MSE News: Drivers struggle to renew road tax

patanne

@mgdavid point taken:)

The best thing that they could do is for all new cars to go from the date they are sold. After all there is no longer any need to have discs so they can expire any date in the month. That would gradually reduce the end of month overload & presumably also the reg no change date overload.

No far too logical AND they wouldn't make an extra month every time a car was sold.

Iceweasel

The twice yearly reg number change is another thing we don't need to have.

It's a capatalist ruse thought up to increase sales and plays on the UK one-up-manship attitude of "Ooh look at me my car is newer than yours."

mjoneseyjones

Iceweasel wrote: »

The twice yearly reg number change is another thing we don't need to have.

It's a capatalist ruse thought up to increase sales and plays on the UK one-up-manship attitude of "Ooh look at me my car is newer than yours."

It's a pretty standard marketing technique to create demand for consumer goods. No different to new iPhones or plasma TVs coming out every 5 minutes. The rush to buy the newest 'thing' is hardly UK specific, and a strong desire throughout the year to purchase consumer goods doesn't harm the economy.

Iceweasel

mjoneseyjones wrote: »

It's a pretty standard marketing technique to create demand for consumer goods. No different to new iPhones or plasma TVs coming out every 5 minutes. The rush to buy the newest 'thing' is hardly UK specific, and a strong desire throughout the year to purchase consumer goods doesn't harm the economy.

I agree with you up to a point - but if fridges or washing machines had number plates on - for every visitor to your house to see - then some folks would be getting the latest model on a much more regular basis.

I was referring specifically to cars and the fact that keeping up with the Joneses is made easier by the year being glaringly obvious on the plate.

With the obvious exception of Eire, most countries number plates do not show the year of registration, so it's not so apparent.

In many (I hesitate to say most) countries the number plate is not a lifetime thing like here either - if the car is sold to a new owner in another town,city or region the number changes.

If the car owner moves house to a different town, the number changes accordingly.

For example is someone moves from Linz to Graz in Austria, the plates change from beginning with an L to one beginning with a G. Nothing on the plate indicates the age of the car - only where it's registered.

Anyway we are where we are, and have a system that encourages spending money - often needlessly.

Oscargrouch

At the end of the day the Road Tax (for want of a better word) is now only for the population that cannot a modern car. Many new vehicles are either zero or marginal £. The new system is great; look for a car that's the same make, model and colour as yours; check on DVLA, if it's taxed for 11 months, get number plates made, your sorted. They only have 10 cars on the road checking...:rotfl: (Not Advised, but many will do this) not me, as I am an honest mug.

mjoneseyjones

Iceweasel wrote: »

I agree with you up to a point - but if fridges or washing machines had number plates on - for every visitor to your house to see - then some folks would be getting the latest model on a much more regular basis.

I was referring specifically to cars and the fact that keeping up with the Joneses is made easier by the year being glaringly obvious on the plate.

With the obvious exception of Eire, most countries number plates do not show the year of registration, so it's not so apparent.

In many (I hesitate to say most) countries the number plate is not a lifetime thing like here either - if the car is sold to a new owner in another town,city or region the number changes.

If the car owner moves house to a different town, the number changes accordingly.

For example is someone moves from Linz to Graz in Austria, the plates change from beginning with an L to one beginning with a G. Nothing on the plate indicates the age of the car - only where it's registered.

Anyway we are where we are, and have a system that encourages spending money - often needlessly.

People would spend money needlessly anyway. They'd buy the car with the new model name, or the iPhone with the next number after it's name, or the fridge with the newer spec. No-one needs to buy this stuff, they're just encouraged to by a combination of marketing and human nature to want the newest thing.

The number plates is just the governments way of getting in on the action by collecting a twice yearly bump in registration fees and keeping the motor industry sweet with another yearly peak in demand. If it didn't exist we'd just find another reason why we should buy the car we want at any given time.

Iceweasel

Oscargrouch wrote: »

At the end of the day the Road Tax (for want of a better word) is now only for the population that cannot a modern car. Many new vehicles are either zero or marginal £. The new system is great; look for a car that's the same make, model and colour as yours; check on DVLA, if it's taxed for 11 months, get number plates made, your sorted. They only have 10 cars on the road checking...:rotfl: (Not Advised, but many will do this) not me, as I am an honest mug.

I would reckon they have more than 10, Oscar - but I take your point.

I have had a search to see if I could find how many ANPR equipped Police or DVLA cars there are - but no success - yet.