Car Tax Penalty

SecretPianist

I am new to all this and couldn't really find an appropriate thread but hopefully someone can help me...

I bought a car in October 2012 from new at a local dealership. They sent me the logbook in May 2013 with the wrong name on it. I happend to be away when this came to my address and am in the process of dealing with it now. I have sent the logbook off for it to be changed, so don't have it anymore.

Today I received a letter saying I'm late paying my car tax. I had no idea the dealership had only put 6th months on (my fault, should have checked)! I looked at my car and I should have paid in April but I didn't get a reminder (I know, reminders are a curtousy too but without a reminder, I didn't know you could tax at the post office... and I had no idea it was due).

Anyway, I tried to tax my car online as I was devastated that I'd been riving around for a month and not knowing!! And I can't fill out the tax online as I don't have the reminder notice.

The letter I received states "If you can't provide documentary evidence that shows the vehicle record to be inacturate, you will have to pay the late licensing penalty of £80." I am worried that if I try to contest this and they don't agree with my application, I will have to pay the late charge of £80 (instead of the £40).

So I wanted to ask you, do you think I have grounds to contest this? Or do you think I should pay the £40 fine + £11 last months tax + £120 for taxing my car for a year? And even if I pay these fines, I can't actually tax my car until the logbook comes back because I don't have a reminder, so my car will remain off the road until I can get all of this sorted...

agrinnall

Better to ask on the Motoring board - "car tax" isn't a tax (Vehicle Excise Duty) and you are more likely to get an answer there. In fact, I'm pretty sure if you dig around the threads already there you may well find the answer to your question.

John_Pierpoint

It most certainly is a tax just as National Insurance is a tax, and even the climate change levy on your electricity bill is a tax. However it is not a tax that has a resident expert on this part of the forum.

8 years ago I used to drive a car, which must have been taxed originally with a 6 month tax; so the tax did not line up with the date I bought it or the date on which the MoT was due.
One year I did not get a reminder and by chance I happened to be absent mindedly looking at the windscreen, when my mind automatically registered that the tax was a month out of date. So on the Monday my wife was sent off to renew the tax and had to drive to a major post office to be allowed to re-tax it. Less than a week later the penalty notice arrived, so I appealed and got let off.

You could try appealing with your sob story, you might be in luck.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3889059