Buying a car, last day of month, road tax

[JumboBeef]

Hello.

A hypothetical person is viewing a hypothetical car this afternoon, last day of the month. It will take a hypothetical 6 hours to get there (gotta love public transport) and the hyperthetical drive back will take three hours.

It's a private sale, moted and currently taxed. Does the buyer really need to tax it for a whole month just to drive it home, or can the seller just not cancel the tax for a few hours? The car will be of course taxed from tomorrow, the 1st.

(I know the strictly correct answer is it needs to be retaxed as soon as it changes hands, but would it show up immediately as an untaxed car if the seller cancels the tax as soon as the car drives away?)

Thanks.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Providing it is currently taxed it won't show up on ANPR and by the time the DVLA get the change of keeper form it will be taxed again.

[TooMany2cvs]

JumboBeef said:

Hello.

A hypothetical person is viewing a hypothetical car this afternoon, last day of the month. It will take a hypothetical 6 hours to get there (gotta love public transport) and the hyperthetical drive back will take three hours.

It's a private sale, moted and currently taxed. Does the buyer really need to tax it for a whole month just to drive it home, or can the seller just not cancel the tax for a few hours? The car will be of course taxed from tomorrow, the 1st.

(I know the strictly correct answer is it needs to be retaxed as soon as it changes hands, but would it show up immediately as an untaxed car if the seller cancels the tax as soon as the car drives away?)

Thanks.

Depends how the keeper change goes through - that's what triggers the tax cancellation. If it's done online, then it's done immediately. If it's done by post, then DVLA don't know until probably Thursday or Friday at the earliest.

But, yes, if you have the car on the road in May, it needs to be taxed for May.

[JumboBeef]

Thanks.

I suppose worse case is having an accident on the way home, then surely the police would know/find out that it is not taxed to the new owner. Not worth the risk for twenty quid.

How much do the DVLA make each month by forcing this double taxing on motorists I wonder

[Ste1987]

If you set up a monthly direct debit, isn't the first payment the following month + some sort of pro-rata for the current month?

[NiceCupOfTea]

JumboBeef said:

Thanks.

I suppose worse case is having an accident on the way home, then surely the police would know/find out that it is not taxed to the new owner. Not worth the risk for twenty quid.

How much do the DVLA make each month by forcing this double taxing on motorists I wonder

Makes me furious. Quite blatantly a money making exercise.