tax

ello there got a letter from dvla telling me my tax ends at the end of this
month... the question is do i need to buy it exactly on time or is there
leeway of a week or so? what happens if i buy it for exzample a day after it
runs out will i get a fine?

Cheers

 

Strictly by law, the tax has to be paid on, or before, the 1st of the month.
Some years ago, there was a 14-day period of grace. Whlie this is not still
in effect, many people plead ignorance and get a warning if caught. However,
this is at the discretion of an individual officer.

 

Depending on where you live there can be no period of grace.
If your Tax disc is invalid you could get clamped or towed away.
Best to buy your tax before the 1st.
By the way you do have a valid MOT certificate (if car 3 years old or
more) and a vaild certificate of insurance?
Dave
PS Not a wind up then ?? ? ? ? ? ?

 

I think the answer to your question might be in the wording of the renewal
document ....

 

Strictly by law, the tax has to be paid on, or before, the 1st of the

That's just a myth isn't it tho, people confusing the fact you can only
buy them 14 days in advance of their start date.

 

Cheers for that have been told i would be let off if it was under 2 weeks,
was a bit sceptical of this, thanks for clearing it up. I have me mot and
insurance.

Not a wind up this time

 

Cheers for that have been told i would be let off if it was under

You can be, depends purely on the mood of the copper.

fwiw I was done for not having tax when I swapped car a year ago, had my
old one on the road outside for a couple of weeks whilst I was trying to
sell it. Fine was a whopping £30.

 

As others have said, there is no period of grace. But if you keep car off
road until tax renewed, you'll be ok for a few days. While off road, you
should submit a SORN, but very much doubt anyone will get excited about this
for a few weeks.

If you must use untaxed car, pre-book an MOT then (AIUI) you can drive to
and from test centre on the day

 

Coppers now have a new "all singing all dancing" ANPR (Automatic Number
Plate Recognition) device that is linked to all various agencies, (DVLA,
Insurance databases etc) and if you drive past this it flags your vehicle to
the operators. They in turn alert response units (usually parked close by)
who pull you and deal with you for whatever they find.

If your car is not taxed, you can now be given a non-endorsable (no points)
fixed penalty ticket of £60.

If your car is seen at the road side without tax, then depending on where
you live, the local authority has the power to remove it. This incurs hefty
recovery/storage costs and storage. If you don't clear these costs to
recover your vehicle, they crush it!!!

There is no "grace" period as pointed out by previous posts.

Rich

 

Well that's just great, having lost my job 2 weeks ago it runs out in a
couple of days time :/ feking £90 for 6 months, hopefully starting work in
10 days time but wont be able to afford it until then.

Knowing my luck some tosser of a cop (im not anti cop my dad was one and my
mates one) will fine me as im going to get the tax for it, know why im
really pissed off with it all?

/rant on
Well was driving to my mates last night (around 8ish) and stopped at a 2
lane junction, cop pulled up next to me at the lights, looked at the car and
looked at me like I was some sort of leper (spelling?) mumbled something to
some stuck up looking copper in the car and started laughing. I asked if I
could help him as he obviously had some sort of problem as I don't take shit
off anyone (ive been used as a carpet in the past but no more) and was asked
if I would like to spend a night in a cell and eat porridge. (with a facial
expressin of eric cartman when he asks mr garrison to suck his balls over a
loudspeaker)

I swear the let any fucker become a police officer these days, thing is I
know some and there really decent people but this one guy who was obviously
abusing his position has now made me feel like this.
What a world we live in...
/rant off

 

Funnily enough, the same position as I am in at the moment. I bought the car
£230 and couldn't afford the tax for it till the next week (payday).
The old cars gearbox had died that weekend and I really didn't (still
haven't) have any money to fix it, garage wanted £400 so I had to buy a new
one. Ended up selling that car for £30 to a scrappy.

As luck would have it, the bloody day before I taxed it, I got stopped. As I
had only had it a few days it wasn't yet registered. The person I bought it
from was the daughter of the owner who had died and they wanted rid of it,
problem is, it was untaxed for around 6-7 months previous when the fellow
was too ill to drive it.

DVLA sent me a letter asking for proof of payment as we had backtaxed by a
month to try and make a piece offering. Unfortunately this seems to have
said to them that I have had it for longer than I am saying as I backtaxed
for a bit longer than I have had it, it was the best the post office could
offer. Tax from the start of the month which wouldn't cover my ownership as
I bought it right at the end of the prev month OR backtax by a month which I
did.

I've sent them a letter offering a copy of my statement of means, trying to
pay for a mortgage, all the crap that goes with it, a 7month old baby, a
wife that doesn't work AND having to take a pay drop of £5k 6-7 months ago
when I changed job has made it an art creating these for companies.

I'm waiting to see what happens about it as I'll be buggered if I'm going
back to the person I bought it from to ask for a receipt, it was bad enough
her crying as I handed over the money and took the keys.

Best advice I can give is say that you didn't get the V5 and fill in the
form that you need from the post office to apply for the lot in one go, keep
it in your glovebox and take the rest of the bits out that you would need to
tax the car.
If you get pulled show them the docs and say your doing it now..... Might
work, but only once.


Tim

 

Coppers now have a new "all singing all dancing" ANPR (Automatic Number

They also have something that reads your disc in the windscreen now. New
discs have a reflective metal surface on them, I assume it's something
to do with that...

 

The recent ad campaigns run by DVLC indicate that all they do is look on a
database, if that shows a vehicle in your care without valid tax or SORN an
automatic fine goes in the post. I dont think they need to spot you anymore

It motivated me to get a couple of old bikes SORNed just in case!

Basill

 

The recent ad campaigns run by DVLC indicate that all they do is look

So why exactly do they still stand out there with 'detector' vans... ?

I was pulled a week or two ago because my disc triggered their mobile
system for being flat on the dashboard.

 

..

I think the system I referred to before is there to `encourage` prompt
renewals, could be lucrative as it seems so many people believe in a grace
period. It would also be of little use where vehicles have not been
registered by their new owners hence the existance of video based Number
plate and tax disk reading systems.

The detector van you were caught by records number plates as well and is
connected to the police computer and so can also flag up stolen vehicles or
vehicles involved in crime.
There is some info on both ANPR and the tax detectors van systems at
http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk under the `other police equipment` heading.

I wonder how long it will be before insurance is checked by these systems
aswell?

Basill

 

Wandering off topic somewhat... in this day and age, Road Tax is ludicrous.
It should be abolished, the equivalent charge added to fuel tax (but
somewhat less cos of all the admin
cost saved), and the compulsory display of insurance certs on the car (like
some continental countries).

Insurance companies would be responsible for maintaining centralised vehicle
records, on which garages would be required to record MOT certs (and
failures).

Job done - a fairer system, a load of pseudo-civil servants at last forced
to get proper jobs and any absence of insurance or MOT easily recognisable.
Shorter Post Office
queues, too. Everyone a winner!

(Next job - get rid of TV licences!)

 

The detector van you were caught by

Caught is a harsh word, I was actually taxed

Hmmm, I'd have my doubts as to whether the DVLA stand out there looking
for vehicles involved in crime.


Anyways, the point I was making is that they have something new that can
actually "see" your disc in the window. I wasn't pulled for not having
tax, or for having a dodgy number plate, but specifically because their
system flagged me up for not being able to see my disc as I went by.
If you look at recent tax discs, they now have a metallic strip in them,
which I would suspect is something to do with it.