More DVLA nonsense

[sparkythecat]

I recently became the registered keeper of the 3 old agricultural tractors owned by our fishing club.
The tractors are insured for third party risk, but because we use them to cross the highway, they need to be taxed.
Being agricultural tractors, they are exempt from MOT and the rate of Vehicle Excise Duty payable is zero, so the rigmarole of 'taxing' them is purely an administrative exercise. Fair enough, this puts them in the same boat as as classic cars over 40 years old.
What I am at a loss to understand is why this cannot be done online, through the DVLA website. Instead,three times a year, I'm obliged to print off form V112 (Declaration of Exemption from MOT), fill it in by hand and take it along with the Vehicle Tax Reminder to the nearest Post Office, 6 miles away.

When I duly went along to the Post Office for the first time, the clerk scanned the bar code on the Vehicle Tax Reminder and printed off a receipt to show the vehicle had been taxed. She didn't look at the V112 and wasn't
interested in keeping it. When I asked her what the form was for she said, " I don't need it because I can see from the database that the vehicle is MOT exempt. The form is for you to keep with you to show to the police if they stop you"

FFS ! Why on earth can this not be done online?


https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/governmen...

[Riley Blue]

Not the same as a zero-rated classic car then as I can renew mine on-line.

[Fish]

Why don't you try and "tax" two early so the tax renewal date is the same, at least it's only one trip then....

[sparkythecat]

Fish said:

Why don't you try and "tax" two early so the tax renewal date is the same, at least it's only one trip then....

In theory a good idea, but I need the Vehicle Tax Reminder form to do that, and the tax renewal dates are months apart.

[sparkythecat]

Riley Blue said:

Not the same as a zero-rated classic car then as I can renew mine on-line.

Interesting, because I thought your 40+ classic would have fallen into category r on form V112 and thus required its completion. My tractors are in category a

form V112 said:

r (GB only) A vehicle other than a public service
vehicle registered or manufactured 40 years
ago and which has not been substantially
changed in the last 30 years.

[sparkythecat]

It's not just shonky old tractors though, it's ALL tractors.
There are tens of thousands of them on farms nowhere near any post offices, so the demand for an online service is there.

[Pica-Pica]

Does it not qualify as exempt via this?

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-exempt-from-vehicle-tax

Vehicles used for agriculture, horticulture and forestry
This includes tractors, agricultural engines and light agricultural vehicles used off-road. It also includes ‘limited use’ vehicles used for short journeys (not more than 1.5 kilometres) on the public road between land that’s occupied by the same person.

[sparkythecat]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks, I'll have for look for that.

[vaud]

My guess is that there won't be a business case for it. For the relatively small number of forms, it's possibly cheaper to keep with the existing process. There is an (often significant) cost to digitizing a process and then maintaining an application. The DVLA has a very complex (and legacy) application architecture, IIRC which will add to the cost.

[Riley Blue]

sparkythecat said:

Riley Blue said:

Not the same as a zero-rated classic car then as I can renew mine on-line.

Interesting, because I thought your 40+ classic would have fallen into category r on form V112 and thus required its completion. My tractors are in category a

form V112 said:

r (GB only) A vehicle other than a public service
vehicle registered or manufactured 40 years
ago and which has not been substantially
changed in the last 30 years.

As far as I can recall all I had to do was confirm that it was exempt when re-taxing it on-line a year or two back and that was that. Perhaps it was some version of V112 I completed but I've been able to do it on-line ever since without the need to complete anything else.

[lyonspride]

sparkythecat said:

FFS ! Why on earth can this not be done online?

The sImple answer, they want to make owning old vehicles as much of a hassle as possible.

[captain_tripping]

Tagging on to this.... sold cars recently, transferred ownership online, never had to send anything via post.

Moved house and I HAVE to send it off by post to update it.

My girlfriend said selling it to myself was a silly and stubborn idea so I guess I'll have to send it off via post like its the 1930s.... might even cycle to the postbox on my penny farthing

[elanfan]

Not sure if this is going to be of any help whatsoever but.... I used to work in commercial motor department of Commercial Union. We had loads of farm fleets insured many had unregistered tractors covered for third party road risks (on make model year or chassis number) because like you they had to cross roads to get from field to field.

I seem to recall there was some rule like if they didn’t do more than 100 yards a year on the road in between fields they didn’t have to be registered. I wonder if this rule still exists, if it does just take the plates off and scrap the v5’s, unregistered vehicles need no tax nor mot.

[deggles]

vaud said:

My guess is that there won't be a business case for it. For the relatively small number of forms, it's possibly cheaper to keep with the existing process. There is an (often significant) cost to digitizing a process and then maintaining an application. The DVLA has a very complex (and legacy) application architecture, IIRC which will add to the cost.

Very much this.

Having worked on public sector digital transformation projects, I can almost guarantee this feature will exist only as a post-it note on a product roadmap whiteboard somewhere in the depths of DVLA HQ, probably for evermore. I'm afraid they will have higher priorities. Hell, they still issue VED refunds by cheque in 2019!

[poo at Paul's]

I'd have thought going to the post office was pretty exciting and a bit of a treat for someone used to sitting on a camp stool for 14 hours in the stting rain, waiting for a bit of string to move.....

[Plymo]

deggles said:

Hell, they still issue VED refunds by cheque in 2019!

My guess is that's deliberate... A certain percentage of cheques will not be cashed (lazy, sent to old address, etc etc etc) so that's a nice little earner for them, a bit like the overlapping month of tax when buying a secondhand car...

[C Lee Farquar]

I have a Land Rover on agricultural exemption, that also involves a visit to the post office. I do this as we run it on red diesel and 'untaxed' could lead to difficult discussions with plod.

No one I know bothers to tax tractors