Car Tax (Rant)!

[Dr Strangeglove]

Tried to find out how to transfer tax from one car to another!  You call the DVLA to try and get the information and you have to go through so many different menu’s to try and get to someone – you do not have the option to “hold for an operator”.  Then when you get to an operator accidentally and say:-

I am trying to sort out car tax on a vehicle for my mother, her car is out of MOT and she wants to change it to another vehicle (with an MOT) for the remaining 1 month and 8 days of the currents disc’s duration”  You end up with – “You will have to claim back the remaining full months tax from your old vehicle and get a new tax disc for your new vehicle!”

So I say – But she is a pensioner that cant afford to go paying an extra months tax for 8 days driving when she has already paid for it anyway, and she will only need 24 days worth of tax for next month as she is having major heart surgery, after that and she won’t be able to drive for months anyway”  And the Answer you get (as a brief summary) Sorry – But tuff!

Who is this country run for?  Because on occasions like this it is not run for me or those dear to me!

When I bought my Range Rover last year (an old car – only cost me £560 – sold as spares or repairs!!) to get it from where I bought it to home (as it still drove, and had 5 months MOT) I had to put tax on it (not a problem as I intended to tax it for 12 months anyway).  Due to the car having been registered to a disabled driver I had to go to a DVLA office, not a post office or on line).  So I had to leave work for 3 hours to go and get it taxed, then travel back to get the vehicle – or just break the law and risk getting the car crushed.  As an honest working bloke, every time I tried to get help I hit a brick wall.  I wanted to speak to someone at the local DVLA office to get a bit of advise: - if parking was available and how long to expect to have to wait (could I get to them at 4.45 p.m. etc), but you have to speak to someone at Swansea – they refuse to put you through to a local office (even though they have a local number on the DVLA website!!).

It seamed like however much I tried to pay my road tax I hit obstacle after obstacle.  Why can’t we have the country run for the people that live here?  I would like to think that if I moved the vehicle the 50 miles and did get stopped, the policeman would have the discretion to say OK just get it taxed! – but I do not want to rely on discretion!  Why can’t we just have a system that works with the people that want to adhere to the law?  When you try to contact the DVLA to ask them something out of the ordinary it is an absolute nightmare.  Why can’t we tax a vehicle (say for 3 days for £15 or similar) over the phone or on line to move a vehicle   By the time I had finished trying to sort it out my blood pressure was so high I could have caused a near miss with a 747 to Barbados!

I pray that one day we might live in a country that is run by a common sense government, with common sense laws – and working for the common man.  But whilst politicians make a career out of politics and won’t let you see how much they claim in expenses, it seams it is all going further from us – not nearer!


Rant –rant – rant!!!

[07DefenderSeb]

I've removed what I put because clearly some people can't take a <edit> joke </edit>.

My amended and TOTALLY serious suggestion is:

Cough up and lump it, or borrow someone's bicycle.

And for the avaoidance of doubt in those who find sarcasm a tricky concept - I mean 'borrow' as in 'take with the express permission of the owner with the full and express intention of returning the item'.

SB (annoyed)

[Ralph]

Just put the old disc in the new car.

For 24 days it's bound to fool a passing traffic warden if they're not too busy clamping cars to check the small writing with the number plate on it. At a glance the date will fit, and that should be enough. Does she go out much in the car? What are the chances of her having a crash?

If you get pulled up, you have a solid defence in your rant above. You can hardly say you didn't try to transfer it, and your Ma hasn't got the cash to splash out on two discs when she only has one car.

Small print: I'm not suggesting anyone breaks the law! (I'm a lawyer!)

Dont bother. I did this a few years ago and ended up in court had a fine and ended up with a criminal record for fraud.

[Daz800]

Why risk your car being impounded and having a fine + storage fees.

We have a car impound by us and some of the cars inside are worth 1000s and they are in there for no tax.

daz

[Yoshi]

Also with the dvla computer now being connected with the MDT units in police cars, all that has to happen is the Number Plate Recognition System catches anyone with no tax disc and your gonna have real problems!

[fudge]

Why risk your car being impounded and having a fine + storage fees.

