Road Tax - Insurance

Very true, that hadn't crossed my mind!!

My insurer charges 25 quid for a replacement!!!

Give your business to another broker then, i have never paid for a replacement

Mine charges £35 for any 'policy change' add a driver delete a driver cancel a policy.

robbin bastards - I had four cars (at a time) with them , never noticed these charges before as never chopped and changed much - slowly moving elsewhere..

I think cheapest policy means they need to pull it back in spades elsewhere..

As mine is a trade policy there is not so much choice available, last time I had a look around my one was half the price of the competitors. I did completely lose my certificate once, which is how I found out the charge, but I refused to pay it, I only needed it to tax one of my own vehicles and just used the online dvla service rather than the post office. A few months later it was renewal time and a new certificate came in any case.

That's just asking for a fresh-faced copper whos swallowed the RTA to stop you .....

On what grounds?

Failure to display a valid tax disc.

My insurer doesn't send one, if I need it I can just print one out from my internet log on.

Huh?

If the current one and the one about to come into effect are both displayed then how is a valid disc not being displayed?

What bit of "and sellotape the old one alongside" (ie, displaying it too) is causing you problems?

Ian

Why does the old one need to be displayed at all? There's no "valid from" date on the discs, so if the new one expires on 31/3/10 what's wrong with binning the old one and displaying the new on as soon as you get it, well before 31/3/09?

In message , Andy Pandy writes

Unfortunately, it's because the DVLA tell you that you can't use the new disc until it comes into force [1], and this IS on the first of the month (although it doesn't say so on the disc).

As you observe the disc has an end date. It also has a period of validity which indicates a start date (although not specifically stated).

Therefore it can be argued that the new tax disc is not valid until the first day of that month which is twelve months prior to the expiry date.

I believe you - but it certainly wasn't with any of the bumpf they sent with my new tax disc or renewal reminder. Has anyone *ever* been fined for displaying their new tax disc before it comes into force (and not displaying the old one)? Or is it like one of these laws like it's illegal to eat xmas pudding?

Fuck sake, another retard.

It'll say "Valid for 6/12 month" and the expiry date. Applying logic and working backwards, it's not valid until 6/12 months before the expiry date.

So technically, you're not displaying a valid tax disc displaying one that doesn't come into force for a week or whatever. Therefore you are committing an offence of not displaying a valid VED disc.

It's an old trick to get one beginning the following month and shoving it in an untaxed car. Difference is that now ANPR can check up.

It's not as ridiculous as you think, it makes perfect sense. The "real" offence behind "failing to display" is using a car on the road during a period for which tax (VED) has not been paid. Buying a disc which expires on 30/4/10 involves paying VED for the period 1/4/09 to 31/3/10, and does not give you the right to use it on the road before 1/4/09.

The vast majority of cars displaying discs expiring on 30/3/10 will have previously had a disc expiring on 30/3/09. But not all. Some of them may have been formally off-road (SORN). If it were OK to drive around showing only the new disc, this would make it OK for off-roaders to get a free part-month whenever they re-tax their car.

And... in this age of compuers being able to work things out, why should the motorist give the Guvmint "free" part-months when a tax disc is handed in?

If I sell a car on the 15th, buy a replacement at the same time (a common scenario, part-exchanging), I only have one car on the road. Why pay two months tax for one months usage? (other than "Cos the guvmint makes me do so")