Taxing Your Vehicle

Why do I Need to Tax my Vehicle?

You cannot drive a motor vehicle on a public road in the United Kingdom without having valid Road Tax (Road Fund Licence) or MOT. One of the purposes of Road Tax is to prove that the vehicle has been through an MOT examination and is roadworthy. It is illegal to drive a vehicle on any public road or motorway in the United Kingdom without valid Road Tax.

Taxing Your Vehicle

When it comes to taxing your vehicle for the next six months or the next year you should be ready to go through the procedure with the minimum of fuss.

First of all you have to decide whether or not you are going to tax your car for a period of six months or a period of twelve months. Obviously it is significantly more expensive to tax your car for twelve months but if you look at the price of twelve months as opposed to two lots of six months you will notice there is a saving to be made. You should also consider the size of your vehicle's engine as this will have a bearing on the cost.

Having decided over what period to tax your vehicle you must insure that all of your other documents are in order. You must have a valid MOT certificate and the MOT itself must be valid on the day that the new Road Tax comes into effect.

For example if you wanted your new Road Tax to come into effect on 1st of February then you would have to make sure that your MOT was valid on that date.

It is important to note at this point that if you need to tax your vehicle close to the date of expiration on your MOT you may not be allowed to re-tax it until a new MOT certificate is issued. For this reason it is better to MOT your car earlier in the last of its twelve months.

Necessary Documents

Again you must have valid insurance and have originals of your insurance policies as these will need to be presented when you go to tax the car. Many post offices offer the facility to tax your vehicle but will require that they see the following:

• Valid MOT certificate
• Valid Insurance Documents
• Vehicle Logbook (V5)

Again it is important to note that without these documents you will be unable to tax your vehicle at a post office.

If you do not have the logbook - for example if you have just purchased the car and it is used - the previous owner of the vehicle should give you a green slip which will contain the necessary details of the vehicle. The post office will require that you fill out a form (V60) which then transfers ownership of the vehicle to you and initiates the renewing of the logbook with your details.

However it is always worth reconsidering purchasing a car that has no logbook.

Usually around a month before your Road Tax is due to expire, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will send you what is known as a SORN. The SORN - or Statutory Off-Road Notification - enables you to re-tax your vehicle or to declare the vehicle as no longer being driven on public roads.

If this is the case you must specify where the vehicle is being kept and ensure that it is not being kept on a public roadway or path. If you declare your vehicle as being off road then it must be kept on private property or in a secure garage.

Alternatively you can now apply for your Road Tax online at the DVLA's website.

Once you have applied and paid for your tax online the new disc will be sent to you within five days.

However you tax - or re-tax - your vehicle, you should ensure that you have all the necessary paperwork and are able to do so in good time thus avoiding any unnecessary time off the road for your vehicle.