Is online Car Tax valid before disc comes?

pennypitstop_2

Hi Guys

I need to tax my car and wanted to do it online, although I can't find out from DVLA website if the tax is valid before the disc actually comes through the post... if anyone has done this before, do you know if they give you something to print off? Maybe to show the authorities if stopped? If I pay tonight, can I drive legally tomorrow? Why oh why they don;t explain this on the site I can;t figure out!

It wouldn;t be a problem ordinarily, but I want to take my car to France at the weekend and am worried it will not be legal if I'm not 'showing' a tax disc in the window (5 days to post it apparently)?

What do you think? Hope someone can help!

Penny

Stephen_Leak

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the offence is "failure to display a valid tax disc".

The DVLA do make it as clear as they can that you need to leave sufficient time for the disc to arrive.

This is another reason to get it at your local Post Office. Use it or lose it.

slinks

if u pay at the post office tomorrow u can drive tomorrow and take you car to france at the weekend...

why get yourself in a tizz about something that can easily be sorted in 5 mins at the post office??

pennypitstop_2

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I wanted to do it online is because I'm having a dispute with my insurance company - I paid for my annual policy over the phone, they didn't send the certificate and are insisting that I should pay £15 for a replacement. So I have insurance, but even if I do end up paying extra for a Certificate, they said they have to allow longer than a week to give their admin team time to process, get it through the post, etc. And of course having insurance is something the DVLA can verify online which I can't verify to the post office. Aarghh!

Thanks for your help. Just to add, I use my local (very small) post office nearly every day, Stephen! (Besides the fact they can't issue tax discs!)

clareyp

whenever I've bought my tax online it's come within 2 days so if you buy today it should arrive in time for the weekend..

vikingaero

When you buy online the online details are valid immediately or at least on the overnight systems update. Therefore if you get spotted by ANPR you car will show as taxed. But as others have said, not displaying a valid tax disc is an offence.

Conor_3

My mother went to the Police station to ask about this as she forgot to tax the car and the due date fell on a weekend.

The copper told her to do it online and she'd be OK. The DVLA computer would show it up as taxed and because it had been, it was extremely unlikely they'd bother with a failure to display charge as you'd be pushed to find a Trafpol who'd not exercise leaniency over the postal delay with it showing up as taxed and insured.

Hintza

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the offence is "failure to display a valid tax disc".

This is an anomaly in this day and age and I think Stephen is probably factually correct. But to be honest I taxed car online in middle of month, I knew I was taking a risk but nowdays unless you are parked in town wher the traffic wardens are you should be OK.

On saying all that I applied on the Friday and I think the disc arrived on the Monday or Tuesday so they are pretty efficient.

Apply today and you have a fair chance of getting it, if not just carry the receipt with you as proof.

They might still do you but I would say it would be a remote possibility.

Conor_3

Hintza wrote: »

This is an anomaly in this day and age and I think Stephen is probably factually correct. But to be honest I taxed car online in middle of month, I knew I was taking a risk but nowdays unless you are parked in town wher the traffic wardens are you should be OK.

Actually you're not as a ANPR equipped traffic car passing yours, even if you were parked or travelling in the opposite direction, would flag it up as untaxed.

Hintza

Conor wrote: »

Actually you're not as a ANPR equipped traffic car passing yours, even if you were parked or travelling in the opposite direction, would flag it up as untaxed.

I didn't phrase that very well. What i meant to say was it had not been on the road untiul middle of month due to a small problem passing MOT at end of April. As soon as MOT was passed it was taxed, so although I didn't have the disc it was taxed.

Mrs_B_12

I have the leaflet in front of me that came with my renewal form and it says "Remember to make your application in plenty of time. You must display a valid tax disc on any vehicle you keep on a public road or you will be committing an offence.