New car does not have a tax disc

TheBigBad

I bought a new car from Mercedes which I collected yesterday.

This morning I noticed that there is no tax disc in the holder. I have called the Mercedes dealership and they said that it is ok to drive the car as they have taxed it and the DVLA will send me my tax disc within 14 days. They advised that I should keep my invoice and receipt in the car for now in case I am stopped by the police.

I have checked the DVLA website and I cannot find any mention of this. In fact all I can find is that it is an offence to drive a vehicle that is not displaying a valid tax disc.

The dealer is a Mercedes Benz retail dealer so I would not expect them to be lying about this however I would also expect the information to be more readily available online. And I would have thought they would point this out to me at handover.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

System

I have had this situation before when ordering a tax disc online which "got lost in the post" (three times until I insisted the dvla sent it recorded delivery - the other three discs came about a month late!)
I got a ticket for non-display but I sent them a receipt showing it was taxed on time and the dvla had made the mistake and the ticket was binned

Iceweasel

Absolutely normal.

DVLA normally take 4 to 5 days but say allow 14.

With a M-Benz dealer having done it, it should be OK.

TheBigBad

Brilliant, thanks a lot. I didnt expect Mercedes to lie to me but as I couldnt find this anywhere else I was a little concerned.

spacey2012

Buying a Mercedes does not exempt you from the law.
If you are given a penalty for failure to display, you will be paying it despite what the garage has "told you"
It is an offence to fail to display a valid VED disk and that is the end of that.
The garage should have obtained the disk in good time or walked to the post office.
If it has a disc on display they will allow 5 days from its expiry of the disc if you can prove the new disc was applied for on-line.
The penalty is £200 for EACH ticket you receive for EACH offence.

interstellaflyer

Not sure I understand why MB can't supply a tax disk on a new car, every new car and second hand car I've had from a franchised main dealer has been taxed by the dealer and the tax disk has been on the windscreen when I've picked up the car.

Tilt

There is an exemption for not displaying a valid tax disc which is up to 5 days from the expiry of the previous one (providing there was no gap between discs). I don't know about any other official exemption.

Have you checked on line to see whether the car is showing as taxed on the DVLA website?

https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/enquiry?execution=e1s1

System

spacey2012 wrote: »

Buying a Mercedes does not exempt you from the law.
If you are given a penalty for failure to display, you will be paying it despite what the garage has "told you"
It is an offence to fail to display a valid VED disk and that is the end of that.
The garage should have obtained the disk in good time or walked to the post office.
If it has a disc on display they will allow 5 days from its expiry of the disc if you can prove the new disc was applied for on-line.
The penalty is £200 for EACH ticket you receive for EACH offence.

200 quid?! it's gone up £140 in the last year since I got one then
I got mine 14 days after the previous disc had expired but could prove it was taxed on time, tbh I think you're being over dramatic and exaggerating

spacey2012

If it is picked up on by a DVLA patrol, it will be clamped on the spot and impounded after 24 hours if the penalty is not paid.
That will be rather dramatic and exaggerate the situation.

The garage has misinformed the OP, the rules are very clear, 5 days from expiry of displayed disc if application has been made.

System

spacey2012 wrote: »

If it is picked up on by a DVLA patrol, it will be clamped on the spot and impounded after 24 hours if the penalty is not paid.
That will be rather dramatic and exaggerate the situation.

The garage has misinformed the OP, the rules are very clear, 5 days from expiry of displayed disc if application has been made.

really? I thought they only did the clamping for not being taxed, especially as they would have access to see that the car is actually taxed and the disc is in the post
still not sure where you got the £200 fine from?

Tiexen

spacey2012 wrote: »

If you are given a penalty for failure to display, you will be paying it despite what the garage has "told you".

As from July 2013, dealerships will no longer be responsible for issuing tax discs for new cars.

In this years’ Budget, it was agreed that a new car may be driven for up to 14 days without displaying a tax disc, as the DVLA will be supplying them directly to the consumer. This will most likely take a few days once the dealership has specified where the tax disc needs to be sent.Car dealers throughout the UK have expressed their concern over these changes especially with regards to some of their retail customers being uncomfortable with the idea of driving their new cars without displaying a tax disc.

The DVLA have responded to these worries by agreeing to produce a leaflet that will be available for all dealers to hand out to their customers, hopefully helping to reduce any concerns.
To find out more or contact the DVLA, visit their website: http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/