Do you know off the top of your head when your car insurance is due? And what about the MOT and the tax? Some super-organised people have arranged these payments so that they are all due in the same month, which is certainly one way of making sure you remember. However, paying for tax, insurance and MOT all in the same month can be an expensive business, so most of us prefer to have these payments due in different months of the year. The risk is losing track of what is due when, and there are fines and points on your licence associated with being caught driving without any tax, MOT certificate or insurance. There is however a lot which you can do to keep track of what is due when.
In the UK, car tax is calculated annually. Although some drivers might choose to pay a little extra to make payments six months apart, or pay monthly by direct debit, the charge is calculated annually. If your car was first registered for example in March, and has never been off the road, then your car tax will be due every March. You can easily check your car road tax online, and all you need to do so is your registration number. Enter that into the website, and the site will then ask you to confirm the make, model and colour of the vehicle. Click through to the next page and you will see two large coloured boxes. The one on the left is for car tax, and the right box is for MOT. If both boxes are green, then your tax and MOT are current. If one box or both are red, then you should make immediate arrangements to pay the tax or get a MOT test booked.
The site will also display a month and year when the current MOT or tax expire. This is your renewal month. Take a note of when your car tax and MOT is due to renew so you can plan to get your car booked in for the MOT, and put the cash aside to pay the tax and any repairs which might be needed to get the vehicle through its MOT test.
It might be very easy to find out in which month your car tax is due to renew, but it’s not always as simple to find out how much you can expect to pay. This is because the UK’s car tax system is not a flat rate charge as in other countries, it is based on emissions. In simple terms, the more polluting and carbon-producing vehicles on the road pay more than the cleanest vehicles. If you are buying a new car, in the first year of ownership there are 13 different levels of tax which you might be asked to pay. The first year can range from nothing for electric cars or those with very high emissions standards, to as much as £2365 for a diesel car which is classed in the most polluting group.
In the second and subsequent years of car ownership, the tax is again calculated on how polluting your vehicle is. If your car was first registered between 2001 and 2017, there are again several different bands of payment ranging from zero for the least polluting to £630 for the most. Vehicles registered after 2017 pay a flat rate of £165 for a petrol or diesel car, £155 for a hybrid or biofuel car, and nothing for electric cars. There is also a £355 surcharge for any vehicle which was £40,000 or more when bought.
The system is complicated and has changed several times over the past decades. There are multiple categories of charging, and the same car may attract a different rate depending on when it was registered. It’s not surprising that so many drivers are confused.
If you are one of the increasing number of British drivers who have an electric vehicle, then you probably already know that your car is exempt. But there are some other classes of vehicles and drivers who don’t pay car tax either. If you are the proud owner of a vintage vehicle which was first registered in 1982 or earlier, you can claim exemption under the historic vehicles scheme which covers all vehicles over 40 years old. This exemption also applies to MOT tests, although you will still be legally required to make sure the vehicle is in a roadworthy condition. Disabled drivers who are also in receipt of the higher rate of disability living allowance can also apply for an exemption for their car. They must be the owner of the car concerned, or name another person as their nominated driver if they don’t drive themselves. The DVLA may ask for some extra documents to prove the entitlement to the exemption, such as your V5 (logbook) document to prove ownership of the vehicle.
If you have paid a full year of car tax up front and then decide for whatever reason to sell your vehicle, you cannot transfer the remaining tax to the new owner. The new owner of your car will have to arrange and pay for their own tax before picking the car up. Once you have filled in the correct section of the V5 owner’s book and sent it off to the DVLA, they will process a refund of any complete months tax outstanding, and send a cheque through the post to the address on the form. This is usually a fairly quick process which takes around three weeks to complete. If you are buying a new car at the same time as selling yours, the same theory applies. You will not be able to drive your new car legally without tax, so get online and organise tax and insurance before picking it up from the dealer, or private seller.