How early can i display my road tax?

Notmyrealname

wazza wrote: »

Was wondering what happens if i was to display the new one now?

If you don't display the old one as well you are committing the offence of failure to display a valid VED disc. Your new one is not valid until 1st March.

j2009

Having just checked my new tax disc that I need to put in my car I cannot find a start date. The only date shown is an expiry date therefore it seems to me that the new disc is valid because it is valid for the dates shown ie today's date is less than the expiry date.

Furthermore there are no instructions on the renewal slip to the contrary and since This is likely to be the primary cause of confusion when replacing a disc if it were an issue it would be explained (and/or a scandal rag would run a whinge campaign about it).


The concern only really arises because of 12 month discs being the maximum you can buy because it's a little easier to spot when a disc that overlaps the previous one - but if you buy a 6 month disc then it is far harder to spot one that's been placed on the screen before the previous one expired (you would need to scrutinise it much more closely by checking the price paid and then working back from the expiry date).

Wig

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

It says precisely what Mikey72 quoted in his post.

So it's wrong then, thanks for clarifying.

j2009 wrote: »

Having just checked my new tax disc that I need to put in my car I cannot find a start date. The only date shown is an expiry date therefore it seems to me that the new disc is valid because it is valid for the dates shown ie today's date is less than the expiry date.

You'd be wrong to assume that.
3 Duration of licences
(1)A vehicle licence may be taken out for any vehicle for any period of twelve months running from the beginning of the month in which the licence first has effect.
(2)Where the annual rate of vehicle excise duty in respect of vehicles of any description exceeds £50, a vehicle licence may be taken out for a vehicle of that description for a period of six months running from the beginning of the month in which the licence first has effect.

Furthermore there are no instructions on the renewal slip to the contrary and since This is likely to be the primary cause of confusion when replacing a disc if it were an issue it would be explained (and/or a scandal rag would run a whinge campaign about it).

Except that it's common knowledge that they are valid for 12/6 months, not 12/6 months plus a bit more depending how early you buy it.

The concern only really arises because of 12 month discs being the maximum you can buy because it's a little easier to spot when a disc that overlaps the previous one - but if you buy a 6 month disc then it is far harder to spot one that's been placed on the screen before the previous one expired (you would need to scrutinise it much more closely by checking the price paid and then working back from the expiry date).

Except that hardly anyone looks at tax discs anymore, it's all done by computer now. The computer will flag an untaxed car. If you have an accident or get pulled over for something else then the police might take a closer look. If you want to break the law, go ahead, but if you want to remain legal all you have to do is display both, it's not rocket science and you'll feel pretty stupid when you get fined £150 for not exhibiting a licence when you had a valid licence to exhibit but you just stubbornly decided to go against all common sense just because you could not find it written on your receipt that your new licence is not valid from the purchase date - if purchased prior to the 12mth/6mth period.

j2009

Great post but....

All three points I made are true
1) the is no start date on the disc
2) there are no instructions with the disc to explain
3) it would be very unlucky for anyone to spot (and as pointed out it's mainly enforced by computer).

You'd have to fail the personality test and/or have other issues eg no MOT or no insurance for this to ever get taken further simply by displaying a disc a little earlier.

Fortunately the police have better things to do with their time - something I bet we all wish was true for ourselves so we didn't have to spend time on here

neilmcl

j2009 wrote: »

Great post but....

All three points I made are true
1) the is no start date on the disc
2) there are no instructions with the disc to explain
3) it would be very unlucky for anyone to spot (and as pointed out it's mainly enforced by computer).

You'd have to fail the personality test and/or have other issues eg no MOT or no insurance for this to ever get taken further simply by displaying a disc a little earlier. It seems every other week the local police round mine are doing a road tax crackdown.

Fortunately the police have better things to do with their time - something I bet we all wish was true for ourselves so we didn't have to spend time on here

Have you not seen the numerous traffic police cars now with ANPR cameras.

j2009

Not sure i understand you point?

ANPR uses the reg number and looks up but the details on a database. Since the discs run sequentially the computer will show as taxed.

ANPR does't read the disc else I imagine it would be called automatic tax disc reader (ATDR).

wazza

Thanks for the replies. It is an interesting read. Would try to see if i can stop a police officer and see what his view are.

Feel that the police nowadays rely in APNR to check if the car has a valid tax disc.

Wig

Doesn't need to be a start date, it's a 12/6 month disc and it gives the day of expiry. Ergo it is valid from the start of the 12/6 month period as it says in legislation.

It doesn't need to explain it anywhere, it is a 12/6 month disc and it is valid from the start of that period and it is an offence not to display a valid tax disc.

It would be unlucky, but for the sake of displaying 2 discs for a couple of days, do you really want to put yourself into that risk category?