We have fielded many questions recently regarding the changes to the road tax (disc) from 1st October.
Below is all the information:
From the 1st October, 2014, the car tax disc (Vehicle Excise Duty – VED) will no longer have to be displayed.
Introduced in 1921, it has always been a legal requirement to display one – even in the case of vehicles that have been exempt from paying the charge.
From 1st October this will no longer be the case. Car tax discs will no longer be issued and even if you have a disc with months remaining you no longer have to display it.
The DVLA, the police and other enforcement agencies will use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras together with their their electronic vehicle register to check if a vehicle is taxed or not, and so will no longer need to rely on physically checking the tax disc.
Motorists may worry that without being able to check the disc, they could unknowingly drive an un-taxed car – such as a hire car, or one from a car pool at work.
But the car tax status of any vehicle can be checked on the Gov.uk website using the make and registration details.
Currently motorists pay their vehicle tax in advance, in either an annual or six-monthly installment with a 10% surcharge for the latter.
But from 1st October, motorists will have the option of paying via direct debit, either annually, biannually or monthly, although there is a 5% surcharge for biannual or monthly payments.
In the past, when someone was selling a secondhand car they might offer it with the remaining tax. Now this wont be possible.
The remaining tax is NOT transferable.
Instead the seller will get an automatic refund for any full months remaining, while the buyer will not only have to insure the car but also tax it before they can legally drive it away.
It will now be possible to tax the car using only the ‘new keeper supplement’ section of the V5C. This means that the buyer can go online to the DVLA website or use their 24-hour automated call service and tax the vehicle straight away.
