Lease company not letting me sort out my own road tax for EV

[London1986]

Hi all

I have leased a Tesla via my business.

It's a 3 year lease which ends January 2026, so about 10 months left.

Now as road tax is coming in for EVs, they have sent me an email saying that as my current lease payments do not cover road tax, they will
send me a separate invoice for this charge.

Now what I would like to do is just tax it myself right now. If I tax it now, I can tax it for free and that will last me for the full duration of the term.

However the lease company have told me that I cannot do this as I am not the owner and when I advised they tax it now, they said they cannot as they have to stick to their policy.

Is there anything else I can do? When I took out the lease, road tax for EVs was zero so obviously didn't need to deal with this prior.

[LastPoster]

Does you lease agreement specifically say that though?

Presumably they had responsibility for taxing the vehicle as part of the lease and included with the cost? Does it make reference to being able to pass on any changes in the rate during the lease term?

[codenamecueball]

London1986 said:

Is there anything else I can do? When I took out the lease, road tax for EVs was zero so obviously didn't need to deal with this prior.

No. Don't forget they'll be charging VED + VAT, not an issue if you're VAT reg though but I suspect it'll catch a few people out.

[London1986]

LastPoster said:

Does you lease agreement specifically say that though?

Presumably they had responsibility for taxing the vehicle as part of the lease and included with the cost? Does it make reference to being able to pass on any changes in the rate during the lease term?

So interestingly I've just had a look and it says in black and white...

Road tax is included for the full term

Also in the summary at the top...

Contract type: Contract Hire
Term: 36 months
Annual mileage: 8,000
Road tax: 36 months

So the above assumes it's included. I will need to look into the small print further, I imagine they have a clause that says something about not including new GOV rules etc

[paddy1970]

This extract suggests they're obligated to cover road tax for the entire lease period, regardless of government changes. However, check if they have a clause about regulatory changes, they may have legal standing, but the explicit "full term" language works in your favor.

[anonymous-user]

London1986 said:

Road tax is included for the full term

You're always liable for any increase to the initial tax cost within the lease term. Standard policy for every leased car I've had.

[London1986]

paddy1970 said:

This extract suggests they're obligated to cover road tax for the entire lease period, regardless of government changes. However, check if they have a clause about regulatory changes, they may have legal standing, but the explicit "full term" language works in your favor.

That fills me with confidence. I've just scanned the t&cs and can't see anything that relates to any of that above.

I guess it's out of the question to get them to register the car now for free road tax but seems I have a case to refuse the road tax charge

[London1986]

Chris Peacock said:

You're always liable for any increase to the initial tax cost within the lease term. Standard policy for every leased car I've had.

That should be in the t&c's then surely?

[Sheepshanks]

London1986 said:

Now what I would like to do is just tax it myself right now. If I tax it now, I can tax it for free and that will last me for the full duration of the term.

However the lease company have told me that I cannot do this as I am not the owner and when I advised they tax it now, they said they cannot as they have to stick to their policy.

Are you the registered keeper (rather than owner) of the car? If not, I guess you won't have the info to be able to tax it.

If you do know the V5 number, then you could just retax it, even though you're not supposed to (accorded to the VED site)

[Sheepshanks]

London1986 said:

Chris Peacock said:

You're always liable for any increase to the initial tax cost within the lease term. Standard policy for every leased car I've had.

That should be in the t&c's then surely?

It would be beyond astonishing if there isn't some overall statement about tax etc changes.

[London1986]

Sheepshanks said:

Are you the registered keeper (rather than owner) of the car? If not, I guess you won't have the info to be able to tax it.

If you do know the V5 number, then you could just retax it, even though you're not supposed to (accorded to the VED site)

You are right here, I am not the registered keeper nor do I have the docs so I cannot tax it myself.

[London1986]

Sheepshanks said:

It would be beyond astonishing if there isn't some overall statement about tax etc changes.

I will get in touch with them and see what they say

[zippy3x]

London1986 said:

Now what I would like to do is just tax it myself right now. If I tax it now, I can tax it for free and that will last me for the full duration of the term.

Can you?

I assume your vehicle is now taxed, just at £0 rate. Therefore you are simply renewing tax early?

On the DVLA website it says :

"You can tax your vehicle up to 2 months before it expires if you’re going to be away from home (for example on holiday) when your current tax runs out."

among the things you need to send with your application is "a letter explaining why you’re applying in advance".

