal) obligation not to sell dodgy or defective cars and should concentrate on that rather than involving themselves in things that are none of their business.

What’s next? They need to see insurance before they give it back after a service?

cyclonebri1

Quentin wrote: »

Why would the dealer lie?

They need the insurance certificate to tax the car.

Some dealers have an arrangement to get 7 to 10 days free cover through an insurer which gets round this problem, though presumably the garage involved here don't as they would have mentioned it by now.

I know it's now aparent that this isn't an option for the OP, but you have to watch this offer, I have used it and in the small print it states that if within the 7 or 10 days or whatever, if you do not terminate the agreement, you are liable to be charged:money:

flea72

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I know it's now aparent that this isn't an option for the OP, but you have to watch this offer, I have used it and in the small print it states that if within the 7 or 10 days or whatever, if you do not terminate the agreement, you are liable to be charged:money:

when you sign up to the free 7 day cover, you are informed by the insurance company that should you not want a full policy to start once the free cover runs out, that you have to contact them to cancel

there is nothing to watch out for, you are clearly informed, but some people take to ignore what they are being told

F

Petree

Not all try and catch you out with 7 day free trial into full insurance btw, renault didn't even ask for a c/card just gave me a call on day 7 saying would I be interested for £x, said no much cheaper with current 'oh ok, fair enough, have a good day'

cyclonebri1

flea72 wrote: »

when you sign up to the free 7 day cover, you are informed by the insurance company that should you not want a full policy to start once the free cover runs out, that you have to contact them to cancel

there is nothing to watch out for, you are clearly informed, but some people take to ignore what they are being told

F

Sorry but you never actually come into contact with the insurer, this is all done by the car salesman, and due to that I will continue to watchout;)

cyclonebri1

Petree wrote: »

Not all try and catch you out with 7 day free trial into full insurance btw, renault didn't even ask for a c/card just gave me a call on day 7 saying would I be interested for £x, said no much cheaper with current 'oh ok, fair enough, have a good day'

It was Renault I was dealing with actually, they did have the decency to advise me, however I was dealing with the daughter of a work colleague.

maxtweenie

Interesting to see all these different opinions on insurance cover, and also very interested to see that there are still Post Offices who will tax cars on dealer's certificates despite being repeatedly told that they shouldn't. For info, during the Royal Mail industrial action, the rules on accepting faxed copies have been relaxed so there should be no need to hang on for a postman who may or may not turn up.

Lemonade_Pockets

Wow a long thread about this:

1) Re: Post Office http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_069671
I.e you or the dealer should use and your own cover note to tax + register the car in your name. The post office is not supposed to but more often than not they will accept a trade certificate.

2) Taxing at the dealer:
The dealer is required to keep a copy of an original insurance cover note. This cover note needs to cover the person that the vehicle is being registered to.
It is condition of having AFRL (online taxing) access and dealers are reguarly audited on this.
My understanding is that the 7day (or similar) free covernotes are pre-approved with AFRL and as such these will be accepted as well.
Now the dealer could chose to accept a good photocopy (fax) or email but this would be a direct breech of what they have agreed with the DVLA - most insurance companies will not email a cover note for fear of tampering anyway.

If it wasn't for these measures anyone could knock up a cover note on a computer and use it to tax a new car. It is just another way to reduce the number of un-insured cars on the road.

It is unfortunate with the postal strikes going on but thats life. It has been the same for new cars for many years and will continue to be so.

vaio

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

Wow a long thread about this:

1) Re: Post Office http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_069671
I.e you or the dealer should use and your own cover note to tax + register the car in your name.........

A long thread and getting worse….

Now it seems we need insurance to register a vehicle, although on the bright side from that link it looks like emailed certificates are valid

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

2) Taxing at the dealer:
The dealer is required to keep a copy of an original insurance cover note. This cover note needs to cover the person that the vehicle is being registered to.
It is condition of having AFRL (online taxing) access and dealers are reguarly audited on this.
My understanding is that the 7day (or similar) free covernotes are pre-approved with AFRL and as such these will be accepted as well.
Now the dealer could chose to accept a good photocopy (fax) or email but this would be a direct breech of what they have agreed with the DVLA - most insurance companies will not email a cover note for fear of tampering anyway.

If it wasn't for these measures anyone could knock up a cover note on a computer and use it to tax a new car. It is just another way to reduce the number of un-insured cars on the road........

This sounds completely wrong to me as I'm sure that the chance of a new car owner driving without insurance is vanishingly small. The comment about anyone knocking up a certificate on the computer is nonsense, do post offices do anything other than a visual check if you give them a certificate when taxing a car? How do they know whether the certificate is genuine or one I made an hour ago?

All sounds like another of the “lets make life hard because we can” systems governments and organisations seem to be so fond of these days.