The DVLA has launched a big campaign to track down and penalise people who are dodging paying car tax (also known as vehicle excise duty – VED). The measure comes after the department admitted that revenue from VED fell by £93 million in the year following the abolition of the paper tax discs. It turns out that plenty of drivers used the change to chance not having tax on their car – many of them successfully.
Getting tough
According to the DVLA, the new campaign will highlight what can happen to drivers who haven’t paid their car tax. It will run on radio, catch-up TV and online, as well as in newspapers throughout November. While the supermarkets and other retailers paint an idyllic picture of Christmas in between TV shows, the DVLA will be running an advert featuring a hand-painted car that looks transparent, to show that even if drivers think their car is invisible, it can still be found and clamped.
The RAC welcomed the new scheme, saying that it is good to see that the DVLA is publicly warning drivers about the penalties for not taxing their cars. Untaxed vehicles are often also uninsured. These are a nuisance to society and cause higher insurance premiums for everyone. Thus the RAC welcomes all steps taken to cut down on the number of untaxed vehicles.
(Credit – Dafydd Vaughan)
In the figures
According to figures released by the DVLA, around 10,000 untaxed vehicles are clamped or impounded every month. In 2016, 106,000 untaxed vehicles were immobilised or impounded for dodging car tax. The figure was almost double that of 2014 (at just over 57,000), and a notable increase on the 2015 figure (of 85,000).
Dodging car tax is one of the big reasons for the dip in revenue and the rise in impounded vehicles. However, the DVLA also says that the push towards low emission vehicles has played a part. Overall, it will collect around £147 million less in 2016-17, compared to the 2014-15 period.
A further consideration is that in 2014, new reforms were brought in that meant car tax couldn’t be transferred from one owner to another when a vehicle was sold. Even if a car had a good number of months remaining on the tax, the new driver had to re-tax the vehicle and the seller had to get a refund for the unused time from DVLA. The change caught many buyers off guard and no doubt led to many vehicles going untaxed in error.
The DVLA points out that it has never been easier to tax a vehicle, so drivers have no excuse for not doing so. The online system is available 24 hours a day and you can spread the cost with monthly Direct Debit payments, so there’s no need to pay in a lump sum.
2017 car tax reforms
Reforms in 2017 further changed the car tax system, with greater rewards for lower emission drivers. From 1 April 2017, only electric cars that produce zero emissions and were valued at less than £40,000 are exempt from car tax payments.
Any car worth more than £40,000 will need to pay a £310 surcharge on top of the normal cost of car tax. Cars registered after 1 April will pay a standard rate for their car tax after the first year. This depends on the type of car and fuel used:
- £140 a year for petrol and diesel vehicles
- £130 a year for alternative fuels such as hybrids
- £0 for zero-emissions vehicles such as fully electric cars
This means that a vehicle in the 120g/km band for emissions has gone from paying £30 under the old system to paying £160 for the first year and then £140 a year thereafter under the new system.
Push towards electric
The new, higher tax rates for all types of vehicles (apart from electric) show the real-world application of the government’s big push towards zero emissions vehicles in coming years. At the same time, those who chance leaving their vehicle without tax now face an even greater chance of being caught. This could potentially lead to them losing their vehicle entirely.
Will the new DVLA campaign result in more drivers taxing their vehicles? Or has the switch to an electronic system created loopholes for drivers to hide in? Share your views by leaving a comment.
Do away with tax on cars and put it on petrol diesel then only the didicoys won’t have to pay
Hows that work then Graham Barker …. Do gypsy communitys have vehicles that run on fresh air or by magic spells?
They run there vans on red diesel 30p a litre or do fuel runs..
……or central heating oil as it has no dye
32s oil also known as has oil is the equivalent of diesel and is died red. The 28s stuff is kerosene don’t put it in a diesel car.
Some do, hence the clouds of foul smelling blue exhaust gases
No, they just don’t pay for the fuel and whilst the men are filling up the women are inside loading up their handbags with food and not paying fo rthat either. I’ve seen this all happen in front of me and police don’t arrest them because it will be too dangerous! I know exactly what would happen if I tried that.
I think you would find these remarks fall foul of the Race Relations Act, you you might want to retract them
g k are afraid of the truth ? live in the real world
Red diesel
What are didicoys ???
Gypsies
must not say this they are called travelers like on parks private ground etc leave a mess ond we have to foot the bill if it was us they would screw us for flytipping
I was very sorry when the paper discs were abolished. Then, everyone could see if a car was untaxed (also probably no MOT or insurance) and it was easy to report this All these that don’t pay everyone else is subsidising them. I have done this and DVLA stated they didn’t know the whereabouts of vehicle at least you can confirm location / area. I think a disc to show car has been MOT’D and insured should be displayed.
You can look up whether a vehicle is taxed, MOT’d and insured online with any number of Apps for phone\tablet or on laptop\PC. Some include historic MOT data too which can detail why a vehicle failed its test in any given year.
I use the app regularly. I have no problem reporting tax dodgers – I have to pay, so should they.
You can check online if a vehicle has an MOT and road tax. You can also report it online if it doesn’t. I do it all the time. I have reported dozens although you don’t find out what happens to them.
https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax
I agree with you, what was so wrong about a Tax disc being displayed for anyone to see ? It was simple and effective way to see at a glance a tax dodger.