I shouldn't think "avoiding tax increase" would be acceptable.

If this was possible, surely anyone could renew early if a tax rise was imminent?

No expert on this btw, so I shall await correction

[Sheepshanks]

You can just retax it.


OP: When does the tax run out? On a lease that ends Jan 26 the tax might run out end Dec 25 so you'll only have a month to pay.

[66HFM]

zippy3x said:

London1986 said:

Now what I would like to do is just tax it myself right now. If I tax it now, I can tax it for free and that will last me for the full duration of the term.

Can you?

I assume your vehicle is now taxed, just at £0 rate. Therefore you are simply renewing tax early?

On the DVLA website it says :

"You can tax your vehicle up to 2 months before it expires if you’re going to be away from home (for example on holiday) when your current tax runs out."

among the things you need to send with your application is "a letter explaining why you’re applying in advance".

I shouldn't think "avoiding tax increase" would be acceptable.

If this was possible, surely anyone could renew early if a tax rise was imminent?

No expert on this btw, so I shall await correction

We have a Honda e:Ny1 on one of the cheap PCP deals, registered in September 2024. I just renewed my tax on line yesterday, which although it kept stating that it was already taxed and was I sure that I wanted to tax it (for free until 28/02/26)! Yes please!

Can you ask them to re-tax it on line for you this month? Offer to buy them a bottle of wine...
Can you check on line (Gov website) to check when your current tax expires, as mentioned earlier you may only need to pay 1 months RFL...

[codenamecueball]

Sheepshanks said:

You can just retax it.


OP: When does the tax run out? On a lease that ends Jan 26 the tax might run out end Dec 25 so you'll only have a month to pay.

Without access to the V5, how?

[anonymous-user]

zippy3x said:

Can you?

I assume your vehicle is now taxed, just at £0 rate. Therefore you are simply renewing tax early?

On the DVLA website it says :

"You can tax your vehicle up to 2 months before it expires if you’re going to be away from home (for example on holiday) when your current tax runs out."

among the things you need to send with your application is "a letter explaining why you’re applying in advance".

I shouldn't think "avoiding tax increase" would be acceptable.

If this was possible, surely anyone could renew early if a tax rise was imminent?

No expert on this btw, so I shall await correction

You can re-tax anytime. Loads of EV owners have just done it to get another year free (it's £195 from next month).

[WaftyCranker1]

You can’t simply tax it yourself as the vehicle belongs to the lender and not the driver. It’s a hire. You’ll never lay eyes on the V5 as you’ll never own it.

After working for a broker for a number of years, I’d say you’ll 100% have to pay any difference/surplus for gov tax changes and it’ll be stated within the docs somewhere. All the main lenders/brokers specify this at point of order and it’s likely in your initial disclosure document or your pre-contract credit info or the finance docs themself.

I know it’s not the news you’re looking for but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge amount of money and going forward it’ll be standard across the board regardless.

[zippy3x]

Discombobulate said:

zippy3x said:

Can you?

I assume your vehicle is now taxed, just at £0 rate. Therefore you are simply renewing tax early?

On the DVLA website it says :

"You can tax your vehicle up to 2 months before it expires if you’re going to be away from home (for example on holiday) when your current tax runs out."

among the things you need to send with your application is "a letter explaining why you’re applying in advance".

I shouldn't think "avoiding tax increase" would be acceptable.

If this was possible, surely anyone could renew early if a tax rise was imminent?

No expert on this btw, so I shall await correction

You can re-tax anytime. Loads of EV owners have just done it to get another year free (it's £195 from next month).

I stand corrected. Should really have learned by now not to expect logic on common sense from a government agency

[WaftyCranker1]

Discombobulate said:

zippy3x said:

Can you?

I assume your vehicle is now taxed, just at £0 rate. Therefore you are simply renewing tax early?

On the DVLA website it says :

"You can tax your vehicle up to 2 months before it expires if you’re going to be away from home (for example on holiday) when your current tax runs out."

among the things you need to send with your application is "a letter explaining why you’re applying in advance".

I shouldn't think "avoiding tax increase" would be acceptable.

If this was possible, surely anyone could renew early if a tax rise was imminent?

No expert on this btw, so I shall await correction

You can re-tax anytime. Loads of EV owners have just done it to get another year free (it's £195 from next month).

Keyword here is owners. This is a business lease as OP stated, finance company are the owners and it’s their prerogative.