From oct this year, YOU CANOT transfer ownership of road taxation with the car at point of sale. The new owner must tax it themselves and you must claim the refund. Spot a way of dvsa making money through none claims?

Home News August 2014 New Road Tax Rules From October
New Road Tax Rules From October
Posted on 13/08/2014

British car owners are being urged to make sure they are aware of new road tax laws which take effect from October this year. One of the new rules prohibits sellers from passing on the outstanding period of road tax with the sale of a car.

The DVLA has been advising UK residents that paper tax discs, which have been in use since 1921, will become obsolete for the last couple of years, with their total removal to apply from 1 October 2014. From that date, drivers can choose to manage their road tax online, through the Post Office or with Direct Debit payments. Enforcement will be via DVLA and police cameras with number plate recognition technology, which can check automatically whether a vehicle is currently taxed or SORN, rather than checking that paper tax discs are affixed to windscreens.

The DVLA believes the new system will not only make it more difficult for drivers to get away with driving untaxed vehicles but also cut down on administration costs to an estimated £10 million annually. The DVLA produced 42.2 million paper tax discs, with a total weight over 72 tonnes – more than a Challenger 2 tank.

Car owners must also be vigilant in ensuring that the DVLA is informed of any change of car ownerships, and any unused tax cannot be transferred with the vehicle. Drivers, instead, will need to claim a refund for the remaining taxation period. Sellers who fail to notify the DVLA that their vehicle has been sold risk a fine of £1,000, in addition to being on the end of any speeding or parking offences incurred by the new owner, resulting in further fines and possible licence penalty points.

The DVLA is reminding car owners that it is the seller’s responsibility to return the V5C registration document complete with details of the sale, rather than relying on the new owner to do so, and owners who scrap their vehicles must be in receipt of a Certificate of Destruction, as given by an authorised facility. Until the documents are sent off, drivers are likely to be held liable for any transgressions committed by the car’s new owner.

Motoring organisations, however, are concerned that drivers will unwittingly break the law if they do not know or understand the new rules. The DVLA has produced a short film called ‘Goodbye to the tax disc’ to help car owners understand the new scheme.