I totally agree for a disc or something, Some countries also affix something to the front number plate, a help for those wonderful police vans on the Motorway bridge, Sorry they are not wonderful, just a money making thing. That money should be channeled be spent on our rural roads doing repairs to pot holes etc:
I too was sorry to see the end of the tax disc. There are still far too many people using vehicles which are untaxed and/or uninsured.
Given the state of the Police force nationally, they simply do not have time to check all parked or even moving vehicles when on foot ! The disc said everything.
DONT THEY DO THIS ABROAD ON THE NO PLATE
Sorry to say it but the disc or paper based display system isn’t a useful deterrent in the technology rich world of smart phones and ink-jet printers. It is easy to take a photo of a tax disc, alter the details and print another one to stick in your windscreen. Nobody would be able to tell the difference.
Just more money for the government and what do we get in return, the roads are still in bad repair.they should be targeting people who dodge tax,MOT and insurance and not make us all victims of the system!!
give them the tools and make them fill the holes in [opps sorry i forgot health safety morrons would have to have say about this]
Put the road tax element on fuel, then there are NO tax dodgers, also means that vehicles coming to the UK on business/holiday also contribute to our roads and their upkeep as soon as the fill up their tanks!
I agree 100%
If only… most foreign vehicles on our road are trucks….with massive fuel tanks that they fill up BEFORE they enter the UK. AND..they pay nothing towards the upkeep of our roads, both if which l find unacceptable. They shud pay a contribution based on ‘tacho’ mileage, or a limit on the fuel they are allowed to enter the country with.
I suspect there is no check (other yhan by a random VOSA checkpoint) to ensure the vehicles are roadworthy, taxed, and ensured ?
Good idea Dennis. Save on admin costs as well. A win win situation all round.
Also agree with John underneath who does not see why the road tax is directly related to emissions. Electric cars will wear out /damage the roads and highways just as much
Hybrids will probably wear out the roads much quicker! My old Range Rover P38 was rovered after throwing it’s aux belt and chap recovering my car told me that the new Mitsibishi Hybrid would not be recoverable by many breakdown trucks due to their weight!!
Piffle! A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV hybrid weighs less at 1800kg than a Kia Sedona petrol!
You can buy trailers that’ll carry 1800kg cars, so I’m sure recovery trucks will have no problem.
I’ve said that for years……some people would win, others would lose. The more you use the roads, and consequently more fuel, the more you pay
You Have got it right Pal. But the brains at Westminster havent realized it yet. Makes me think there is no gain for them.
All this does is confirm that the reasons we are given for Road Tax are not true. The government lies to us all the time.
Road tax via fuel purchase makes sense to everyone but government.
There is no “Road Tax” It was renamed Vehicle Excise Duty in 1988, and is now (since 1937) treated as general taxation (Wikipedia)
I agree, at present the low mileage users subsidise the high mileage people, is this a bonus to business drivers?
We should all pay fairly for what we use, from mileage driven to fuel used.
And at a saving as collection would be with the tax already being collected. Too easy . . .
And when we all drive electric (lol) or hybrid vehicles how will they collect tax then?
From 2017 new car tax rules apply to previously non taxable vehicles.
From zero to £140.
Dennis has the correct format put the duty on Fuel, then everyone pays proportionate to their use.
But they still wont fix the potholes?
index linked electric tax ! !! were paying for all the tax dodgers even the royalty stars and business companies are all at it
they” rename it road tax and charge electric vehicles
They won’t because we won’t all be driving electric,lol
I’d much prefer to – drive hydrogen!
SIMPLE STOP FORIEGN AID
Exactly – we could replace VED today with a 12-16p increase per litre on petrol / diesel. But as more people buy electric cars the fuel / usage element of the tax would need to be applied to peoples electricity bills.
Is this achieved by cross referencing people who own cars and adding a tax to their electricity bill? Do we insist that people who own electric cars also have a smart meter that can determine how much electricity is being used to charge the car?
It will not be long (probably in 5-7 years) before the VED on electric vehicles is increased.
The government use the tax system to influence behaviour. Once behaviour changes the taxes change again to maximise income.
Spot on Dennis. It couldn’t be easier. I now pay £140 a year Road fund tax compared to £20 last year, because I purchased a brand new emission friendlier car. When will our government ever get it right ?
You still use the road though so why shouldn’t you pay a fair amount?
Because you’re not taxed to use a road, you’re taxed to use a vehicle containing an engine. Road tax does not exist.
Additionally all foreign lorry drivers should be compelled to leave the country with full fuel tanks thus ensuring that they have to buy fuel which is taxed by the UK Government.
Rather difficult and expensive to implement. People required to inspect tanks and turn back vehicles not complying. And then Johnny Foreigner would do it to our vehicles too.
It has to go on fuel!! Have you noticed the increase in Left hand drive non GB plates driving around. Buy your car here, go home, re register there and then return. All perfectly legal no doubt. Probably get the vat back too!! Insurance ?? Why bother?? Dartford Crossing toll?? Not a problem!! Road sign policing from camera vans?? No probs!!
