TFL congestion charges after car has sold

jimjames

Goudy said:

The new keeper might have set up autopay themselves or pay it online daily, but as the vehicle was live first on your autopay account, they'll take it from you until otherwise told.

The new keeper won't be able to set it up on Autopay until the previous owner has removed it. So they might have tried and realised that they could get away with that.

I've had similar with a car before and needed to add it but previous owner hadn't removed from their account. As they'd not been overly co-operative post purchase I was in no rush to remind them.

OP - if you've not removed the car from Dartford tolls you might want to check that and any other parking apps too.

Mark_d

dorothyjane2021 said:

sold my car on August 1st and on August 22nd saw £125 direct debit coming out my bank for autopay. I called to query and was told as I hadn’t removed my car I was liable for the autopay. She also said there was £94.50 to come out on the 15th September and 3 further days not yet listed. I emailed proof of sale to tfl and cancelled the dd and today received a reply saying I’m liable for all charges as I didn’t remove the car. Perhaps I was naive in thinking transferring the vehicle with the DVLA covered everything as I would have assumed any car related charges would be processed through them. Has anyone gone through the same situation who could advise me further? Don’t want to be hit with a hefty fine which I’m guessing would also come to me? Many thanks

Whilst the car is registered with your autopay account then you are the one paying the fees.  Even if TFL did check the legal owner/registered keeper of the vehicle when it was first registered for autopay, do you serious expect them to do the check again every time a charge is due?

prowla

paul_c123 said:

I don't think the law is flawed, or the charge is outside of the law, or an automated system has made a mistake though. The car was registered to an account, it went into the CC Zone, it was detected and charged. There is no provision in the law that it becomes invalid if the RK is changed. (There is a requirement that it is only the RK who can initially register it though). In order to no longer be charged, you need to un-register the car from the account - the underlying law is very clear that this is the responsibility of the account holder.

Can you link to the laws you are mentioning there?

paul_c123

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/consolidated-congestion-charging-scheme-order.pdf

saajan_12

prowla said:

I'm wondering if there is any mileage in scrutinising the points like "10.5.5 If you ask us to remove a Registered Vehicle online or by phone, we will do so on the day you ask us to. You will be responsible for paying for any Charge on the day we remove the Registered Vehicle if you drive the vehicle within the Relevant Charging Zone on that day.".

That one in particular says "if you drive the vehicle"; clearly if you've sold on the vehicle (and is it so registered with the DVLA), then you have proof that "you" did not drive it.

Yes, that seems to be poor wording on TFL's part, but that only helps for charges ON the day you ask for the car to be removed. Anything in the prior days would fall into 10.5.4 where the wording is more broad, covering "10.5.4 "any Charge(s) incurred during the billing period that the registered vehicle was on your Auto Pay service." as opposed to "if you drive the vehicle"

jimjames

prowla said:

That one in particular says "if you drive the vehicle"; clearly if you've sold on the vehicle (and is it so registered with the DVLA), then you have proof that "you" did not drive it.

I can't see any validity in that argument. As the RK there could be someone else driving your car at times and if that was the case then anytime you weren't personally driving the car then you'd have no liability. I think that would fail in court.

dorothyjane2021

Thankyou everyone. Just for clarity my car had never been to London prior to me selling it. I registered for an account in case I drove into Orpington which is 10 minutes from me in Sevenoaks as said car was a 2.0 pre 2015 diesel and I was worried about the low emissions charge and didn’t want to end up with a PCN if I drove through an area without realising. My knowledge of anything congestion charge was zero (until now) as I would never have driven up to London when it’s 20 minutes on the train.