Taxing car for occasional use

[cbmaxyz]

I'm about to buy a second car and will consign my Ford Galaxy to very occasional usage like moving furniture or big tip runs or carrying a push bike.

Tax is £315 (soon £325) so I'd prefer to tax it for only the months I use it. Probably 1 month on, 2 months off, kind of thing.

Logistically, what's the best way to do this? Do I really need to go through the rigmarole of taxing it, setting up a direct debit each time, then cancelling the next day (or by end of month)? What a faff!

Also, does this even work if I realise I need to use it later that day, or is more notice required?

I'm guessing plenty of people do similar for their "summer cars" but that's just one SORN a year. For me it could be 3 or 4, maybe more.

Btw for insurance I'll probably use day insurance.

[sixor8]

I juggle VED regularly, having several cars, and motorcycles. I always buy it all, and get a refund when I SORN it. I've never done the d/d route because they add 5%. But if you can't pay it all in one go, it's the only way.

I nearly forgot one month, and declared a car SORN at 23:55 on 31st. So there's no restriction like change of keeper.

Incidentally, they don't do an insurance check, only an MoT one, if required. This is because of the proliferation of short term insurance. If the car isn't insured, DVLA sent a shirty letter after a couple of weeks.

[cbmaxyz]

I probably could pay it up-front, I was just trying to avoid edge cases like taxing the car before I've received the previous refund! Hopefully wouldn't happen often but it's certainly possible.

[CaptainScarlet1967]

Based on experience, if you go down the online direct debit route, even if you start it on the first day of the month, you will initially pay more than the normal monthly instalment (I think two months' tax), a bit like motor insurance on direct debit.

I have tried to work around this more recently by paying for a full year upfront for my shed car last December and then cancelling the tax (Sorning) before the end of February due to travelling abroad.

The DVLA should have sent a cheque in the post by now for (at least I hope) the remaining unused 9 months' tax (March-November).

For insurance, last summer I imported a couple of cars and insured them via brokers. One was going to get a NCB but the other wasn't, so I cancelled the other policy
and DD when that car was Sorned as it was pointless paying for it, but I paid upfront for the NCB-yielding policy. The car has been garaged since August but at least there'll be a year's NCB in the next few months.

Personally I'm not keen on day insurance as it soon adds up - the daily cost may as well be a monthly instalment.

Certainly something to bear in mind ifa proper policy is cheap and (like me) you'd like a NCB.

Likewise, IME there is a an additional urgency premium if you need your policy to start ASAP rather than in a month's time, so another thing to factor in.

[CaptainScarlet1967]

sixor8 said:

I juggle VED regularly, having several cars, and motorcycles. I always buy it all, and get a refund when I SORN it. I've never done the d/d route because they add 5%. But if you can't pay it all in one go, it's the only way.

My reply crossed paths with yours. It's good to know they'll refund the entire balance so that you don't lose money as you would with a direct debit by having to pay extra tax for the first month just for the privilege of a DD.

I wanted to try the upfront method as the two imports I refer to above were Sorned after I had taxed them for six months.

I had to pay upfront as part of the first registration process I was doing myself. The cheques for the remaining 4 months arrived shortly after the Sorns.

[Mr Tidy]

It's cheaper to pay a year up front, and you get a pro-rata refund when you SORN. I've only done it twice but got the cheque in less than 2 weeks both times. (Tax on that car is £760 a year)!

If you need it the same day you can do it instantly online, or even later as the tax will start from the beginning of the month when you do it.

But day insurance might be a problem if DVLA don't pick it up in time as a day later it would be expired!

And why would you want it to be uninsured when you aren't using it?

If money is that tight do you really need a car you're likely to use so little?

[johnsmith222]

Pay the year each time, then SORN it and get the refund is the best way financially.

[cbmaxyz]

Thanks all, sounds like refunds arrive pretty quick, so I'll pay up-front each time after all - no direct debits. Or at the very least I'll try that the first time and see how it pans out.

Re: insurance, yes, I've just got some online quotes and day insurance is even more extortionate than I remember (only used it a couple of times before and years ago), so annual does indeed look like the way to go. It'll be nice to build up a second NCB.

[Mr Tidy]

Annual insurance would avoid any issues when you want to tax it and may well work out cheaper over a whole year anyway, especially if it qualifies as a classic.