Don’t you mean right hand drive? In the UK we drive on the left with right hand drive. Other countries drive on the right with left hand drive vehicles. But, yes there has been an increase in them. Not only cars though, I’ve seen several right hand drive lorries with, mainly, Bulgarian plates.
dead easy, any non English plate will be automatically stopped, the cops then could issue a enforceable tax your car and get an English plate within two weeks, other wise your car will go on ANPR and be stopped again, only you can get out of the car chum it is going to be crushed. simples.
What about Scottish, Welsh & Northern Irish plates? This is UK not England! Sigh!!
True. I had this Irish bloke doing some fencing. He’s lived here for years and married to an English girl. Van still has Irish plates, and he admitted it was to avoid tax, insurance MOT and any fines. Also wanted cash, insisted I pay directly for materials but had the invoice made out in his name, so deductible from any money declared as income ( then again, doubt he pays tax). Oh yes an wife claimed benefits based on no income. Makes you sick.
its not onlypaddy doing thisask one of our middle eatern taxi drivers for a proper reciet /sorry no understand/ well said peter
Too true Peter. Vehicles kept in UK by Law must be re-registered here but there are no checks and insufficient police to do so! Meant to be DVLAs job but they don’t have resources to follow up and no one keeps track of who or what vehicles are coming and going from our shores. Will never win! Many foreign lorries already have extra long range fuel tanks so they never have to fill up in the UK and pay our prices. They tend to get away with vehicle fines because we don’t do on the spot payment for fines and don’t chase overseas drivers. All classed as a bit too difficult as its the driver not the company that is liable. Vehicle details across borders are not linked by computer and Interpol was not set up to police roads!
Those Robin Hood foreigners already tax drivers by compelling all users of their roads by the peage or vignette. Wo betide you if you don’t buy the necessary ticket. I did unknowingly but my excuse was ignored. 20 times the cost. Never again.
Excuse me, all ready tax drivers, only on toll roads squire, in France take the rout national costs er nowt, germany also nowt, switzerland yes it costs there but just go around it. Austria also nowt.
What then go back to the older days when we had to have tank shines for trucks for the amount of fuel you had. if you had too much fuel on entering a countries border you had to pay for the extra amount of fuel you had, would not work today because of open borders.
No it isn’t and they come here more than we go there, so Johnny Foreigner can do it to our vehicles. so what. Easy to police too, Gutten taag let me see you gas tank. oh dear it appears empty mien heeren, over there you can fill up as is required by law, it only cost 40% more than if you had complied with the law and filled your tank. You will remember next time won’t you. Zeer gut.
Thats fine fuel is cheaper in other countries compared to the extortionate prices we pay here.
That is a requirement in Germany, a lot of freight is moved between the cost and germany by Big barges, not the silly things we have here well over a thousand tons, in germany by law any and all barges pushers pullers whatever have to leave Germany with full tanks. Earns the kruets a lot of revenue.
Eddie Stobart in the UK fitted bigger tanks to fill up on cheap European fuel. You can’t have it both ways.
People make less fuss about VED increases than about petrol price increases. So the Chancellor gets his money from the goose that does less hissing.
What about those who want fuel for other reasons. Like a lawn moor or a boat ect. Do you think they should pay the road tax too?
We all rely on a decent road transport system – even non drivers. Why not contribute through fuel?
Where are the decent roads? When was the last time you drove on a pothole-less road?
Try driving in Zimbabwe. Pot holes on main roads in Bulawayo measure two feet by two feet and are nine inches deep.
hi reply is don’t go to Zimbabwe …………………………
just little ones then
As I have always bought fuel from a garage for my mower since 1977, perhaps I should get a refund as I have always paid the motorists price. Where could I have got cheaper petrol?
Asda
A boat, absolutely. Still polutes doesn’t? A lawn mower? what is it, a V8? Claim it back on your end of year tax return.
Road tax does not exist. You’re paying for the privilege of polluting the world with an engine, not for using the road. I would agree that a tax on fuel is more appropriate, but then again the tax percentage on fuel is plenty high enough as it is at 65%. I say this as the owner of a “evil” diesel car, despite my car being very economical at 55-65mpg (and being well maintained, it’s emissions are well below the legal requirements), I pay £270 a year tax and extortionate fuel prices.
very true but you can educate some people they still insist its road tax
Oh come on, how much fuel a year do you put in your lawn mower? If you can afford a boat you can afford a little extra fuel tax .
But the point is, you shouldn’t have to. Boat owners already pay tax on fuel, as do road users. Also, most inland waterways charge a river tax of some description. Why should boat owners be made to help reduce your VED? Chances are, the boat owners drive a car too.
Yes. Why not!!
If your lawn’s as big as a moor you can certainly afford it!
Marine Diesel is like fuel for farm vehicles a fraction of the price for road users.
It’s not a fraction of road fuel , it’s a tiny percentage cheaper ,
No it isn’t. The EU took away the tax free concession some years ago.
Yes, they are still causing pollution.
thats way too easy for plebs like us to work that out, why on earth can’t this stupid government do it , we genuine ones always end up loosing
I have advocated this for many years, and that the main use of the tax be for maintaining the roads and for us elderly gents who do not drive much we pay as we use our car. I wish some one would follow this approach.
