UK historic vehicle tax exemption extended

[paddy]

It's just been announced that there is an extension of 1 year: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/classi ... d-to-1974/

Paddy

[AHM]

I read that as...

UK historic vehicle tax exemption ENDED! My heart sank!

[Jason1]

Its about time the silly SORN rules were changed.
What a waste of the DVLA time this has been. If I want to drive the car I will buy a car tax.

[alan d bell]

I do not see why anyone should get free car tax , be it because the car is old , electric or very low emissions, there is an equal administration cost involved in issuing the tax disc to any car, why should the rest of us bear that cost. all cars currently enjoying free tax discs should pay an admin fee of , say ?20-30. this might allow the reintroduction of the rolling date for historics

[billwill]

I do not see why anyone should get free car tax , be it because the car is old , electric or very low emissions, there is an equal administration cost involved in issuing the tax disc to any car, why should the rest of us bear that cost. all cars currently enjoying free tax discs should pay an admin fee of , say ?20-30. this might allow the reintroduction of the rolling date for historics

Shhhh!. The free tax for historic cars was introduced in the old days before DVLA was computerised. Many if not most classic car owners were obliged by the old system, to renew their tax disc in the spring, then they used to return the tax disc for a refund in the late autumn. Processing this was costing DVLC a fortune, more than the 6-7 month tax collected. Eventually they decided to make classic cars zero tax, so there was no point asking for a refund. However with modern computers, the incremental cost of doing a refund is much much less and the taxes are bigger, so one day a chancellor is going to wake up to that... and we might lose our freebies. No way will they reintroduce a rolling date; when they wake up they will cancel the whole perk and probably charge us extra because alas our cars are a bit more polluting.

[rcraven]

Now that historic cars are exempt it seems rather pointless having to get and display a tax disc. Of course to get a tax disc you have to prove you have insurance and, if necessary, an MOT, but there seems little point in the administrative work involved in this since the police and other authorities can presumably easily and instantly check insurance and MOT online now without having to look for a tax disc on the car.
As to whether we deserve the exemption, none of us (I assume) can drive two cars at once and most of us pay quite enough tax on our modern cars.

[AHM]

Alan,

I used to share a similar point of view. But, it is not free, it is just zero rated.

By making it zero rated, the administration costs are probably nearer ?1.50 and would probably double to ?3 to handle the nominal payment. For such a small amount it would be pure bureaucracy.

How would you collect road fund tax from the increasing number of cyclists who wish to remove cars from the roads altogether.

You now also pay insurance premium tax


Bill,

I thought the DVLC were fully computerised in the 1970's. You didn't have to tax your car, and could apply for 6 months worth, or any number if you could be bothered to fill in the form.

rcraven,
Think of the cost of every PC or traffic warden having to call in to check whereas now they can manage by exception as can you or I if we see a dodgy car

[billwill]

You are probably right, it was computerised after a fashion, but nowhere near as well as now.

Remember? we had to fill in paper forms at the Post Office & these were posted to DVLC & typed in by hand etc.

[AHM]

it was computerised after a fashion, but nowhere near as well as now.

Yes - They have had to park parts of their database to cope, so perhaps classic cars were just too difficult.
So well computerised that the DVLA has iro 7000 employees.... and it still takes them 5 weeks to change a taxation class. So probably the reason for not having a rolling date for Historic vehicles - They wouldn't be able to keep-up.

Remember?

No Bill - Before my time like old style log books

[john.p.clegg]

Can someone please explain why the powers that be have not abolished Road Tax completely ( saving all admin costs) and cover it by a hike in Fuel Duty..surely this way the drivers who drive "gas guzzlers" and those who use the roads most often pay proportionately ... no tax dodgers...non-polluting electric vehicles would be exempt... etc...etc.

John

[oldelanman]

Can someone please explain why the powers that be have not abolished Road Tax completely ( saving all admin costs) and cover it by a hike in Fuel Duty..surely this way the drivers who drive "gas guzzlers" and those who use the roads most often pay proportionately ... no tax dodgers...non-polluting electric vehicles would be exempt... etc...etc.

John

Unless HGVs were exempted the impact on the costs of transport and distribution would be significant and would inevitably result in higher prices for consumer goods. This would affect everyone - not just the drivers of "gas guzzlers" - and may be difficult to justify.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Can someone please explain why the powers that be have not abolished Road Tax completely ( saving all admin costs) and cover it by a hike in Fuel Duty..surely this way the drivers who drive "gas guzzlers" and those who use the roads most often pay proportionately ... no tax dodgers...non-polluting electric vehicles would be exempt... etc...etc.

John

That all makes sound sense John, but I fear that the police may object because a large lump of their work would no longer exist

Cheers
John

P.S. I still think that we are all enjoying a minor miracle with duty free historic vehicle regulations; I don't think it will go on forever

[UAB807F]

The logic about hiking fuel tax to compensate for no road tax is hard to argue against, even to me as a recipient of the historic vehicle rating, I can see that. Personally I'd vote for it even if it meant I ended up paying tax for my old cars because the concept of paying for what you use, i.e. high milers pay more, seems fair enough.

The transport and courier businesses could easily be catered for in their tax structure so even that doesn't come into it. And MoT & insurance are all online these days and there's nothing to stop a sticker being issued for insurance or MoT is there ?

Personally I think it's just a political decision because it's not only the police who would object, there's a crowd of people employed in Welsh Wales that would get very upset if what's probably their largest workload were to suddenly disappear overnight. Add in the fines for not paying the duty or completing a SORN declaration and there's too much of an income stream to lose ?

Brian

[Apx]

Why would the police object? They do not prosecute for dvla offences unless its fraud or theft. If you want to know whether/ indication that a car has tax then its "gettable" via the police national computer or ANPR in about 5 seconds. Seems like employment and politics to me.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Why would the police object? They do not prosecute for dvla offences unless its fraud or theft. If you want to know whether/ indication that a car has tax then its "gettable" via the police national computer or ANPR in about 5 seconds. Seems like employment and politics to me.

It seems you've answered your own question.