car tax and sorn

[mgrileystandardfan]

Me again.
The rule on one off sorn is if the vehicle has not been taxed since 1998 then ,although you have a logbook for the vehicle, dvla do not hold enough information to require you to sorn it until you put the vehicle back on the road, after which it will require tax. if you then subsequently take the vehicle off the road it will need to be sorned. I never have received a reminder for sorn. Only the vehicles that are taxed and about to run out. I know that the renewal notice is also for sorn but i have had several vehicles under sorn and never received a reminder to re sorn. could this be something that only i am suffering from?
Ian

[OneCarefulOwner]

It's possible. Silly question, but the car(s) in question are all registered under your name & at your current address, yes?

[mgrileystandardfan]

Hi,
Yes, i have lived at this address for the last 20 odd years and all of the vehicles that are currently on sorn are registered at this address. The horsebox that started this has been in my possession for 3 years so the dvla should know that i have it by now but still no sorn reminder. It must be something i said perhaps?

Ian

[3xpendable]

While we are on the subject of Tax, I was going to ask if there is any leeway when driving a car home from a dealer you've just bought but isn't taxed?

I'm just curious as I was discussing it with a friend the other day as i've been looking at some dealer cars for sale but wouldnt want to tax it until the start of November which means driving it home untaxed. He seems to believe that if you get pulled over, the police will either be sensible and let you finish the journey or at worst just say "No you have to pay the tax from today"

Anyone had any experience with this?

[TerryG]

The DVLA say: "Vehicles not displaying a valid tax licence can face an automatic penalty of £80 plus a fine of up to £1000. In addition to this, the police and the DVLA have the power to clamp or impound the vehicle, which will then result in further release fee’s being payable"


For £20 is it worth the arguement?

[3xpendable]

My sentiments exactly Terry, thanks

[JPB]

Where does the £20 come in? Is this the value that the dealer puts on the remaining duty? It could be worth looking at whether that comes to more than a twelfth plus eight percent of the year's duty for the car in question.

I had that situation with a recent transaction involving a Volvo 340. It came with 11 months so I handed over the amount that the vendor was asking as I needed to get it home because his local post office couldn't process the change of taxation class for me but I knew that I'd be cashing in the disc in and using one of the three remaining free VED entitlements that I had left at that time.

Out of courtesy, I hadn't challenged the amount, which could even have been more - I was getting a roadworthy vehicle for the price of a good meal out so didn't like to suggest that I doubted him. Next day, off I went to the main DVLO closest by here and changed the VED class, handing in the 11 month disc as I did so. The cheque, as well as the revised V5C came within a few days and as it turned out, the chap had underestimated the value of the remaining duty by ten Pounds, which went a good quarter of the way to paying for the petrol home.

It would pay you to do the sums in case your vendor didn't!

[mach1rob]

I'm not sure if it is included in the fine part, but you could also be liable for any duty not paid since the last tax disc expired.

As it's only a few days, could you not either leave it at the dealers to collect when you get a disc (can usually get one a day or two before the end of the month if there is no current disc so you may be OK from Mon or Tuesday) or get him to deliver it on trade plates for you? Would save the risk of getting stopped, especially with the amount of ANPR cameras around these days.

[OneCarefulOwner]

AFAIK the only time you can use a car without displaying a valid disc is if you applied for one online before the old one expired, and it hasn't arrived yet, and 5 or fewer working days have elapsed since the end of the month.

[TerryG]

£20 is roughly the value of tax you would lose in the lost weeks at the beginning of this month if you were to tax a car today. (Based on a car with a decent size engine registered before 2001)