Alasdair you’re deluded if you think a penny of any tax on fuel to replace VED was spent on the roads when none of the VED spent on them at the moment ….. If every penny raised by VED was spent on our roads we’d have the best motorways and roads in the world….
I once calculated that it would cost an extra 20p per litre to recoup VED income if placed on fuel. The winners would be people who don’t drive many miles per year that have high VED cars – the losers would be those who drive tens of thousands of miles such as haulage companies and reps, etc. These additional costs would be recouped by higher cost products and services – so a person on a low income could see their food bills rise because Johhny in his BMW M5 doesn’t like forking out £500 a year even though he can afford it. I suppose you could give haulage companies exemptions or refunds based on miles driven? But easy to fiddle the odometer for refund purposes.. And easy to sell on cheap fuel an make yourself 10% profit.
We have 3 cars parked in our road that never move. I am aware at least 1 of these isn’t taxed and guess the others aren’t. By adding tax as an increase to fuel -although positive as those who use tbe roaxs more contri ute more- it would legitimise cars parked just save spacez and fot good knowswhatever other reason they are tbere.
@Emily, have you told anyone about the untaxed vehicle?
It is easy to check Tax, MOT and Insurance on -line and then report as well. http://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history or http://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax and https://ownvehicle.askmid.com/
Have you checked them on the DV l C web site, you can then check if thay are taxed and have mot. All you need is the reg no. And make. It comes under “report untaxed vehicle “
DVLA don’t do anything, I’ve reported a car with no tax 3 times in the last 6 months as have others I know and it’s still there!
I reported an untaxed vehicle on my local estate not long back and a day or so later it was gone! The system does seem to work.
They do when there is money involved, I parked in a Holiday Inn and with a week I had £100 fine sent to my home address , which the DVLA had revealed to Parking Eye, who pay the DVLA for this information.
That is how I know one isn’t taxed. DVLA just round the corner…
I have reported a car three times no tax and no MOT using the online system nothing was done a total waste of time
I have never seen a ANPR van in my area no wonder the DVLA as loosing money and those who pay are paying more
Use MID and check if so report it.
Have u reported them then ?
Just worked it out. £6 billion VED revenue, divided by 41 billion litres of petrol/diesel used per year, this equals 14.5p per litre. 66p extra per gallon. If a wagon has a 150 gallon tank this is an extra £100 per fill up.
Tim, my VED is £30 er year and I di 20,000 miles a year. Which would you rather I pay ?
Tim. You seem quite happy that people who cause the most wear and tear on the roads pay less than the less frequent users. Let me guess, which are you ?
The professionals you mention are at work. You expect the rest of us to subsidise them ?
Of course you do – selfish.
I don’t think he’s wrong, I have to drive a lot of miles to work, am a truck driver and 100% guarantee if you fuel as you drive cost of everything would go up families would be poorer than they are now, you think those in government would pay for their fuel? you’ll pay it and big companies would find a loop hole where they’ll pay less and still pass the full cost on to the rest of us
Actually Tug I drive a Nissan 370z which costs me over £500 a year in VED. I do about 3000 miles a year, so by putting VED on fuel I’d save about £350. But I can afford it so whilst it pisses me off completely I have to pay that much I also recognise that by putting costs onto fuel people who are skint that might not even drive could in a round about way end up lumbered with that £350 cost.
Actually Tug I drive a Nissan 370z which costs me over £500 a year in VED. I do about 3000 miles a year, so by putting VED on fuel I’d save about £350. But I can afford it so whilst it p***es me off completely I have to pay that much I also recognise that by putting costs onto fuel people who are skint that might not even drive could in a round about way end up lumbered with that £350 cost.
its not road tax its car tax road tax was abolished in 1937 and replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty.
This is a tax on cars, not roads, and it goes straight into the general Treasury fund. Many government agencies have now started calling VED “car tax” but it might be classified as a pollution tax, since it’s now based on the size of engine and emissions
Dennis we already pay fuel duty around 60% and vat 20% on the fuel the highest anywhere stop being ridiculous if they reduced fuel duty everything would get cheaper stop fuel duty rebates on buses and aircraft so we can all work in a level field
With regard to fuel duty on aircraft: unless you can get all the countries in the world to standardise the price of aircraft fuel and the duty payable on it, the airlines will just pick up fuel at the cheapest place on their network. As a former aircraft refueller, I have seen this done many times in the past. Duty on aircraft fuel is unlikely to ever happen.
Good idea
There are enough fuel thefts now from vehicles, it will rocket if they do this.
My friend has no such vehicle but has several petrol driven devices [mower/strimmer/leaf blower/hedge cutter/chainsaw] he buys his petrol from a local Morrisons store, if road tax was put on fuel then it would be unfair to such people who buy fuel but do not own a vehicle.
How much fuel does he use in a year?
Road Tax on fuel is a great idea but I suspect fuel theft would increase dramatically
Won’t happen while the government can increase fuel AND ved together.
Dennis ~ you’ve hit the nail on the head. Let me know when you put yourself forward as Trasport Minister and I’ll vote for you! Simple solution ~ everybody, but everybody, pays.
