DVLA are still charging me road tax for a vehicle I sold

pfenig

Obviously you should keep a better track of your finances and this could have been sorted out months ago.

I have 5 bank accounts in 3 different countries and run 4 companies in two different countries. If I had nothing better to do then of course I would have caught this out immediately.

I called the DVLA and they had no idea why the vehicle tax continued to be debited from me, they have cancelled the direct debit and are issuing me with a refund, 4-6 weeks via cheque.

Thanks all for the help.

macman

As pointed out above, the payee cannot cancel a DD-they can only stop drawing on it. It remains active until you (the account holder) cancels it. Which will take about two minutes if you have online access.

pfenig

macman wrote: »

As pointed out above, the payee cannot cancel a DD-they can only stop drawing on it. It remains active until you (the account holder) cancels it. Which will take about two minutes if you have online access.

I was told it has to happen from both ends. i.e. I could cancel at the bank but they could still try to debit again.

I've stopped it at the bank as well. Thanks for the help.

pfenig

anotheruser wrote: »

And you haven't confirmed if YOU cancelled the direct debit.
Let's face it, companies won't go round cancelling them for you.

No as a state owned company or company working on behalf of the state that is now largely automated I disagree. They should cancel the direct debit the moment there is a change of ownership, I don't recall living in a national socialist or socialist/communist country where big daddy is always right and has no obligations or responsibility, but of course to take money that does not belong to them.

The fact that they apologised for the mistake over the phone seems to suggest I am correct.

takman

pfenig wrote: »

I have 5 bank accounts in 3 different countries and run 4 companies in two different countries. If I had nothing better to do then of course I would have caught this out immediately.

I called the DVLA and they had no idea why the vehicle tax continued to be debited from me, they have cancelled the direct debit and are issuing me with a refund, 4-6 weeks via cheque.

Thanks all for the help.

That's nothing I personally have over 10 bank accounts, I've seen people on here who have over 40 bank accounts. Checking the statement atleast once a month on 5 accounts will take no time at all. Plus if your running 4 companies you should be more organised with your finances!.

It may sound harsh but there is no excuse for not checking your finances at least monthly. I personally log into each account on a weekly basis and it takes me no longer than 15 minutes to go through each transaction on all the accounts to make sure they are correct.

Rover_Driver

The direct debit is just the authority and conditions that you gave to the bank to allow the DVLA to claim payment from your account. They have no control over your account and cannot cancel your authority, only stop making the payment claims.

GothicStirling

You seem to be under the illusion that two offices in the same building, will communicate with each other.

macman

pfenig wrote: »

I was told it has to happen from both ends. i.e. I could cancel at the bank but they could still try to debit again.

I've stopped it at the bank as well. Thanks for the help.

No, this is not correct. Once cancelled, If they tried again and were successful, then you would simply need to invoke the DD guarantee and the bank have to reimburse you immediately.

AdrianC

macman wrote: »

No, this is not correct. Once cancelled, If they tried again and were successful, then you would simply need to invoke the DD guarantee and the bank have to reimburse you immediately.

But if you haven't explicitly cancelled the tax, you're going to find yourself on the hook for paying.

mrsyardbroom

I sold a vehicle on Saturday and informed the DVLA online. Today (Tuesday) the road tax has come out of my account as usual but if I go to the government website it shows the vehicle as being untaxed. I'm assuming this has happened as it was done over a bank holiday weekend. When you sell a car you should get a confirmation of vehicle change with the following wording included,
'DVLA will automatically issue a refund for any full remaining months for vehicle tax and cancel any direct debits. The refund will be sent to the address on the V5C log book, which was used.'