Can't tax car until 1st day of next month...

[urquattroGus]

I've just taxed my new car online, today is the 25th, I'm picking it up on the 29th.

There was no option of when to tax it from other than June the 1st when I paid for a year's tax.

It's was on a SORN, but I'm frustrated that I'm going to pick the car up on the 29th and maybe get a fine, especially as I'm going to be driving back via motorways.

Is there no way of paying for those couple of days tax?

This seems stupid to me!

I might try and phone the DVLA to pay extra and I will carry the confirmation with me, but I'm blowed if I'm going to wait till the 1st....

[Mandat]

If it is taxed from the 1st June, then you are covered, or did you mean that it is taxed from 1st July?

[urquattroGus]

OH GOD!

Major brainfart!

Thank - yes you are absolutely right.

Maybe I should remember what month we are in!!

[MitchT]

I think the OP means he can't tax it until 1 July unless he taxes it for the whole of June and is, as such, ripped off as he only needs a couple of days' tax to be able to collect the car when he wants to. System is a joke and clearly designed to force people to overpay or get screwed for fines.

[Butter Face]

[Sheepshanks]

How does the trade manage to tax cars for a year and a few days - can that only be done at first registration?

[JM]

I'm in a similar position, changing car this mid-week. Did think about holding off till Saturday, but I think I'll just take the £20 hit.

[Butter Face]

Sheepshanks said:

How does the trade manage to tax cars for a year and a few days - can that only be done at first registration?

Yes.

[TooMany2cvs]

urquattroGus said:

OH GOD!

Major brainfart!

Thank - yes you are absolutely right.

Maybe I should remember what month we are in!!

<grin>
If you'd been doing it in the last couple of days of the month, it'd have given you the choice of starting from 1st June or 1st July...

[0a]

Try and pick cars up in the first few days of the month, and not at the end!

[Butter Face]

0a said:

Try and pick cars up in the first few days of the month, and not at the end!

Not that it makes any difference for most as you lose a months tax on your old one/new one depending on what you're doing.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Butter Face said:

0a said:

Try and pick cars up in the first few days of the month, and not at the end!

Not that it makes any difference for most as you lose a months tax on your old one/new one depending on what you're doing.

When you change cars these days you will always lose a month of tax. The rebate on your old tax is in whole months only, and the tax on the new car is also in whole months.

Whichever way you slice the pie, the DVLA get two bites of one of the slices.

It the new car is in a lower tax band than the old one, then it actually behoves you not to wait until the start of the next month.

[Butter Face]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Butter Face said:

0a said:

Try and pick cars up in the first few days of the month, and not at the end!

Not that it makes any difference for most as you lose a months tax on your old one/new one depending on what you're doing.

When you change cars these days you will always lose a month of tax. The rebate on your old tax is in whole months only, and the tax on the new car is also in whole months.

Whichever way you slice the pie, the DVLA get two bites of one of the slices.

It the new car is in a lower tax band than the old one, then it actually behoves you not to wait until the start of the next month.

While you are correct. In the grand scheme of things a single months tax rebate equates to about bugger all when it comes to changing cars.

Say your current car is £305 pa, and you are changing for a nil RFL car. Waiting for a new month nets you approx £25. Is that worth any hassle? Not really, just change the car when it suits, you'll save that in fuel. hanging on for the 1st of the month etc is an old school idea that's not worth really bothering about.

[caelite]

TooMany2cvs said:

<grin>
If you'd been doing it in the last couple of days of the month, it'd have given you the choice of starting from 1st June or 1st July...

They don't give you the choice anymore, I had this conversation with the woman in the post office fairly recently. You can only buy for the month we are currently in, you can no longer buy for the 1st of the following month in advance.

Supposedly they are trying to cut down on the amount of people buying a new vehicle and driving it untaxed for a few days prior to buying tax to get the best deal... my response to that was to drive back home in my untaxed new car and come back 3 days later when I could purchase tax on the 1st. The hell am I wasting ~8% of that £290/year tax bill. The way I saw it it was either throw £20 down the pisser, or have a ~1% risk of a ~£100 FPN.

[Drumroll]

The title is misleading, of course you can tax a car whenever you want. It just depends on how much you have to pay the DVLA.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Butter Face said:

While you are correct. In the grand scheme of things a single months tax rebate equates to about bugger all when it comes to changing cars.

Say your current car is £305 pa, and you are changing for a nil RFL car. Waiting for a new month nets you approx £25. Is that worth any hassle? Not really, just change the car when it suits, you'll save that in fuel. hanging on for the 1st of the month etc is an old school idea that's not worth really bothering about.

Yes, that's true. But it doesn't invalidate what I wrote though - the DVLA will get a month's overlap on old and new car whatever you do, and it can't be avoided. As you say, it is down to the individual to work out when is the best time to change or to simply suck it up whenever.

[Somewhatfoolish]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Butter Face said:

0a said:

Try and pick cars up in the first few days of the month, and not at the end!

Not that it makes any difference for most as you lose a months tax on your old one/new one depending on what you're doing.

When you change cars these days you will always lose a month of tax. The rebate on your old tax is in whole months only, and the tax on the new car is also in whole months.

Whichever way you slice the pie, the DVLA get two bites of one of the slices.

It the new car is in a lower tax band than the old one, then it actually behoves you not to wait until the start of the next month.

Not incorrect, but not fully correct either, because there is a solution. If you look for cars at the right time and arrange correctly with the previous owner you can take delivery on the last day of the month, SORN it for a bit once you have got it home and are done for the day (this is assuming you have off-road parking available) and tax the next day. I have done this before and it was a very sensible arrangement.

[TooMany2cvs]

Sheepshanks said:

ClockworkCupcake said:

Yes, that's true. But it doesn't invalidate what I wrote though - the DVLA will get a month's overlap on old and new car whatever you do, and it can't be avoided. As you say, it is down to the individual to work out when is the best time to change or to simply suck it up whenever.

I don't want to put ideas into their head but they could do it to the exact day so there was no overlap. But then charge an admin fee.

They couldn't do it to the exact day without completely redeveloping the back-end VED systems, since VED has always been to the month.