I so agree. OK it’s my choice to have two vehicles but I need two because I live in a place where I can’t always wait a week to get wood/blocks/fencing posts whatever to be delivered The bus service here is sporadic and unreliable (nearest bus stop almost a mile walk away) and I also use my car to take friends to hospital appointments etc. I doubt that I do more than about 6000 miles a year but I have to pay two lots of road tax. I would gladly pay much more for my fuel and not have to pay for what I don’t use..
I totally agree. Road Tax incorporated in fuel makes for a fairer, proportional cost. The £360.00 I pay each year.would probably cover a quarter of my low annual mileage. Drive more pay more – seemples.
If you can afford to buy a car with a £360 VED you can easily afford the VED .. If you can’t then buy a cheaper or less polluting car….simples
Think about that.Those people can’t afford another car.
Dennis, I’ve been saying that for decades. Vehicle users who cover the most miles in heavy vehicles, and cause the most congestion, and wear the road surfaces out, should pay proportionately. People who keep vehicles in their driveways day after day and only take them onto the roads occasionally should not be subsidising the heavy users, as we are at present.
Oddly enough, that’s what fuel duty does.
Dennis, this point was debated many years ago and dismissed because
1) they already tax fuel at the rate of 80% in other words £4.00 of every £5.00 you spend on fuel is tax and putting it up as a replacement for ved isn’t feasible as they would lose money as they will be adding tax to the cost every year in the budget
2)they have devised a system based on global warming later rebadged as climate change to extract high taxes on the so called pollutants emitted from vehicles alleged to cause this , of course this multi billion business is based on a hoax, government scientists were told back up on this lie or we will make sure you never work again .
3) scientists proved that the human race was responsible for less than 0.2 of 1 percent of co emissions and that the sun is responsible for any variation in climate as historically over the past 4000 years they proved
Stuart we also know that even if they did replace VED with a tax on fuel that they’d, in a year or two, find an excuse to bring VED back under a new name and introduce it at say £30 rising in every budget so that after 5 years we’d paying say £100 for this new tax along with an ever increasing tax on fuel.
Denis just how is that meant to work and pay for the upkeep of our roads when a not a penny of fuel or VED tax is used for it just now…
Surly Road Tax is not just to cover vehicle Emissions, You had road tax long before the emission Question ever came into play, so wye should electric cars not have to pay
As we go more into the misnamed renewable energy the load balancing gets more of a nightmare. At 20% there will be blackouts as load is shed on light wind days in Winter, there is no alternative. Ref Grid watch UK for real time load and demand data. Energy is not renewable, ever. All one may do is convert one form of energy into another. Law of Physics and unarguable, just a fact.
BRING COAL FIRED POWER STATIONS OTHER E U COUNTRYS ARE STILL BUILNG THEM AND USING BROWN COAL THE GREENS ARE A PAIN IN THE ASS AS THEY WE ARE RULED BY THE MINORITIES AND NOT THE MAJORITIES
John…….the government wishes to be seen to be encouraging the use of electric cars. Don’t worry, once they are widely adopted they will be heavily taxed.
The number of times I have reported,untaxed, vehicles on a weekly basis to the DVLA and the police which have been parked and left on our roads, has been months with no action taken by either party.You might as well close that department and save the money. That Government Department is useless
Tempting but the idea of being a Government snitch?
Well the Police dont seem to have the resources. I think of it as my civil duty. Why should they get away with it?
Get a life you grass. Maybe if the roads weren’t so disgusting and dangerous then people would’nt object to paying/being robbed again. Bought my tax on 1st btw!
Done exactly the same, a van is parked in a neighboring street close to us, checked on the DVLA website using its registration, no tax, and no valid MOT. Reported it now 4 times to DVLA using appropriate form on their website and contacted local police twice. And what has happened – NOTHING. Checked again today, no change in status regarding vehicle tax/MOT yet still being used daily on the road. Complete waste of time reporting it anymore as nothing is being done about it. As you say Stuart may as well scrap the department and save money.
What are you Stuart, retired with not enough interests to keep you busy?
Hey easy. You’d report other crimes so why not tax evasion?
I concur. It took over a month to remove an abandoned veh
Putting the charge on fuel is not as simple as it sounds. First off all electric cars would pay nothing, diesel cars would fare better as they do more miles per gallon and Vans/Trucks/Buses would be even better off. To introduce this would require different sliding scales for different vehicles when paying “at the pump”.
There is a valid argument for adding this on to insurance as there are financial collection systems already in place.
Already in the UK if you look at pollution and damage to roads, commercial vehicles (almost exclusively diesel) are massively subsidised by the rest of us road users, indeed if this was corrected there would not be any heavy haulage vehicles on the road at all only light commercial. Freight would have to be moved via train.
Clearly the current system of “tax dodgers” is not working and rather than spend even more money on advertising this why not just solve the problem by re-introducing the “tax disk”.
Also of note is that some commercial/private operators can claim a “fuel duty rebate” this is the VAT element on fuel. This is mostly but not exclusively claimed by bus and rural operators reducing the cost of fuel by 20%.
This makes putting the charge on fuel at the pumps just about impossible.
So no ‘penalty’ at all for driving dirty diesel cars compared to ‘cleaner’ petrol powered cars….so much for the environment!! The government’s policy on emissions and pollution is totally half-cock and really does not make any sense at all.
Why does DVLA
(a) Charge a fee for using credit cards and debit cards???
