DVLA - strange one

Poppy9

My OH car tax expires on 30.04.07. This will be the first time he has taxed the car as it was previously taxed by the dealer when he bought it last year.

He has the V5 for the car but didn't receive a car tax reminder renewal so he rang DVLA on Friday. Firstly they refused to discuss it with him as he might not be the vehicle owner even though it's registered to our address and he had the V5 in front of him with the document reference number on they required. After a bit of persistence they implied the car was SORN.

When I came home from work I tried taxing the car on line. It said there was a gap in road tax or SORN on this car since 20/5/07 - which is the date OH bought the car. I tried ringing as OH was a bit dopey after working a 12 hour night shift. I had a more helpful lady who said she could see the car was taxed but the system wasn't recognising it so she said she had to transfer me to another dept. Went through to another dept. and she had done the most infuriating thing and just put the call through without explaining to her colleague what the issue was so I had to start again. He said "oh wrong dept" to which I replied "tough you will sort it as I'm not repeating the story for a 3rd time":rolleyes: . He too said he could see the car was taxed but the computer didn't recognise it. Upshot is OH now has to go to DVLA with the tax disc, V5 etc and they will then update their records and renew the tax.

Obviously some sort of bug in the system as OH has not received any penalty notices for having no tax or no SORN. OH told them he was concerned that if the Automatic Number plate recognition vehicle clocked his car it could be lifted and crushed for having no road tax and all evidence of the road tax would be with the car. Also if he had been involved in an accident then his insurance company might have tried not to pay out due to DVLA saying the car was not taxed. We have now scanned and photocopied the road tax disc.

This is the 2nd DVLA error for us in a few weeks. Last time they sent me the V5 for a car I didn't own and didn't want to know when I rang them up to say. Eventually I had to write to them enclosing the V5 and I've heard nothing since.

countingthepennys

DVLA do make errors a lot i once had a letter thanking me for letting them know abt my sorn id only taxed it 2 weeks prior!!!They will not usually discuss many issues over the phone or email must be for legal reasons so i dont think theres a bug in the system, you have to write if you do write id recommend sending by registered post.As for the vehicle being crushed as being seen not to be taxed id be surprised once i once had a car that required wk and was off the rd sorned for months then was retaxed and driven was stopped by the police at a roadside check and upon seeing the tax disc and explaining the situation was ok'd at worst you may have to take your documents to the police station.As for the insurance well a car has to be insured to be taxed so upon inspection your insurance along with the details of your policy and the tax disc itself it wouldnt cause a problem.Id say at a guess the motor trader that sold the car to your DH although has taxed it for you probably on traders insurance policy has not sent off the yellow part of the V5 to the DVLA thus the confusion.

Poppy9

countingthepennys wrote: »

DVLA do make errors a lot i once had a letter thanking me for letting them know abt my sorn id only taxed it 2 weeks prior!!!They will not usually discuss many issues over the phone or email must be for legal reasons so i dont think theres a bug in the system, you have to write if you do write id recommend sending by registered post.As for the vehicle being crushed as being seen not to be taxed id be surprised once i once had a car that required wk and was off the rd sorned for months then was retaxed and driven was stopped by the police at a roadside check and upon seeing the tax disc and explaining the situation was ok'd at worst you may have to take your documents to the police station.As for the insurance well a car has to be insured to be taxed so upon inspection your insurance along with the details of your policy and the tax disc itself it wouldnt cause a problem.Id say at a guess the motor trader that sold the car to your DH although has taxed it for you probably on traders insurance policy has not sent off the yellow part of the V5 to the DVLA thus the confusion.

OH is a Police Officer so know about cars being lifted, impounded and crushed for no tax and said if DVLA computer says no, then if the ANRV is working the streets and spots his car then it would be lifted. They don't contact the owner to give them a chance to explain situation. They would assume the tax disc present in the car is a fake. Many a person has turned up at the Police station to report their car stolen when in fact it's been lifted for having no tax:o

If the car was written off and tax disc destroyed i.e through fire then OH would have no proof of car tax and would have to go back to the dealer, luckily a reputable Ford dealer, to ask them to find proof they taxed the car.
They obviousy sent off the new owner slip as OH as the DVLA have issued the V5 to my OH with the correct date of his purchase of the vehicle, his correct name and address.

This is purely a DVLA computer error as they know the car is taxed and when I gave them the reference number on the tax disc it corresponded with their records, however the computer is failing to recognise the car is taxed, while also not recognising it as not taxed or SORN, hence no issuing of penalty notices which are produced automatically if the system says not taxed.

countingthepennys

Thanks for that poppy i stand corrected lol though thats what i was told interesting thread tho

Davidboy

Where have I heard that before???? "The computer says Nooooo"


D

Keith

I had a motorcycle impounded because the DVLA computer said I'd bought a tax disc for only 3 months, and the bike was now untaxed, you can only buy a 12 month tax disc for a motorcycle :rolleyes: