Used Car - Tax and Insurance Questions

[smokeey]

Hi all.

I'm going to be viewing a car on Sunday and all being well I'd like to drive it home. With the tax now being returned to the seller I'll obviously need to tax it before driving home.

Question is, if I insure the car online will the insurance database update fast enough to allow the car to be taxed online before driving home, and if not would it be worth risking driving the car home and relying on it still being registered as taxed by the last owner ?

Thanks in advanced

[TwigtheWonderkid]

1. Proof of insurance is no longer a pre requisite for buying tax.
2. DVLA won't know the car has been sold until they receive the previous owners notification, so if the previous owner has tax on it, you will be fine to drive it home as any ANPR systems will show the car as taxed.

[Roo]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

1. Proof of insurance is no longer a pre requisite for buying tax.
2. DVLA won't know the car has been sold until they receive the previous owners notification, so if the previous owner has tax on it, you will be fine to drive it home as any ANPR systems will show the car as taxed.

1. Correct
2. Why not just tax it in your name anyway? Takes less than a minute to do.

[matty6660]

Roo said:

1. Correct
2. Why not just tax it in your name anyway? Takes less than a minute to do.

Can you tax a car if the previous owner already has it taxed?

[thelawnet]

matty6660 said:

Can you tax a car if the previous owner already has it taxed?

As long as you have the v5c, which you'll get when you buy it, yes