oh dear, not long mot'd my coupe and was going to tax it this month, not on sorn for at least the last three years, what do you recon the fine is gonna be?
Yep, me too everytime so far (memory) but it's the sort of thing that I wouldn't be surprised at if this were clamped down on now.
If it's decided that it's an unintentional oversight it could mean no fine at all in the past anyway. That's a question I might ask 'them' at some time Fin - I think you could be ok - no-one would intentionally let it go for that long.
oh dont get me wrong, it was totally intentional.:smile: best make the call, and prepare to be raped.
I'm all for progress and all for being able to do most stuff online. But you have to say the new vehicle tax process is a money making scheme for Gov. If you sell you vehicle in say April, part used months are not refunded so rest of April is lost - however, new owner must then immediately tax it to avoid getting fined(if they want to use it on road) which they will end up paying from April 1 - Gov then ends up receiving tax twice for the month. For bikes that is only an extra £7, but for some cars that can be £40 or more. I guess you could argue that the extra revenue means that we should all collectively pay less tax somewhere else, but we all know it just doesn't work like that. What! Me cynical- surely not. Rant over
it will probably combat insurance avoidance, and if programs are to be believed the amount of illegal's living and driving in the uk might help capture there.
Why insurance avoidance - not clear on connection of the online tax situation with insurance, the connect between insurance and tax is not being checked online?
You can't get any vehicle taxed unless you're insured for it. If you tax your vehicle online the other details - logbook, mot and insurance - are very definitely checked. You can however SORN a vehicle without insurance, because it is supposed to be off the road.
If you become the keeper of an old vehicle which has not been taxed at any time since 31 January 1998 (e.g. a barn find), you do not have to SORN it. In fact, even if you try to SORN it voluntarily, the DVLA refuses to do so. It is not clear to me what statutory authority the DVLA has for this refusal.
Figaro - when taxing online that does not appear to be the case - I just taxed my bike on 1st April and I have not yet sorted the insurance and no issues.
That's interesting. I tried to tax an uninsured car in order to sell it a couple of years ago, and couldn't do it at all, either online or at the post office.
I get the impression when you tax a bike (car) online it only checks for a current MOT and not Insurance. I suspect the insurers database is not (fully?) linked to the DVLA so that it can cross check. The motor Insurers database seems to be a separate entity, you can make checks on it yourself to see if a vehicle is insured.
Right, I've just checked with a postmaster mate of mine. He said whether it's in the post office or online your insurance must be checked, otherwise the system will issue a refusal.
If you have just bought a vehicle which the previous owner had insured, it may still show up on the database as insured for a day or two, i.e. until the previous owner cancels the insurance or transfers it to another vehicle. If you try to tax your vehicle while it is still showing as insured in that way, the tax will go through. But beware, that doesn't mean you are actually insured to ride the thing. If the former owner is slow to inform his insurance company that he no longer owns the vehicle, that insurance may continue to show up for days weeks or months. Worse, if the new owner fails to get any insurance and there is a crash, the careless former owner may find he is lumbered with responsibility.
changes to the insurance information (for those 90% of the companies that are on the data system) are instant......the times it doesn't show up can sometimes be a human error either the wrong information supplied, or the wrong information entered on the system. i doubt a previous keepers insurance would cover, let alone pay out a claim for a new uninsured themselves owner.
