What is the current situation with expired car tax, how many days after it expires do you have to get to the post office? It used to be a week or so, but i suspect it's something like 10mins today!
Also, what is the deal if you need to take the car for it's MOT prior to getting Tax disc? Can you drive to the garage, or do they expect you to get towed?
cheers
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Martin,
Q1, no grace period. You're supposed to tax in advance, or make a SORN declaration (i.e. car off the road).
Q2, driving directly to and from a pre-booked MOT with no current tax/certificate and back again is legal. Detours/stopping for a chat halfway is not though.
Regards,
Rob F
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Martin - don't worry *so* much about the tax. Failure to display is a 20 pound fine.
The lack of tax itself is a civil matter and since you can buy it retrospectively the Rozzers are unlikely to report you to the DVLA if it's only a couple of days out.
If you can avoid driving without tax don't but if it's unavoidable you should be ok.
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Martin ,
Be careful drivng untaxed. If you have a prang the insurance company could avoid the claim by saying you were on the road illegally.
As has been said, driving to a pre-booked MOT station appointment is legal. Make sure they take your registration number when booking.
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The exemption from tax to drive to and from a pre-booked MOT is a really useful way of getting a newly-purchased car home legally.
There is apparently no limit on mileage.
A friend was challenged once early on a Sunday morning, and told the police he was driving to an MOT 200 miles away. They checked and found his story to be true - his friend was a one-man MOT tester who often worked on Sundays.
Presumably one needs to be careful about using the exemption to drive home from a failed MOT, depending what the car failed on.
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No Grace....
Fixed Penalty Offence (varies by policy in different forces) = £30.00
Cops can and do report "covertly" i.e. put a tax report into LVLO without leaving a ticket on a car or giving it to the user.
Not a civil case but an Offence under the Vehilce Excise Act.
Automatically flags up on Police Computer thereby inviting a pull, in the main looking for Insurance and MoT Offences (see earlier thread)
To sum up, you could have alredy been reported and receive a mail shot from the DVLA complete with a £65.00 fixed penalty and a back duty tot up.
Very difficult to defend, a simple case to prove i.e. was car on road, was car displaying a tax disc, if so was it current. QED.The only arguments I have succeded in is definition of a road which is different to a Road Traffic Act road, i.e. you might need insurance and MoT but not a tax. These are few and far between as Local Authorities have computer based maps showing roads which they are responsible for maintaining and, quite rightly, support any prosecution case.
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Oh dear Oh dear
The period of grace for tax discs is 14 days PROVIDED you have posted the application form and documents and cheque by the due date.
You can drive to an MOT station without one, PROVIDED you have booked it in advance and have written confirmation. It's a long time since I looked this up but I believe the chosen station must be reasonably nearby. This is a "question of fact" for the magistrates to decide. There is no way you can use this to drive from London to eg Glasgow.
Lack of tax is a criminal matter and in addition to the fine you have to pay back tax all the way back to either 1)The last time it was taxed or 2)The month when the car was registered in your name at DVLA. This is worth watching out for as you could be landed with a huge back tax if you did'nt register it and it was untaxed for a long time. NOTE the court has NO discretion about this. If your car is post 31.12.1972 and has been laid up for 5 years and you drive it without tax, the bill is the fine PLUS 5 years back tax. Strictly speaking the MOT pre-booking exemption does not cover tax. The police would probably let you off but don't be rude etc because you would have no legal defence. The legal answer is trade plates or a trailor to the MOT station. (or change the log book to your wife's name to limit the damage)
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We have the situation where the license disc can be renewed up to 21 days after it expires.
So, guaranteed, there is always a ^*&^(&% long queue at the traffic department on the 21st of the month! (Normally with ME in it, I must admit!)
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Richard
Please enlighten me as to where it states that you have 14 days provided...... etc etc. As far as I am aware if the vehicle is not taxed on the 1st it's not taxed. However I am always receptive to any legalities I may have missed.
As I see it DVLA send a reminder in reasonably good time and it is possible to tax a vehicle prior to the due date.
Mind you I have always said that they do not go any better with tax on them!!!
Andrew.
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I don't know if/where it's written, but a few years ago a friend was stopped due to his lack of current tax disc. The policeman called in the details and DVLA confirmed they had received his application. He was sent on his way with an apology.
So they do and can check your story. Why not just buy one in good time and be done with it?
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Rebecca - you friend was still guilty of failure to display.
The rozzer could still have given him/her a fixed penalty.
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Well Dave he was lucky then! And in a teeny tiny way it goes to show that the Police don't necessarily deserve their bad press.
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>>Be careful drivng untaxed. If you have a prang the insurance company could avoid the claim by saying you were on the road illegally.
No, they can't.
They would be unable to do anything about an untaxed vehicle and unlikely to try.
Typically, even the fact that a car is not MOT'd wouldn't mean much, although if they could show there was something about it which would prevent it passing, that would be different.
With referrence to tax, no contributory negligence, no comment about safety or suitability of vehicle. No effect on insurance.
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Really, are you sure about this point regarding MOT? I thought that lack of MOT meant your insurance is effectively null and void. This is what i have heard some insurance companies tell me over the telepohone, but i have i admit seen thius in writing. This issue must be codified somewhere.
As everyone will know dobt admit however, insurance will do anything within its power to get out of paying, surely including lack of MOT and or Tax.
Can anyone give the definitive answer on this one?
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>>Can anyone give the definitive answer on this one?
Not only can I, I already did.
Once a contract is entered into the Insurer is prevented by law from declaring your insurance null and void. They can cancel it with 7 days advance notice.
They may have the right of recovery due to breach of contract.
Similarly, they can avoid AD claims.
A search on this site should find you endless pages on exactly this point.
Even if they showed your vehicle was unroadworthy, the above would still apply.
>As everyone will know dobt admit however, insurance will do anything within its power to get out of paying
-except, of course, actually being in breach of the contract unlike the average insured person.
As everyone will no doubt know, the motor-insured public will do anything to defraud the insurance company with increased, dishonest or invalid claims. And boast about it down the pub later.
Apparantly the defrauding the taxman, defrauding the insurer and speeding are regarded as socially acceptable crimes. However, they are still crimes. Insurers suffer from loss due to fraudulent claims to a far greater level than they avoid.
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Mark (Brazil, but in UK) said
>As everyone will no doubt know, the motor-insured public will do anything to >defraud the insurance company with increased, dishonest or invalid claims. >And boast about it down the pub later.
>Apparantly the defrauding the taxman, defrauding the insurer and speeding >are regarded as socially acceptable crimes. However, they are still crimes. >Insurers suffer from loss due to fraudulent claims to a far greater level than >they avoid.
I agree that it is criminal to defraud an insurance company and i did not think it was that widespread, perhaps i am naive regarding this matter. But the point is that insurance companies work only if people don't make claims (or at least very few) so surely they have a directive to keep the purse closed unless told otherwise by a court of law - via a contract as you say.
It cannot be that easy to defraud an insurance company today, i am sure they know pretty much every trick in the book!
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Martin,
>insurance companies work only if people don't make claims (or at least very few)
I have to take issue with you here Martin. Insurance works even if every single person makes a claim. The premium is set accordingly.
If everyone claims once a year, and 50% of an insurance company's income is paid claims, then the average yearly premium is twice the average claim.
It is easy to 'defraud' an insurance company. You simply tell them you are a lower risk than you really are. It's not until claim time that they care in the slightest. Then you are metaphorically as well as perhaps literally bending down for the soap in the prison showers.
Regards,
Rob F
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