We’ve already written about how from the 1st of October, DVLA will no longer be issuing paper tax discs and instead you will need to buy your car tax online, as always the detail is in the small print.. So what do you need to be aware of?
- DVLA will be double charging for car tax – yes thats right the DVLA will make a month’s extra money every time a car is sold – the seller doesn’t get a refund for the remainder of the current calendar month but the buyer has to pay for a full calendar month as well.
- Buying a car – Currently a seller can pass the existing tax onto a new buyer, from 1st October you can’t the DVLA say “You will need to get new vehicle tax before you can use the vehicle” or put into simpler language you can’t drive the car away until you’ve managed to get online and buy car tax and bear in mind that fines are up to £1000.
- Renting a car – If you rent a car the responsibility is on you the drive to ensure it is properly taxed or rent a car.
- Selling a car – currently when you sell a used car any remaining tax can be cashed in, not any more as any tax left will not be transferred. As is current the responsibility is on you the seller for notifying DVLA of the sale and they will automatically refund the full calendar months only remaining and as important the new buyer of your car has to purchase a new car tax before they can drive the car away.
- So what will be the best date to buy and sell cars – looking at these regs the only good date to sell a car will be the last day of the calendar month and the only good day will be the first of the month – but how likely is that to happen we wonder?
So here you have it the changes in Car Tax rules which will effect all of us given time and now the small print that you need to be aware of. You can find more details on the Government website here https://www.gov.uk/tax-disc.