DVLA won't let me tax my car online

grayme-m

Annoyingly, our car insurance ends on 30 October so renews 31 October.

Our car tax also ends 31 October.

Despite renewing the insurance weeks ago, the DVLA database on insurance is not updated till today, so today is the first day we can renew online.... except, I can't. The page times out.

I just tried using the phone line, apparently the phone line is also down for 'essential maintenance,' please go to a Post Office. :mad:

I've much better things to do with my day than spend half an hour in a PO queue and tried to renew weeks ago, why can't these systems be more joined up?

I can only keep trying and hope that either the site / phone line gets fixed, or the DVLA won't be jumping on me for not renewing...

I need to think about how to get the insurance and tax out of sync, I think I'll take out a new tax disc midway through the year whilst sending the old one in for a refund.

Chris55_2

The same thing happened to us, except in our case the MOT certificate needed to be done too. We decided to pay the slight extra to just tax for 6 months, then we'll do a year's tax next year just to get the tax out of sync with the MOT and insurance.

You'd think that since any car bought from new is likely to have tax, insurance and MOT (eventually) all coming out at the same time that they'd have thought through the systems a little better. Especially as people will be going online to do it towards the end of the month - and because there are so few Post Offices where you can do it these days.

:mad:

grayme-m

I probably wouldn't feel so irked if the recorded message on the phone said something like, 'our system is down, please renew as soon as it is up and we'll let you off being 'late'' rather than, please go to a PO...

cool-dog

grayme-m wrote: »

why can't these systems be more joined up?

They are joined up, you may have renewed your insurance a few weeks ago, but the new year of insurance is not inforce until the renewal date.

Many people buy insurance to get the Certificate of Insurance get the tax then cancel the insurance. This probably happens less since the change in the law but, it probably still applies.

grayme-m

I could (if I was that way inclined) have got my car taxed weeks ago at the PO using the certificate of insurance, so why not allow me to tax the car online then too?

BoGoF

I'm surprised they sent you a new certificate if insurance 2 weeks ago.

As an aside the DVLA does not have an insurance database, they check the MIB database. Have you checked this yourself to see what the status is.

The DVLA site does warn of potential problems if your insurance is due around the same time

grayme-m

I was able to download the certificate as soon as I paid the renewal, that was about three weeks ago.

I was unable to renew online as the database did not have a valid insurance on account when I tried. I wrote to Aviva but they told me I would have to wait until today (when the insurance renews) to be able to renew online.

What I am now further confused by is this from the DLVA website:

DVLA_website wrote:

Site/Services Unavailable
DVLA is sorry the service is currently unavailable due to essential maintenance.
You can:
Try again later or apply in person at a Post Office® branch that issue tax discs, or at a DVLA local office. You will need the following:
An insurance certificate or cover note. This must be valid on the date the tax disc starts.
A MoT or Goods Vehicle Test (GVT) certificate, if you need one for your vehicle. This must be valid on the date the tax disc starts.
The payment for vehicle tax (unless your vehicle is a type that you do not have to pay vehicle tax for).
A valid exemption certificate if you are applying to tax the vehicle in the disabled tax class. (This does not apply to invalid carriages).
All certificates must be originals and not photocopies, faxed copies or downloaded copies.

I'd have to pay an extra £2.50 to get the documents from the DVLA....?

Also, notice how the insurance certificate must be valid when the tax disc starts, hence a future start date is fine.

BoGoF

grayme-m wrote: »

I was able to download the certificate as soon as I paid the renewal, that was about three weeks ago.

I was unable to renew online as the database did not have a valid insurance on account when I tried. I wrote to Aviva but they told me I would have to wait until today (when the insurance renews) to be able to renew online.

What I am now further confused by is this from the DLVA website:



I'd have to pay an extra £2.50 to get the documents from the DVLA....?

Also, notice how the insurance certificate must be valid when the tax disc starts, hence a future start date is fine.

So it's more of an issue as to when the MIB database is updated than a DVLA problem.

I'm confused by your last statement.....why would you have to pay the DVLA £2.50 to get the documents. Don't Aviva issue 'proper' certificates through the post?

grayme-m

Somewhere along the line, the systems are not working; the car is continually insured, but....

Aviva charge £2.50 for them to send me the certificate, or I can download for free, but then I cannot go to the PO...

It's like Catch 22, but less entertaining. Website is still down.

Ectophile

grayme-m wrote: »

Somewhere along the line, the systems are not working; the car is continually insured, but....

Aviva charge £2.50 for them to send me the certificate, or I can download for free, but then I cannot go to the PO...

It's like Catch 22, but less entertaining. Website is still down.

How good is your printer at home (assuming you have one)?

I had this problem when I bought a second-hand car on which the tax disc had run out. I insured the car the same day, and downloaded the documentation.

My solution was to grab a sheet of high-quality coated inkjet paper and stick it in my printer. I then printed out my insurance certificate and headed down the post office.;)

Edit: They have now changed the wording on the V11 renewal form. It now says: "a certificate of insurance or cover note (downloaded copies are acceptable, photocopies are not)". So you can now quite legitimately print off your insurance form and take it to the Post Office.

grayme-m

I think to be honest, I could just print them out and get it insured if it wasn't after 9pm. :rotfl:

Still that, doesn't seem to be a concern of the DVLA, still directing me to my PO.