Buying a car with no tax and driving it home?

[leeb]

Hi All,

I am looking to buy a car on sunday for SWMBO. this involves flying to newcastle, and hopefully if all is right, driving it home.

However.....it currently has no tax, as it has been off the road and resprayed etc. so as far as im aware is currently on sorn. Has MOT and will have insurance, but i cant get tax until the monday morning, with the green V5 slip in her name.

As i understand it, he doesnt want to insure the car just to tax it etc. i can kind of understand this.

Question is, i know its not "legal" but if explained to Bib, what is the score likely to be? more to the point, what happens if the ANPR robots clock it? big bills in post?

Cheers
Lee

[Justayellowbadge]

leeb said:

Hi All,

I am looking to buy a car on sunday for SWMBO. this involves flying to newcastle, and hopefully if all is right, driving it home.

However.....it currently has no tax, as it has been off the road and resprayed etc. so as far as im aware is currently on sorn. Has MOT and will have insurance, but i cant get tax until the monday morning, with the green V5 slip in her name.

As i understand it, he doesnt want to insure the car just to tax it etc. i can kind of understand this.

Question is, i know its not "legal" but if explained to Bib, what is the score likely to be? more to the point, what happens if the ANPR robots clock it? big bills in post?

Cheers
Lee

If it's Saturday, can you book an MOT test?

[cjs]

The vehicle will still be registered to the other guy until the V5 reaches Swansea, it is still his responsibility to tax it not yours, I would not worry and just get it taxed as soon as you can. Read a V5 if you have one as it mentions the responsibility stays with the reg keeper until DVLA have been informed.

[leeb]

it will be a sunday, it has an MOT no probs there, we will be insured, it just wont be taxed, and we wont be able to get it on the sunday.

[leeb]

cjs said:

The vehicle will still be registered to the other guy until the V5 reaches Swansea, it is still his responsibility to tax it not yours, I would not worry and just get it taxed as soon as you can. Read a V5 if you have one as it mentions the responsibility stays with the reg keeper until DVLA have been informed.

oh thats definately a good thing. Even though we will have the green slip from the V5, does that not make us the new registered keeper, or is it all about their computer system?

[Nickyboy]

The offence is failing to display a tax disc, as driver of the car you would be responsible for an on the spot fine, anything sent to the previous owner would be forwarded onto you by him the same way a speeding ticket would be if you ran a gatso on the way home from buying it.

[BeerForBreakfast]

Um. Buy it on Monday instead? Then tax it..

[stuart-b]

Just buy the tax online? DVLA website, job done. Print off the receipt and show the BIB if they stop you. Happened to me when my porka was back on the road after 18 months, got stopped... and he had no problem with it. DVLA systems showed car as taxed.

[leeb]

stuart-b said:

Just buy the tax online? DVLA website, job done. Print off the receipt and show the BIB if they stop you. Happened to me when my porka was back on the road after 18 months, got stopped... and he had no problem with it. DVLA systems showed car as taxed.

theres the answer. Top work, never realised we could do that. its a 300 mile drive, so thats what i was hoping for. Its a long way to 'run the risk'

[sniff diesel]

leeb said:

stuart-b said:

Just buy the tax online? DVLA website, job done. Print off the receipt and show the BIB if they stop you. Happened to me when my porka was back on the road after 18 months, got stopped... and he had no problem with it. DVLA systems showed car as taxed.

theres the answer. Top work, never realised we could do that. its a 300 mile drive, so thats what i was hoping for. Its a long way to 'run the risk'

It can take a while for the Askmid site to update the insurance records though so may not be able to tax it online on the day. With it being a Sunday when most garages are closed could you not borrow some trade plates from somewhere?

[MitchT]

If you set up the insurance tomorrow with the cover scheduled to start on Sunday, will the database definitely be showing it as insured by Sunday so that it can be taxed on Sunday? I guess that's the question. What is the lead time between insuring a car and it showing up on the database so that you can tax it online?

[dave_s13]

I've bought about 3 cars with no tax previously, in very similar circustances and took the chance, never got caught.

What if you tax it via the web and it's actually a bag of nails?

[leeb]

dave_s13 said:

I've bought about 3 cars with no tax previously, in very similar circustances and took the chance, never got caught.

What if you tax it via the web and it's actually a bag of nails?

well i could insure the car before hand, i could then tax it from his computer before driving home, and if it turns out to be a dog, i then hunt for a flight home from newcastle in a rather bad mood, cancel the insurance and swear lots, whilt trying to stop swmbo from attacking!!!

[richyb]

Have a 'search', there are hundreds of threads on this all with the same outcome. Luck on the day, pure and simple.

[quotemehappy]

The worse that could happen is that your car will be seized that is it no points just a fine but you will need to get it taxed before you take it out of the police depot.

[Waynester]

Can you not find a similar car thats closer, and doesn't require flights and long journeys??
Would reduce the time on the road with no tax coverage.

If you tax the car online, the disc would be sent to the seller still. Takes an eternity for DVLA to update records etc... as far as i know.

[sniff diesel]

Could you get a quote to have it trailered to you? May not be that expensive compared to the cost of flights and fuel plus the risk of getting caught.

[tomTVR]

cjs said:

The vehicle will still be registered to the other guy until the V5 reaches Swansea, it is still his responsibility to tax it not yours, I would not worry and just get it taxed as soon as you can. Read a V5 if you have one as it mentions the responsibility stays with the reg keeper until DVLA have been informed.

How does that work then? If OP is caught by the bib he is the one to blame.


Heres a idea. Get your cover letter and post it to guy first class, it will arrive friday or early saturday at the latest - chap will be able to tax it before noon (assuming the guy doesnt mind) job done.

[Balmoral Green]

Check with your insurer that the car will still actually be insured if it's not taxed. Although the only problem appears to be that that the car is not taxed (so you will not be displaying a current tax disc, which on it's own is probably no great shakes, if you get caught, you pay the consequence), you need to check that you are still insured, as many insurance policy's state that the car must be road legal to be covered. Technically, it you aren't taxed, then some insurers might consider you not insured either. If nowt happens, it doesn't matter, but if you had a crunch, getting a fixed penalty for failure to display a valid VED might be the least of your troubles.

Edited by Balmoral Green on Wednesday 24th September 21:42

[leeb]

well, we got the car, she is super happy, we knew the history and knew it had been registered as a cat c write off. no dramas at all, all ok. car is now on the drive and off the road.

this means there isnt a v5c but we do have the VIC form and MOT. The way i read the dvla site, is that we go to a (not so) local office, and take these docs and the insurance. they can then issue the V5c form and also we can get the tax and get it legally on the road. Anyone had to do this, is it as simple as that or not?

Thanks