New car tax bands

bel2310

Apologies if this has been covered, can't seem to find it. My car is due for taxing on 1st April, have received renewal reminder and rate is £120 for 12 months of £66 for 6 months. According to the new tax bands, my car will go down to £90 per year . I understand these come in in April, so surely I should only be paying £90? Have tried to phone the helpline but gve up after holding for 10 minutes. Have I got it wrong somewhere, don't eally want to pay £30 more than I have to.

robredz

Te DVLA will likely say they are old forms being used up but ask at the local post office, as they may have the up to date figures, and renew at the new rate anyway. Otherwise it is the DVLA being greedy again as if you don't renew or SORN, Kerching £80 penalty or else.

Just seen this on the Directgov site, seems the new rates are from 1/05/10 so you will have to pay or SORN for a month (assuming you have off road storage):

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10012524

bel2310

Thanks for that. I must have read that page half a dozen times yesterday and I swear it said from April. But it now says from 1 May 2009, which presumably should be 2010,perhaps they should double check what they put on their website.
In fact it still says April on the bit I looked at !
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_172916

robredz

bel2310 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I must have read that page half a dozen times yesterday and I swear it said from April. But it now says from 1 May 2009, which presumably should be 2010,perhaps they should double check what they put on their website.
In fact it still says April on the bit I looked at !
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_172916

They should sort their facts out, as that sure looks like the "new" price starts April. Mind you DVLA are an incompetent bunch according to Honest John.

bel2310

Update!
I phoned customer service (got through eventually) and if I tax it on April 1st I will get the new rate. But I have to tax using registration document rather than renewal as renewal shows old rate. Wouldn't you have thought as they were aware this change was coming up that they would have put amended renewal accordingly!

Pincher

£90 from day 1, nice job!

I bought a 6-month disc in January 2010, specifically because I want to get a 12 month disc at £90 from July 2010. If you renew on 1st April, you will be £7.5 better off than me.

robredz

bel2310 wrote: »

Update!
I phoned customer service (got through eventually) and if I tax it on April 1st I will get the new rate. But I have to tax using registration document rather than renewal as renewal shows old rate. Wouldn't you have thought as they were aware this change was coming up that they would have put amended renewal accordingly!

Great, just shows how crafty they are though, many people will have been scammed by the DVLA on this one.:D

thacky

bel 2310 - I too phoned DVLA and got a very snotty person who just would not confirm that I could wait until April 1st and get the new rate ( a £30 saving in my case). She kept saying that I would have to renew before then.

She also told me that the new rates would be confirmed or not in the Budget and was unable or unwilling to explain why the DVLA's own website was showing the new rates as though they were already decided - which I think they were.

On the other hand, presumably if your new rate is going to be higher than it is now then you can take advantage of this situation and renew before April 1st.

All very unsatisfactory, in my opinion. Surely in these days of technology and rapid communication this could easily have been sorted properly.

sanfly

robredz wrote: »

Great, just shows how crafty they are though, many people will have been scammed by the DVLA on this one.:D

Phoned them today to ask how to claim a refund as i had used my renewal document last week, not knowing that the rate went down on April 1st. was told tough no refund, what a scam they are running on behalf of the government. Wrote to their customer complaints manager and copied my MP. Not so much the money as the underhand way they have gone about it. The renewals they are sending out for April1st tax should show the new rate not the old one....:mad:

Hintza

Your tax expires on 31st of March and must be renewed BEFORE the 1st of April unless you declare SORN on it.

sanfly

Hintza wrote: »

Your tax expires on 31st of March and must be renewed BEFORE the 1st of April unless you declare SORN on it.

For the sake of argument if my road tax expires at midnight on 31st march and as i purchase road fund licence on the 1st April then that is valid from and follows on directly from the expiry time on the 31st march, the DVLA records would also show that there was no lapse in road fund licence.

Taxing on the 1st April also seems to be the advice that bel2310 was given by the DVLA

bel2310 wrote: »

Update!
I phoned customer service (got through eventually) and if I tax it on April 1st I will get the new rate. But I have to tax using registration document rather than renewal as renewal shows old rate. Wouldn't you have thought as they were aware this change was coming up that they would have put amended renewal accordingly!