(b) Make the total instalment cost greater than a one off payment??
Abolish these two unfairnesses and I am sure the take up will be greater
They don’t charge for debit cards only credit cards!
Like all other businesses there is an additional fee if you use a Credit card, so nothing wrong with that. I do agree that the instalment payment should total no more than the one off payment as now it is all done online/via computers there is no human intervention costs.
But there is ‘human intervention’ when paying by credit card online?
Human costs are usually about one-third to one-half the cost of doing business.
From Jan 2018 it will be illegal to add a surcharge for using certain methods of payment when offering different options. I.e Debit cards, Credit cards, Paypal etc; So for arguments sake, if when selecting credit card payment it currently adds a 50p surcharge to the transaction, this will become illegal.
(a) there is no charge for using a debit card
(b) credit costs money. Why should those paying up front subsidise those that wish to pay in installments?
Because interest rates are 0.5% ?
Bring back the tax disc far to many people driving who already don’t have mot or insurance anyway at least this was a visual display and what is the point in banning people caught with no license as they are never going to get one these people should be made to do prison and minimum 2 years and must do full 2 years our laws are to soft on criminals
I love it on the police docu-dramas
Driver stopped for dangerous driving, no tax, insurance, MOT, already banned from driving for 4 years, what does he get, a further 12 months ban.
What a disincentive, feel sorry for the police who have to repeatedly haul in these goons, knowing full well it will have no effect
If caught driving an untaxed vehicle the vehicle should be taken from them immediately impounded and a large penalty to get back after it kept for at least a month Hit offenders hard then the massage might get through to all who think they can get away with ignoring the law
having read the article I decided to check whether I had taxed or not but could not find any means of checking!! Now forced to go through bank statements…………………….. What an awful system designed for DVLA with no regard to customers as ever.
You have a computer…
obviously..so go to Google and search ‘check car tax’. What could be simpler…even fa me at over 65 ! Its on the http://www.gov.uk.org website. Put yr car registration in and it will show you if you have RoadTax and MoT
Very easy to check!!
Just use DVLA website. Takes seconds
and is free unlike cazana
There is a simple solution pay as you go road travel as the term states “road tax” we are always being watched by cameras so why don’t we have a system whereby we pay per month for the amount of road we use. A bit like toll roads
Lots of people will choose to walk to work or take little ones to school on foot thus helping the environment and all that good stuff. The roads would last longer and we would have less conjestion based on road works. Unfortunately high users will pay more and people who are casual users will pay less but that’s only fair.
Do the same as France did years ago abolish road tax and put a few pence on fuel fair to everyone and no dodgers ssimples
I can’t see VED being moved to fuel. Think about it – with more and more EVs coming on to the roads in the coming years/decades there would be no tax revenue from them via fuel. EVs don’t pay at the moment but as numbers increase they will be included, perhaps in ten year, perhaps sooner.
Am I right in thinking that Petrol costs are made up of 3 elements ?
Basic price of Petrol + Fuel Tax + VAT ?
If this is so, then is Fuel Tax being Taxed ???
Yes, Duty is 57.95p/litre and vat 20%, same for diesel and petrol. Duty has been at the level since early 2011, before that it was briefly higher but 10 years ago it was about 50p/litre.
Its all a silly,years ago the government asked us all to buy Diesel cars and now they say …so sorry but we need to increase the tax,then it was Hybrid and now they are going to up the tax on those….The point is no matter what car or what you pay tax on …the fact is that if they lose tax on one thing they will get it another way
But rest assured they will get the tax and you will never be better off,so stop kidding yourself.
If you do 10000 miles a year and get say 50mpg then you will already be paying around £700 in tax on the fuel. 20000 miles a year and that would be £1400, so those doing a higher mileage already pay more than the lower mileage drivers. The VED pays for the registration of vehicles which is essential, just think of it as your “starter for 10”. If the VED was included in fuel tax, the cost of maintaining the database would need to be funded from central government, which would need another layer of officials to operate. The DVLA also deal with licensing of drivers, not just vehicles.
Yes Just google “DVLA Vehicle Status” check everything there even MOT history with all advisories
https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla
https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history
There that took just 5 seconds to find
M Smith – log into cazana and you will see if your car is taxed or not, plus a description and address.
Do you have and know how to use, or know someone that has internet access?
Try this link https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax if it doesn’t work then keep your calendar up to date with a one month reminder … come on people it’s not difficult – they send you a reminder in the post – that’s the real waste of money
So they admit to ” losing” £93 Million in revenue since abolishing the paper disc- doesn’t need a mathematician to work out that the tax disc system did not cost THAT much to administer – Bring it back!!
The ” suits” always think they have the right answer – let me tell you I have been on this planet far too long to know that Mr Joe Public will always find a way to ” beat the system”
When I saw the artilcle heading I thought that the petrol stations security cameras were going to be linked to the DVLA computer system to check tax and insurance. Simple idea. (even if a little Orwellian, but effective, I should think
A lot of filling stations already have cameras to monitor fuel theft. Maybe they could be linked to the ANPR system.
Yes Steve, exacactly what we need, MORE surveillance and recording of our movements. Don’t tell, me, “nothing to hide, nothiong to fear”.
