Taxing a car

culpepper

if you buy a car with new tax and mot,its worth buying only 6 months tax the next time round ,and 1 years the time after so when the MOT is due you wont have to rush around trying to get it sorted before getting the new tax disc. It is so much less stressful ,especially if the car doesnt pass and needs work.

andy88_2

I'm sorry but I really can't see what the original complaint is about. You need to have everything valid in order to apply for the tax disc, and you don't have any insurance for a start. They are preventing you from driving a car with a tax disc on it and without insurance.

There is no hardship to you whatsoever here. If you don't want to drive the car until 1st May, you don't need a tax disc. You can apply a day in advance, as I did when buying this car, but you are still not entitled to drive it before that.

I bought this car on a Tuesday, applied to change insurance from the 1st of the month, got the tax disc (and SORN the old car) on Thursday afternoon, and collected the car on Friday 1st (by train).

For people relying on the 15 days grace to renew tax late; you must not drive the car in this period.

aeuerby

andy88 wrote:

I'm sorry but I really can't see what the original complaint is about. You need to have everything valid in order to apply for the tax disc, and you don't have any insurance for a start. They are preventing you from driving a car with a tax disc on it and without insurance.

There is no hardship to you whatsoever here. If you don't want to drive the car until 1st May, you don't need a tax disc. You can apply a day in advance, as I did when buying this car, but you are still not entitled to drive it before that.

I bought this car on a Tuesday, applied to change insurance from the 1st of the month, got the tax disc (and SORN the old car) on Thursday afternoon, and collected the car on Friday 1st (by train).

For people relying on the 15 days grace to renew tax late; you must not drive the car in this period.

I'm not too sure what you are implying here and I'm not too sure I like it.

You state: They are preventing you from driving a car with a tax disc on it and without insurance.

Are you are suggesting that we only wanted a tax disc to drive the car illegally? What about if someone obtains a tax disc with 1 day left on the insurance and hadn't organised any other cover? Would they be refused in case they drive a car with a tax disc and no insurance? It's a similar situation. We have never broken the law in our lives and don't intend to start now.

Next : There is no hardship to you whatsoever here. If you don't want to drive the car until 1st May, you don't need a tax disc. You can apply a day in advance, as I did when buying this car, but you are still not entitled to drive it before that.

No there is no hardship to us here but it is the principle of the matter. We are being prevented from abiding by the law just incase we might break it. I thought this countries system was innocent to proven guilty. We still can't apply a day in advance because of the insurance. I am also aware that we are not entilted to drive any car without a valid tax disc, I'm not daft.:rolleyes:

If you read what the DVLA said in one of my earlier posts you will see that the person there contradicted themselves (unless we are misunderstanding them) they say first:

...certificate of insurance must be in force at the time a vehicle is licensed. In practice, this is either the day the licence is issued or the first day of the month in which the licence comes into force, which ever is the later.

Then they said:
... since the Post Office is closed on Sunday and Bank Holiday
Monday, it will not be possible for them to relicense your vehicle until your insurance certificate becomes valid.

So even the DVLA don't know what they are doing.

Putting 6 months tax on isn't very money saving as you are charged an extra 10% for this. Also it is possible to MOT a car up 1 month before the original expiry date so couple that with the ability to apply for tax 2 weeks before the end of the month there shouldn't be a problem (our MOT is due in January anyway.

Anyway it's all irrelevant now because the car is still in bits in our garage because of the head gasket being replaced so we can't go anywhere anyway:rolleyes:. It just would have been nice to have the option of going out over the weekend, oh well the grass needs cutting.:eek:

Thanks though for your comments, they were helpful!;)

andy88_2

aeuerby wrote:

I'm not too sure what you are implying here and I'm not too sure I like it.

You state: They are preventing you from driving a car with a tax disc on it and without insurance.

Are you are suggesting that we only wanted a tax disc to drive the car illegally?

Of course I'm not, but the rules are framed for the oiks that want to.

Nice walk to the Post Office in the morning?

Curry_Queen

aeuerby wrote:

Anyway it's all irrelevant now because the car is still in bits in our garage because of the head gasket being replaced so we can't go anywhere anyway:rolleyes:. It just would have been nice to have the option of going out over the weekend,

I thought your insurance didn't start until the 1st May, so you wouldn't have been able to drive over the weekend anyway!

aeuerby

andy88 wrote:

Of course I'm not, but the rules are framed for the oiks that want to.

Nice walk to the Post Office in the morning?

As curry queen has rightly pointed out we ae unable to purchse our tax disc until Tuesday because our insurance doesn't start until Sunday and the daft rules set down by the DVLA therfore say it isn't valid.

So there is no point in walking the mile to the post office this morning.

NigeWick

aeuerby wrote:

it is the principle of the matter

The principle here is:- Rules is rules.

YOU know that you are a law abiding citizen, "they" will not take the chance that you aren't. Rules ands laws may sometimes be bent a bit, but not broken.

Nigel.

Curry_Queen

aeuerby wrote:

As curry queen has rightly pointed out we ae unable to purchse our tax disc until Tuesday because our insurance doesn't start until Sunday and the daft rules set down by the DVLA therfore say it isn't valid.

I was actually curious as to why you were disappointed you couldn't obtain your tax disc early and use the car this weekend knowing full well it wouldn't be legal as your insurance didn't start until after the weekend

I also fail to see why you can't understand the DVLA rules of needing a valid certificate of insurance in order to obtain car tax! It has always been this way and I thought it was an accepted fact amongst every driver ... it is the law after all :rolleyes:

aeuerby wrote:

What about if someone obtains a tax disc with 1 day left on the insurance and hadn't organised any other cover? Would they be refused in case they drive a car with a tax disc and no insurance? It's a similar situation.

Yes, they would also be refused a tax disc for the very same reasons. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that an insurance cert and MOT must have at least two months to run before expiry in order to obtain car tax.

And anyone driving without either is very foolish, even if they do have a valid tax disc on show, as they'll soon be picked up by one of the numerous scanners across every county, and won't know anything about it until a court summons lands on their door mat

Trow

The two month thing certainly didn't apply when I renewed my car tax last year - it works out that the car tax is due a month before the MOT is renewable, and we have never had a problem getting the car tax renewed, despite the MOT running out a month later.

aeuerby

Curry Queen,

According to the dvla website all you need a VALID mot and insurance. it does not stipulate a time limit on these documents unless it's buried further in the site which is a nightmare anyway.
http://www.dvla.gov.uk/faq/faq_tax_car.htm

We have in the past taxed a car with less that 2 months on either document.

As I have said on numerous occasions on this thread we asked for clarification from the DVLA who then proceeded to contadict themselves and no-one as yet has corrected my understanding of their reply.

I was disappointed because as far as we were concerned the insurance IS valid from tomorrow 1st May 00.01 hours (so we could have used it from the 1st May if we had a tax disc and not after the weekend as you stated) and hadn't realised insurance had to be valid on the day you purchase the disc. It was an innocent mistake.

My original post was the disbelief that even though it is obvious the insurance is valid the day the tax is valid we still can't have a disc. I thought that that's what this board was about...to be able to vent frustration at irratating things in life. Maybe I'm wrong...

I thought I had explained my situation clearly but obviously not and I apologise for any confusion caused.

Anyway as I said earlier it is now irrelevant as the car is still in bits but the principle still stands and will be taken further with the DVLA etc.

Thanks for all comments - some more useful than others.