How soon after an MOT can I tax my car? 10 February at 1:05PM in Motoring 10 replies 422 views

Brie

Hey motoring types!

Due to a long list of various issues I have got my car's MOT booked for Friday 24th Feb.  And my tax renewal is due on Monday 28th Feb.

Will I be able to renew the tax online or by phone over the weekend?  Or will I have to go to the post office on Monday 28th?

Is there any way I can tell if I have previously set up an automatic renewal DD as obviously this would make life easy?  But would it work with the MOT being essentially the day before the renewal date?

JGB1955

As soon as the garage have uploaded your MOT certificate to the data base you'll be good to renew online.  Probably within minutes of the certificate being issued.

CliveOfIndia

Brie said:

And my tax renewal is due on Monday 28th Feb.

Presumably you mean Tuesday 28th?

As above, the online MOT database is updated near enough in real time.  But even if for some reason the garage doesn't get around to entering the details until Monday, you can still tax the car on Monday night, for instance.

Brie said:

Is there any way I can tell if I have previously set up an automatic renewal DD as obviously this would make life easy? 

The simplest way is to check your bank account online - you'll be able to see a list of DDs that are in place.  And as a double-check, you could always look back at old statements to see if a DD came out this time last year (assuming you pay annually).

Brie

CliveOfIndia said:

Presumably you mean Tuesday 28th?

 you could always look back at old statements to see if a DD came out this time last year (assuming you pay annually).

Doh - note to self - look at calendar beside pc before typing.

Yes annual payment - at £20 a year it seems silly to pay £1.75 a month which adds a whole extra £.

CliveOfIndia

Brie said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Presumably you mean Tuesday 28th?

 you could always look back at old statements to see if a DD came out this time last year (assuming you pay annually).

Doh - note to self - look at calendar beside pc before typing.

Yes annual payment - at £20 a year it seems silly to pay £1.75 a month which adds a whole extra £.

I hope you don't think I was being sarcastic - I just meant that it gives you an extra day's breathing space, as it were.

But in all likelihood, it'll be updated within a few minutes of the certificate being issued.

Oh, one other thing to mention - if you go online to the MOT Status Check thingy, that takes a few days to update.  I've no idea why, seems daft when everything is computerised these days.  So even though you've got a fresh MOT, it can sometimes show as MOT Expired.  But the check that happens behind the scenes when you try to tax the car online is real-time.

facade

You have until 23:59:59 on Tuesday the 28th to renew strictly, but DVLA won't care if you renew in the first few days of March.

tedted

mot details update straight away as soon as the receipt is issued

Username03725

Mine passed its MoT on Wednesday, did the VED this morning when the reminder arrived. There’s no lag; as soon as the MoT tester inputs the pass it’s on the DVLA system.

Brie

CliveOfIndia said:

Brie said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Presumably you mean Tuesday 28th?

 you could always look back at old statements to see if a DD came out this time last year (assuming you pay annually).

Doh - note to self - look at calendar beside pc before typing.

Yes annual payment - at £20 a year it seems silly to pay £1.75 a month which adds a whole extra £.

I hope you don't think I was being sarcastic - I just meant that it gives you an extra day's breathing space, as it were.

But in all likelihood, it'll be updated within a few minutes of the certificate being issued.

Oh, one other thing to mention - if you go online to the MOT Status Check thingy, that takes a few days to update.  I've no idea why, seems daft when everything is computerised these days.  So even though you've got a fresh MOT, it can sometimes show as MOT Expired.  But the check that happens behind the scenes when you try to tax the car online is real-time.

No worries Clive!!!  Yes - and we know well in this household that the DVLA takes time to update stuff.  OH got pulled over by the coppers a year back as supposedly he had no MOT or insurance.  Which of course he did but there was a lot of faffing as he couldn't get internet access on his phone in the middle of no where so couldn't bring up any emails about renewing or any other proof so I was running about scanning docs that I was then sending him in texts so he could be sent on his way without arrest or a fine or car confiscating!!!

35har1old

Brie said:

Hey motoring types!

Due to a long list of various issues I have got my car's MOT booked for Friday 24th Feb.  And my tax renewal is due on Monday 28th Feb.

Will I be able to renew the tax online or by phone over the weekend?  Or will I have to go to the post office on Monday 28th?

Is there any way I can tell if I have previously set up an automatic renewal DD as obviously this would make life easy?  But would it work with the MOT being essentially the day before the renewal date?

Has your current MOT expired ?
If it hasn't why don't you renew you tax before 28th
I assume you have got your renewal letter.

Brie

35har1old said:

Has your current MOT expired ?

If it hasn't why don't you renew you tax before 28th
I assume you have got your renewal letter.

MOT expires on 28th Feb as does tax.  Got my renewal letter but can't renew tax as the system says it can't find a current MOT.  I assume by this it means that the system won't renew with something that's going to expire shortly.  

In an ideal world I would have got the MOT done sooner but the OH was in hospital and I didn't relish sitting at a Halfords or wherever for 2 - 3 hours twiddling my thumbs.  I use Halfords as I get a free MOT there.  They never have wifi so it's not like I can sit and work on my laptop or anything.  Ultimately the baseline problem was buying a car on 1st March a few years back so everything needs to be done within a short time frame in Feb.  I'd loosen up the problem if I could get a half year of tax but that's not possible on toy cars where the tax is £20 a year.