WTF, we have 1 camera for every 9 people in this country now. clearly you Lawrence have the idea that you are not be surveyed by anyone at any time, I see you have a computer and an internet connection, I can assume that you send and receive e-mails too. Isn’t it a shame that EVERYONE’S emails are scanned long before you get them not only by the British intelligence but because of our special relationship the Yanks too. so suck it up buddy and get realistic. It is far too late for the statement “if you have nothing to fear” that time has long gone. Sorry mate they know more about you than you know yourself. Why do you think that to reply to anyone on here you have to give your name and e mail address. Tell me why do this site Petrol Prices need it?
A few local stations have anpr signs checking cars n vans on fuel up and I’ve see cars change there minds on fuelling up when they see the sign and drive past
Agree totally with below, what a stupid mistake to abolish tax discs – you cdnt make it up Nobody shd be allowed £0 tax
Everyone used the roads and wear them out. Not on
The only drivers who lose out are the legal ones, when you sell your car you only get back full months so sell one day into a month the Tories gain again. They lose money because they are useless
Gary needs to get his facts right . I part exchanged my car in Sept and lost a months tax and the dealer sold the car in the same month and the new owner had to pay for that month to make the car legal therefore DVLA received 2 months tax for the month of September . This system has been in place for years so don’t go having a pop at the conservative government . Remember who was in government when we were all encouraged to buy diesel cars !!!!
cars are being left in super market car parks to hide from the dvla vans
Well then they are at risk of overstaying and getting a fine.
The enforcement vans DO patrol IKEA car park for example, and clamp cars there.
I have reported an untaxed van five times to the DVLA over the past 3 months, but it is still there. Untaxed since July! Two cars parked 300 yds away, reported to DVLA 3 weeks ago-still there! This is getting tough????????????
Big brother needs people like you.
And does this site need a troll like you?
The quote “The DVLA points out that it has never been easier to tax a vehicle” should read… “Never has it been easier to not realise you are due to pay tax on your vehicle” – Bring back the paper or some kind of stamp receipt so all can know if you’re taxed up or not!
I never get a reminder from the DVLA about when I need to pay 🙁
Why not adopt the scheme they have in California. When you purchase a car you have to insure your vehicle before the licence plates can be made, and you have to apply for new ones every 12 .months. If a car is driven with NO licence plates the police impound it.
If they did it the American or Canadian way you get a sticker for your rear number plate with a different colour for each month we the year standing out. Very easy to spot by police stop and fine.
I always said that when I was a police officer back in the 70/80s and we are still suffering massive tax avoidance
Dennis is spot on
Dvla deserve it ! They are ripping us drivers off by not refunding the road tax that we have paid for fully only full months remaining and to tax a new car it has to be from the first of the month !! Dvla pocketing £35m a year ! Disgraceful and illegal in any other Business ! Abolish the road tax , sack all at Dvla , Government saves a fortune and add it on the Fuel ! So everyone pays fairly for the miles that they cover !
Totally agree with the disgraceful change where they win either way when people change venicles. I bought one but made sure I got it on the 1st just out of principle. Legal thieves the lot of them.
On the face of it puting the car tax on price of fuel seems to be the answer BUT many of the drivers with highest mileage have their fuel costs back because they are on some form of mileage allowance. Thus it does not cost them anything, their employers pay the cast AND there is no incentive for them to reduce their mileage, if anything the more miles they do the more income they get. Such drivers need to be made to pay towards the cost, the current taxation system of ‘car allowances’ goes nowhere near doing that.
If the tax gets paid then what does it matter who pays it? Fuel costs related to company business should indeed be down to the employer!
Dvla won’t wont to scrap the road tax as they will loose money.Like they say if they put it onto fuel they be no tax dodging
Yes, put car tax in with fuel costs. Those who pollute more, pay more.
When my wife died, our car which had been registered in her name, had to be retaxed. It happened that she died on the last day of a month and the system informed them of this, so that I didn’t have to lose any money. A day later would have caused me to have to lose a month’s tax! Really sensitive!
Well they need to crack down reported a vehicle on there web site twice, the tax was out in early January it wasn’t retaxed till last month as W Gilliard said a disc to display that the vehicle is Taxed Mot’d & insured or put it on fuel !
Any idiot could foresee what would happen with the elimination of the visual evidence of the tax disc. Not it seems the highly paid civil servants or the dim politicians.
You see decisions like this made right across the (government) board. They are too out of touch with the ‘daily world’ as experienced by most people and have no ability (or even thinking) to undertake a little bit of risk analysis (‘what if’, ie what are the possible implications and outcomes of decisions about to be made). Just think of the number of U-turns in the last 10 years – total incompetence. Wasted £ billions of tax payers money. There’s no vision or common sense.
Re instate the paper disc
In 1964 the government put the tax on to fuel and we all are now paying the road fund licence via our fuel ….but they forgot to abolish the road tax……..????
Yes and Income tax was introduced to pay for the Napoleonic wars 200-odd years ago, and they forgot to abolish that too.
Do you notice a pattern starting to emerge?
