How long do you have to tax a vehicle?

B0bbyEwing

25th Dec I signed a car over to my wife for insurance reasons.
Basically both our cars were in my name on the V5C & then because of the dates where our last cars went, her insurance ended up being on what would be my main car & my insurance was for the car that she would pretty much be driving.

So was putting the V5Cs in the 'right' names & then with her insurance renewal due soon was then going to have the insurances/cars tied to the right person.

But just realised yesterday that I'd forgotten to tax it. Since it was staying with us & not being 'sold' (to some randomer) I'd just completely forgotten. Luckily since then I think it was only driven once.

So went to tax it last night & keep getting this...



Despite using the correct reg & correct 12 digits on the new keeper slip. New keeper update was done online by the way.

The car wont be in use at all for the remainder of this week.
If I SORN it say right now & the new V5C lands through the door in time for me getting home from work tonight can I then tax it off that or is there a timeframe that needs to pass after declaring SORN before you can tax it?

MeadowsVale

Just wait until the new V5 comes and tax it then as it sounds like the new V5 has already been issued even if it hasn't turned up yet due to Xmas/New Year post.

Otherwise you should have been able to tax it with the new keeper slip.

GrumpyDil

Not sure I would.worry over a few days to be honest as long as you are not driving it.

That said you can get tax pretty immediately after declaring SORN but I have a vague recollection that you would have to tax it in a post office or wait 5 days to do it online.

MeadowsVale

Also as GrumpyDil says, if you SORN it you will then have to wait 5 days to tax it online unless you go to a post office. A few days untaxed won't do anything as long as you tax it from start of Jan when V5 turns up.

vacheron

Just out of curiosity, what insurance reason would benefit from the registered keeper matching the main driver? 

Both our cars are in my name, but one is primarily used by my wife and so that policy is in her name with me as named driver. I've never seen a situation where having the main driver and V5 in the "right" names would have offered any advantages?

B0bbyEwing

vacheron said:

Just out of curiosity, what insurance reason would benefit from the registered keeper matching the main driver? 

Both our cars are in my name, but one is primarily used by my wife and so that policy is in her name with me as named driver. I've never seen a situation where having the main driver and V5 in the "right" names would have offered any advantages?

Cost I thought. 

Although to be fair I didn't actually do 2 runs on the insurance to see. 

And with the value & condition of the car I wasn't really that bothered about 1 more owner being added to the list since we'll be it's final owners anyway. 

And if not & someone actually buys it off us come that time then again with its condition I doubt they will be bothered about 6 owners vs 5 either. 

Had it been a car like seems many members here own then I'd have maybe thought differently, but I'm at the other end of the scale when it comes to price point. 

B0bbyEwing

Also I don't suppose any of you are with Direct Line by any chance? 

What's going on with their pricing? They're having a laugh! I've ve been with them for 5yrs and they've consistently been the cheapest but not this year. 

My renewal was £500. Ridiculous on a 20yr old car. 
Comparison site got me £250.

Wife got quoted £920 on a 13yr old car, nothing special about either of these. Nothing sporty. 

Comparison site got her £290. Legal protection add on: £315.

Way way off the mark for 2 people in their 40s with 13 & 16 yrs NCDs.

vacheron

B0bbyEwing said:

vacheron said:

Just out of curiosity, what insurance reason would benefit from the registered keeper matching the main driver? 

Both our cars are in my name, but one is primarily used by my wife and so that policy is in her name with me as named driver. I've never seen a situation where having the main driver and V5 in the "right" names would have offered any advantages?

Cost I thought. 

Although to be fair I didn't actually do 2 runs on the insurance to see. 

And with the value & condition of the car I wasn't really that bothered about 1 more owner being added to the list since we'll be it's final owners anyway. 

And if not & someone actually buys it off us come that time then again with its condition I doubt they will be bothered about 6 owners vs 5 either. 

Had it been a car like seems many members here own then I'd have maybe thought differently, but I'm at the other end of the scale when it comes to price point. 

Thanks. 

I had never even considered the "adding an extra owner" element to the potential re-sale value, as we are the same as you, (our cars being 13 and 14 years old respectively). 

I've never done a run with our without either to check either to be fair, it was really that despite seeing many "how to reduce insurance costs" articles over the years, with many of the suggestions being completely counter-intuative, and I have never seen a suggestion to match the keeper with the main driver.

But you never know... there may be something in it? 

Keep_pedalling

There is no grace period, the tax should have been paid at the same time as the pointless  change in registered keeper. 

matt_drummer

B0bbyEwing said:

Also I don't suppose any of you are with Direct Line by any chance? 

What's going on with their pricing? They're having a laugh! I've ve been with them for 5yrs and they've consistently been the cheapest but not this year. 

My renewal was £500. Ridiculous on a 20yr old car. 
Comparison site got me £250.

Wife got quoted £920 on a 13yr old car, nothing special about either of these. Nothing sporty. 

Comparison site got her £290. Legal protection add on: £315.

Way way off the mark for 2 people in their 40s with 13 & 16 yrs NCDs.

Insurance isn't really for the value of the car.

The main risk is that you kill or seriously injure somebody.

A 20 year old car does as much damage as a 20 minute old car.

You could also argue that a 20 year old car does not have many of the safety features of a more recently built car.

vacheron

matt_drummer said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Also I don't suppose any of you are with Direct Line by any chance? 

What's going on with their pricing? They're having a laugh! I've ve been with them for 5yrs and they've consistently been the cheapest but not this year. 

My renewal was £500. Ridiculous on a 20yr old car. 
Comparison site got me £250.

Wife got quoted £920 on a 13yr old car, nothing special about either of these. Nothing sporty. 

Comparison site got her £290. Legal protection add on: £315.

Way way off the mark for 2 people in their 40s with 13 & 16 yrs NCDs.

Insurance isn't really for the value of the car.

The main risk is that you kill or seriously injure somebody.

A 20 year old car does as much damage as a 20 minute old car.

You could also argue that a 20 year old car does not have many of the safety features of a more recently built car.

I always use the (hypothetical) example of an infinite line of personal injury lawyers standing at a bus stop. 

The question is how far down the line would your car get before coming to a stop! This is a combination of speed, mass and a little to do with some car safety features and the cost of repairing the car (but this is insignificant compared to the third party damage costs)!

Light x Slow x New = Cheap

Fast x Heavy x Older = Expensive