No tax disc.

[colly0410]

I've done it, I've finally gone & done it: I've removed the tax disc from the car windscreen, (after a recent law change) but why do I feel like a bad lad??

[Wheldale]

I did mine on the first day, I felt like a rebel!

[colly0410]

Every time I see a Cop I have a guilt trip. Had it drilled into me for so long that no tax disc = bobbies will have you, lol..

[rac]

Gonna leave mine where it is till it expires-I paid for it!!!

[colly0410]

Bobby pulled me over & said "you've got a back light out!" I thumped it & it came on, he said "now thump your windscreen & see if a tax disc pops up!" That joke doesn't work anymore does it?

[tygwyn]

Are you all driving vintage car`s,or have i missed something on the news?

[Wheldale]

The law has changed, you no longer need to show a tax disc in your car. It's saving the government millions in printing costs. All to do with digital technology.

[tygwyn]

Oct 16, 2014 2:44:01 GMT -5 Wheldale said:

The law has changed, you no longer need to show a tax disc in your car. It's saving the government millions in printing costs. All to do with digital technology.

Technology has kind of passed me by,lol,
So how do the savings for the government work?
Will there not be tax reminders printed or are the disc`s not printed anymore?

Not sure if they still do,but the Irish had a system were the road tax was included with insurance or something similar,
Will it be like that?

[Wheldale]

The savings are that the actual disc doesn't have to be printed. They used to be printed at a secure printers on special paper. You still get a reminder, still have to pay it but basically you have nothing to show for it. These days with all the technology the police have they can tell if your taxed and tested etc.

Ive just done mine as it runs out at the end of the month. I could have set up a direct debit, that is slightly more money. I handed over my cash at the post office and was just given a receipt to say I had paid.

[rac]

Yes but there is a more sinister side to this-which can be a nice little earner for the government as the tax can no longer go with the car if it is sold.
Say I sell my car and it is half way through the month I have to surrender the disc but only get a refund back from the beginning of the month The person who bought the car has to tax it but because it is part way through the month has to pay from the beginning of the month result the government get paid twice for this month!
Therefore you can no longer sell a car "taxed and tested"
Another scenario is if you buy a car which is on "sorn" you have to declare "sorn" yourself which of course you can't do until the vehicle is registered in your name so delays being able to tax it . Just another example of the motorist being shafted-by stealth.

Oh and don't forget they have made it easier now so you can tax your car by direct debit monthly but of course you pay extra for the privilege!
There is a petition which I ask anyone affected to read and sign.
thanks
epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/70266

Hmmm who's helping who here?

[colly0410]

I can't understand why they don't just put a few pence on the tax on fuel & do away with the car excise tax altogether. Plod would still know if you've got no insurance or MOT through their ANPR's. It would be a fairer & simpler system..

[colly0410]

When I left the Army & moved back to England from Germany I had British Forces Germany number plates & a free tax disc. You were supposed to re-register with DVLA within one month & buy a proper tax disc, I ran it on BFG plates for over a year, Brit Bobbies thought I was a squadie on leave, lol. I ended up scrapping the car as it was a shed..

[smshogun]

Its all well and good until the systems go wrong, on the first day it was overloaded and people couldn't tax their vehicles and there are still numerous issues, if you pay your VED you got a receipt in the form of a tax disc.

Such a scenario affected me when I started with my present employer, started on the Monday and straight off to the local BMW dealer to pick up my company car, went off to site straight from the dealer and all was well, on the Tuesday dinner I was returning to the office and was pulled by Billy Law less than a mile from the office, they claimed their system showed the vehicle wasn't insured and the situation went into hyperdrive. Having been contracting for several years I carried comprehensive cover for any vehicle on my own car insurance due to what we used to call the "f**k it syndrome" which was where people having company cars used to abuse them and drive like maniacs and if it went wrong they would say "f**k it" its not my car and I don't have to pay for it.

This prompted company vehicle insurers to have a massive excess on each company vehicle to force company car drivers to act responsibly and they imposed these excesses from £1000-1500 on average and the company passed them onto company vehicle drivers, it cut accidents by company car drivers massively as it hit them in the pocket; the insurance I carried avoided this and I wouldn't have to even pay the excess.

Knowing I was covered and the right thingy of a plod claiming "there system showed" I decided I wasn't playing and got into my vehicle and drove back to the office with plod following, I spoke to our transport manager who produced the documentation showing it was added to the company car policy and was added the previous Friday with a start time of 6am the following Monday which was when I picked up my car.

Having paperwork is proof of insurance instantly checkable, having a tax disc is paperwork instantly checkable, and when it does go wrong you have some paper back up with the details of your insurer along with a reference number so a simple roadside phone call from plod is quickly and easily undertaken to verify things are correct. Looking at a tax disc is easily done also.

Having such an obsidious and insidious plod made me question why my company car wasn't showing as on the company insurance policy and the answer was astounding. Many insurers add you to a company policy for company vehicles; or for private vehicles they offer you instant cover, but they don't add you to the database instantly, most insurers do this weekly and send a huge file to be uploaded to the system and our company insurer did this at midnight every Friday when there was little internet traffic, this meant my vehicle wouldn't show up as insured for the first week and this has serious implications. When a vehicle shows as uninsured they lift the vehicle on the spot and you lose it even though it is insured and this can have serious consequences for company vehicle drivers, the elderly, and the disabled.

Someone makes a mistake entering a registration number and you have the same scenario, you are insured and have paid the premiums, yet due to an error which is nothing to do with you your car shows as not insured.  

[Wheldale]

In my car I keep my insurance certificate (It can be printed out online so did a spare copy), a photocopy of the MOT certificate and I've got my tax renewal form with the receipt stapled to it, this shows that I paid for 12 months tax. I can show all this to anyone that needs to see it ie police if there computers are down.

[smshogun]

Certainly an option but by doing that any car thief will have your personal data and theft of personal data is a big thing.

With a tax disc it attaches to a vehicle registration and not an individual, it also has its unique identity number so the two can be cross referenced without the need to give specific personal information and was one of the reasons they were introduced in this manner.