In France both your insurance and MOT are on a sticker in the window no car tax yearly but you pay year 1 so a 2.4 litre petrol car on registration is €1600 eco tax
Its a shame the DVLA didnt have some sort of system that logs vehicle details, owners of vehicles and tax status. That would make their jobs so much easier really 😉
It’s a daft system, with all sorts of problems. Here’s just two: if anything goes wrong with your monthly direct debit, which you may not know about for a while, you’re untaxed and hence probably uninsured. If you die, the car becomes your heirs’ property, and again the car becomes untaxed, at a time when that’s the last thing on the “new owner’s” mind.
Are they actually putting more resources into catching tax dodgers or just pretending? Seizing the vehicle is no deterrent when the value of it is less than tax + insurance
Too true. The skanks just go out and buy another for few quid.
There’s an app that sends reminders for your tax renewal date called Glove Box Docs. It might just save your bacon!
DVLA send out reminders – its people who ignore or don’t act on them that are at fault. Before you say you didn’t get one then make sure your vehicle details and address details are up to date. Also, there’s a section in the DVLA website to check up on your tax and MOT renewal dates and for those without internet access – use a relative who does and keep a calendar reminder. Its not rocket science!
It was a bad move getting rid of the paper disc and not only for the loss of revenue. No tax disc or a dodgy looking one is such a great indicator that the vehicle and driver are dodgy. Number plate recognition doesn’t pick up cloned vehicles.
The move away from the disc was another move to make life a little bit easier for the criminal.
Having said that , there used to be just about enough Police officers to carry out such checks, now it’s just a fire fighting job. Another boon for the crims
The scheme to stop tax evaders is not working. I reported a car for not having tax 3 times over a 2 month period. The car was still driving around with nothing done. I even did their work for them!
so now no encouragement to purchase low emissions vehicles.. great. who has all the shares in electric cars and the charging posts needed everywhere? Name and shame MP interest in the scheme before we’re all sucked into this lastest con.
I agree with the majority – the tax should be added to fuel so everyone pays. Not sure how the electric vehicle owners would contribute at present though!
I cannot understand why government officials can’t see this is a far simpler system of collecting “road tax”.
The roads are not kept in a good state – but that’s another age old argument!
The problem with putting it on fuel(and in general I agree with doing that)is that everyone doesn’t pay. Crime in the form of bilking from petrol stations and petrol-syphoning from parked cars rises dramatically, as it does every time the price at the pumps rises now. And we know how obsessed with crime figures and their manipulation all government’s are.
Why don’t the Government bring the DVLA back in-house, instead of NCP (the car park people) running for THEIR own profits? You can’t buy road tax without insurance but you can buy insurance without tax, so why aren’t the two linked, oh yeah, NCP don’t want to share their profits. So where does that leave all of us, same as ever at the mercy of a government who want to tax US to the hilt but are willing to loose billions of pounds in tax due to THEIR loopholes – best give up as we will never win any of these arguments whilst they line their own pockets. The country should be run like a business and get rid of the criminals that we always appear to vote in.
I too think that it’s disgusting the DVLA have a continual insurance policy for vehicles that are taxed. Didn’t know about this law and got fined.
DVLA day it’s my duty to know the laws. Bet they don’t know them all?!?
Two police officers I know don’t know that if a car is taxed and not driven or kept on the road it needs to be insured. What a rip off. If I was driving and got caught then fair enough. Direct debit not cancelled so kept the tax going as I was selling the car. If someone wanted to text drive it they can get their own insurance. Can do sod all now
Not if you SORN the vehicle .
For goodness’ sake – the DVLA send an e-mail receipt when one has paid – just put a ‘tax-disc’ in the receipt so it can be fixed to the windscreen. Road-side checking is then quick and easy – no logging in to a website to find out its currency. Can be checked anywhere in Europe at a glance.
Whoever stopped the use of visible evidence for taxation should be sent back to primary school.
What about all the cars from European countries? Every day I see cars from Poland, Lithunia, Latvia and Romania driving around and if stopped, they tell the police they have just arrived in the country. Same with parking tickets! Tear them up and throw them on the ground! The arguement about taxing fuel, means those that qualify for free road tax, have to pay it, unless some from of compensation is offered. We do not have enough police to monitor the situation.
When the tax disc was abolished this removed the visual aid all police used to identify untaxed vehicles. Now they have to do a check unless in an equipped ANPR car. In my area there have been a few untaxed cars some clamped which has been cut off overnight. No wonder revenue is down. The fool who thought of removing tax discs should be shot. Bring it back then every person can recognise untaxed vehicles quickly.
The DVLA should focus on EU cars in the U.K. longer than 6 months that drive about without tax or insurance with impunity. VED on fuel would also ensure those who drive more pay more tax. Diesel cars should be hit with a much higher rate than petrol due to the increased pollution emittions.
I reported a car not taxed and moted for 6 weeks yet the car is still running about
What’s more important is that the tax collected actually goes back into road maintenance.
There are 2 cars parked in my road both according to the DVLA site untaxed and MOT expired. They have been there for over a month (one parked across disabled ramp) Reported to DVLA and nothing done. Told a patrolling PSCO who said these days its not really a Police matter!!!!
Some cars are not worth the tax fee.
Damn ,have to close my offshore account ,got away with millions , will get away with it with a rap on the knuckles but as for car tax dodgers ,total vermin , my Ferrari is always taxed , what excuse do they have !