Why does DVLA still send out refund cheques??

Ectophile

Conrad3000 said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

It's easier now to pay in a cheque than it ever used to be, ironically.

Take a photo of it in the bank app on your phone.

If you really want to be old-school, just pay it in at any post office.

To pay a cheque into a post office, you need to go to your bank to obtain some sort of slip.

But if you're there anyway, you might as well cash it there.

My bank stopped doing slips years ago.  These days, I just need the cheque and my debit card.

motorguy

Mildly_Miffed said:

Anyway, let's take a fairly common situation...

You buy a used car. The dealer taxes it as part of the deal.
Six months later, you sell it.
Do you want the dealer to get that refund?

Eh?

Hows that even a likely scenario, that the dealer would get the money back?  

It would be fairly easy to update the online system to accept bank details when you advise you've sold the car.  Then they could do a bank transfer.  

I would say they could save 80% of the cheques going out (and associated costs of generating the cheque) in one fell swoop.

sheramber

motorguy said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Anyway, let's take a fairly common situation...

You buy a used car. The dealer taxes it as part of the deal.
Six months later, you sell it.
Do you want the dealer to get that refund?

Eh?

Hows that even a likely scenario, that the dealer would get the money back?  

It would be fairly easy to update the online system to accept bank details when you advise you've sold the car.  Then they could do a bank transfer.  

I would say they could save 80% of the cheques going out (and associated costs of generating the cheque) in one fell swoop.

If there is no link with the online payments  system and the main computer, how much would it cost to update their computer to a new system?

Government  departments do not generally have up to date computers. 

Are you happy for an increase in your taxes to pay for it?

Mildly_Miffed

motorguy said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Anyway, let's take a fairly common situation...

You buy a used car. The dealer taxes it as part of the deal.
Six months later, you sell it.
Do you want the dealer to get that refund?

Eh?

Hows that even a likely scenario, that the dealer would get the money back?  

Reminder of the OP's question:

Conrad3000 said:

I can't believe in this day and age, a massive Government department like the DVLA sends cheques out instead of processing refunds on your card (if that's how you paid originally).

born_again

motorguy said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Anyway, let's take a fairly common situation...

You buy a used car. The dealer taxes it as part of the deal.
Six months later, you sell it.
Do you want the dealer to get that refund?

Eh?

Hows that even a likely scenario, that the dealer would get the money back?  

It would be fairly easy to update the online system to accept bank details when you advise you've sold the car.  Then they could do a bank transfer.  

I would say they could save 80% of the cheques going out (and associated costs of generating the cheque) in one fell swoop.

Cost of generating cheques has long been paid back.

Cost of a new government IT system that works & comes in on time. At best millions of pounds. 

As it is, current system works. Moral here is with gov IT, if it works leave alone.

DGG67

I agree.

I live in a town of about 11000 people in the East of England. We have no bank branches, no post office, one cash machine that doesn’t take deposits and my bank doesn’t accept photographs of cheques. 

Cheques of any kind are an absolute nuisance and require a 20 mile round trip to a bank
branch and paid-for parking (£5).

Any cheque for less than £10 gets shredded - just isn’t cost effective any more. 

All this “progress” . . . isn’t! 🤷‍♂️

user1977

DGG67 said:

I agree.

I live in a town of about 11000 people in the East of England. We have no bank branches, no post office, one cash machine that doesn’t take deposits and my bank doesn’t accept photographs of cheques. 

Cheques of any kind are an absolute nuisance and require a 20 mile round trip to a bank
branch and paid-for parking (£5).

Any cheque for less than £10 gets shredded - just isn’t cost effective any more. 

All this “progress” . . . isn’t! 🤷‍♂️

Doesn’t sound very money-saving. Why not just post them to your bank?

WellKnownSid

user1977 said:

DGG67 said:

I agree.

I live in a town of about 11000 people in the East of England. We have no bank branches, no post office, one cash machine that doesn’t take deposits and my bank doesn’t accept photographs of cheques. 

Cheques of any kind are an absolute nuisance and require a 20 mile round trip to a bank
branch and paid-for parking (£5).

Any cheque for less than £10 gets shredded - just isn’t cost effective any more. 

All this “progress” . . . isn’t! 🤷‍♂️

Doesn’t sound very money-saving. Why not just post them to your bank?

Or change to a bank that allows you to pay in via their app.

Aretnap

born_again said:

As it is, current system works. Moral here is with gov IT, if it works leave alone.

This is true of any large IT system to be fair. It's not specific to government ones, beyond the fact that the government has a particularly large number of big IT systems.

Herzlos

DGG67 said:

I agree.

I live in a town of about 11000 people in the East of England. We have no bank branches, no post office, one cash machine that doesn’t take deposits and my bank doesn’t accept photographs of cheques. 

Cheques of any kind are an absolute nuisance and require a 20 mile round trip to a bank
branch and paid-for parking (£5).

Any cheque for less than £10 gets shredded - just isn’t cost effective any more. 

All this “progress” . . . isn’t! 🤷‍♂️

Cheques are good for 6 months, so why not just hold onto them until you're going near a branch? Or get an account with a bank that lets you send a photo of it and transfer across?

That said, I can't remember the last time I got a check that wasn't a VED refund.