Road Tax Swizz
 

Just received a letter from the Motor Insurance Database, telling me that I must re-insure my Rover immediately or expect to be fined. I transferred the insurance to my temporary Megane Cabby when I took the Rover off the road to replace the clutch(now done). I didn't SORN the car, as I didn't intend it to be off the road for long, and would have to pay 2 installments on the direct debit if I re-taxed it (like I had to pay 2 installments for the first month on the Renault, - no, actually just for the first 2 weeks!) If I SORN either car, the tax will stop at the end of this month, but I won't get a refund on the extra payment. So I guess I will SORN the Rover now, and won't put it back on the road until the end of July, by which time the Renault should have a new MoT, and should be very saleable with enough summer left to make the most of it's drop-top. And it should give me time to do any other jobs on the Rover and prepare it for the winter.

PS there's a good chance I'll be doing 80 miles a day come September, so I'll want the luxury and economy of the Rover.

The whole road tax thing is a joke, it seems completely unnecessary, if they just added 15p tax per litre then an average car doing average miles would be paying about £140 a year, those who use mot fuel would likely be using the roads more so it seems fair. Right now my other car is zero tax yet I use the roads a lot! I do about 40k per year and I pay nothing where someone may pay £500 for a year and only do 4 thousand miles.

If they got rid of car tax it would need a lot less work too

It's a con alright. If a seller notifies the DVLA at 0001 hrs on the 1st of the month, he is deducted the full month cost of the tax he has paid, and the buyer must pay before he can drive his new baby. Two payers.....one car, double the income for the DVLA.....they should go back to the old system, the tax went with the vehicle.
With the current arrangement, untold numbers do not inform the DVLA until the end of that current month.....or even at all, which brings its own consequences...no insurance held.
It's a poor system.

The above is a red herring Andrew. As you know, a vehicle must have either VED ('road tax') or a SORN but insurance is entirely at the owner's discretion provided that the car is on private property.

So, you must declare a SORN for the Rover when the VED expires but you don't have to insure it until you're ready to take it back on the road.

Simon

The tax seems to have gone from a right to use the road to a pollution tax.
I somehow think that in years to come those with electric, hybrid and currently low tax cars will get stung. How else will they make up for the loss of revenue?

macafee2

Don't get me started on tax:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0zaebtU-CA
One for you, nineteen for me (shillings!).:getmecoat:

The law changed a few years ago on this 2011 I think.

It’s called continuous insurance where the car needs to be insured or if no insurance held has to be declared sorn.
As the op swapped insurance to another car and didn’t declare sorn on the rover this is why the letters been received. If you declare sorn that should be the end of it.
https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice...ce-enforcement

IMHO the entire tax system needs a complete overhaul.

It's ridiculously complex with far too many individual "taxes" which (if you're rich enough to employ someone to find them) means that the opportunities for avoiding payment are vast (and legal :mad:).

For a long time I've agreed with the idea of putting the "car tax" onto fuel. The more you use the roads, the more you "damage" them so the more you pay to put them right (and the more "pollution" you create). Simples. Oh, and it should be a "ring fenced" payment NOT available for the Treasury to "acquire" for something else.

Now, with electric vehicles that's a bit more difficult but I'm sure it's not beyond the wit of man to come up with something reasonable.

Far too many vested interests for it to ever happen.........

Andy.

As mentioned the law treats insurance in the same way as tax these days - a vehicle either has to be insured or on SORN.