We have a car impound by us and some of the cars inside are worth 1000s and they are in there for no tax.

daz

I've just bought a smart Roadster worth circa £6k trade £8k Retail in bits with a destruction order for non payment! changed my view!

[hairyasswelder]

Just put the old disc in the new car.....Small print: I'm not suggesting anyone breaks the law! (I'm a lawyer!)

Sorry but if you are a lawyer you SHOULD know better  :roll:  :roll:

As to the origional question, thats the way it goes, yes it sucks but there is nothing you can do about it  :( , I am itching to get Gremlin out in the mud but I aint paying Gordon Brown a months money for a few days

Steve

[Dr Strangeglove]

The really annoying thing is when you want to uphold the law and stick to the rules only to have them leave you with no reasonable route.  When I picked the RR up it had a 5 month MOT and 12 months insurance.  I tried for hours to try and get any sense from the DVLA and the only response I got was Sorry but tuff (and that is not good enough).  I had two ways of approaching it - leave it on the sea front road in Blackpool or drive it home with no tax - both illegal and no way of getting around it.

Sometimes regulations stink!  When you are begging (as I was) to do the right thing only to have it refused is farcical.  But then again - that is the state of this country at the moment.  I really feel like swearing (but won't)

One day things will change, because in my opinion people only have so much tolerance.  I hope it is soon because again in my opinion it is good decent people that are suffering due to the lying grabbers we call MP's.

[Mudlark]

I reckon there are a few (probably million) cars out there with tax disc and plates that don't match the type of car and with less police on the roads because their CCs are rubbing their hand with glee over the money the make on speed cameras, these guys know the chances of getting caught are pretty remote.


One law for the honest......

[wing nut]

i had a fine for not sorning one of my motorbikes (i did but thats another story) i went to the local dvla office and got the fine quashed ,try ,if you visit the local office you may get a human like i did who will be helpful :lol:

[Bulli]

the easy way to move a driveable vehicle is to book it in for an mot near home..... not that i suggest its perfect but if you do this properly then if you are stopped you are ok. If you call the garage once home and apologise because the car 'wouldnt start' if you have been picked up on ANPR then they will back you up.

Sadly thought the system is what the system is and it has got that way because people keep trying to screw you and me. Look at it this way if it gets a load of untaxed cars off the road then it has worked. Untaxed cars are far more likely to be uninsured and have iffy drivers. Personally i would rather put up with the pain to see them off the roads.

[Evilgoat]

Word of warning, as mentioned above, the tax disk really is just a bit of paper, lazy way out and easy check for wardens and busybodies. The police will check the numberplate and wont even look at the tax disc. If its not ther ebut you are taxed, you'll get a telling off and told to sort it (Mine was there but obscured by mud) Otherwise you'l get done for not having any or fraud, the latter being the more expensive option.

yes it sucks, yes its wrong, but thats the way it is :( Trying to work out how to tax a car I'm selling withing a few days of taxing it atm and its a headache.

[Highlander1]

Trouble is  the revenue made from fines doesn't go in to the police coffers. :shock:

[07DefenderSeb]

Please see my edited entry, 2nd down from top.

[Evilgoat]

Please see my edited entry, 2nd down from top.

Its not a case of taking a joke, someone will try it :) Trust me there are people in this world that are THAT stupid.

IKWYM about fines going back to the police, I'm not sure what the police get out of anything in terms of fines TBH, I'm not sure its a great idea to have something like a police officer being motivated by performance pay (revenue from fines is another way of looking at it) Thats when you get the jobsworth type effect comming in. The Police should have adequate resources and finance to do their job without needing to profit from doing what they are supposed to do.

Off topic anyhoo :) Brings to mind a quite from a Pratchett book:

Ankh-Morpork no longer had a fire brigade. The citizens had a rather disturbingly direct way of thinking at times, and it did not take long for people to see the rather obvious flaw in paying a group of people by the number of fires they put out.

It would be nice to think that we had one Iota of control in this country once in a while and to have systems that make sense. I would have thought the switch to computer based systems would have made this easier to do.