Car tax disc to be axed after 93 years

knightstyle

We lived in France when they abolished their car tax and put a few centimes onto fuel, much fairer and their fuel is still cheaper than UK.
Now cars have to display a sticker for CT (MOT) and another for insurance. Their police are not so up to date as ours with anpr to check these.

Joe_Horner

custardy wrote: »

How do you know?
I pay insurance on both
I paid more for winter tyres for the bike than the car cost me all year in repairs/maintenance
[...]

custardy wrote: »

I never mentioned motorbikes,you did.

[...]

So now you say motorists pay for the whole of the road system?
even if you had figures to support this,so what?

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you're the only cyclist in the country who pays insurance and fits winter tyres to your pushbike that cost "more than a full year's maintenance" on your car. Or (far more likely) you were talking about a motorbike even if you didn't specifically use the word.

I've also mentioned in an earlier post that I really don't have a problem with the motorist paying (more than) the full cost of the roads, but I do have problem with people claiming that they don't. But I guess that comment passed you by seeing as it doesn't fit your preconceptions.

Joe_Horner

Aretnap wrote: »

Currently the law provides for regulations making it illegal to display anything which could reasonably be mistaken for an excise licence, which I suppose would probably preclude displaying an out of date disc in addition a valid one (though I can't find the exact wording of the regulations, so I could be mistaken). However I expect that whole section will be repealed when the tax disc is scrapped, and if it is there'll be nothing to stop you displaying an old tax disc.

The only possible problem would be obscuring the windscreen - most disks enroach on the swept area of the wipers by more than the permitted 40mm which would make an "unofficial" disk in the same place illegal even though, in practice, they don't obscure anything. There's currently an exemption to the rules for a tax disk or other "official" sticker but that wouldn't apply to one being displayed for historic value.

Of course, you'd need a seriously anal policeman to complain about it, let alone do any more than ask you to remove it if he did!

[Deleted User]

Do they actual enforce the rule of stuff on the screen blocking the swept area?

The amount of cars I see with tax discs not even in the corner, along with various parking permits and breakdown stickers, I'm surprised the passenger can see out the window.

Aretnap

Deleted_User wrote: »

Do they actual enforce the rule of stuff on the screen blocking the swept area?

The amount of cars I see with tax discs not even in the corner, along with various parking permits and breakdown stickers, I'm surprised the passenger can see out the window.

I've been driving around with my sat nav stuck to my swept area for the better part of ten years. Never got into any trouble for it.

It's an MOT fail, but as Joe says there's an exception for "official" stickers such as parking permits and tax discs, unless they seriously restrict the driver's view (linky).

Joe_Horner

Deleted_User wrote: »

Do they actual enforce the rule of stuff on the screen blocking the swept area?

The amount of cars I see with tax discs not even in the corner, along with various parking permits and breakdown stickers, I'm surprised the passenger can see out the window.

Not very often as far as I've seen, but it's available if someoone's really taking the mickey.

I've known an MOT fail in the past for a pair of sunglasses resting on the dash which encroached on the swept area*, and I've also known people having no problems with a satnav mounted practically right in their line of vision.


* Before the manual was amended to "allow" them to move such items and to introduce compulsory free retests for vision defects. His position was that he "wasn't allowed to" move it, and the retest (after I'd moved them) was half price so cheaper than taking it elsewhere for a new test. Very shortsighted approach to business - I took it elsewhere and paid for a full test anyway

Limey

I'm happy with the direct debit approach, it'll be £20 a month for the car and it'll mean if I fancy running the MR2 instead of the Celica for a couple of months I can easily take it off the road and SORN it and start up the direct debit for the MR2. No pennies lost by buying 6 months Tax for the MR2 if I'm not going to run it for that length of time.

Tilt

paddedjohn wrote: »

Not having a tax disc does not equal not having insurance, conversely, having a tax disc does not mean the car is insured either so without doing checks the average person wouldn't know if the car was fully legit, same as at present.

I know... that's why I said it would give you a clue.

Tilt

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

It's quite possible to check insurance and tax status of a car online, or even using a nifty little phone app these days


https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mycarcheck/id344478255

And what about if you havn't got such a device or you can't get a signal?

Do you really think that this move is designed to help the average motorist?

Mind you, your averaged Irish traveler has been using this system for years!

Steve059

Steve059 wrote: »

The tax disc holder industry killed at one fell swoop.

On the other hand ...

"Have you been wrongly fined by the DVLA for not taxing your car? Text SCAM to 12345 for a no win no fee claim service".

PS. From 1 November 2015, will it become an offence to display a tax disc?