tax

[lucemma4]

what happens if you get caught without road tax, I've just bought my car from a dealer and it didnt have any tax on it! I havent received my insurance cover in the post yet and therefore cannot tax my car. Tomorrow I need to take my car on a long journey but Im worried about the risk of gettting caught for not having it. Please help me.

[ArsenalLass]

if you have no road tax you will get fined, also the police say no tax no insurance so every thing becomes void

[chrisl25]

Oh dear, without tax and insurance you really shouldn't go on that journey.

You could have got the garage to tax it for you when you got the car, not much help now, but maybe for the future.

[BigDogsWang]

sorry chrisl25 - garages will not tax your car for you anymore. New law apparently.

[Tim Baxter]

Apparently it is not new law.  Garages can and will tax your car for you but they have to be suitably registered.  It's also not true about no tax no insurance, insurance companies and the police don't give a toss about the two depending on each other.

If you have all your documentation and have applied for the tax disc (suitably backdated) you might get done for not displaying but this is a nominal fixed penalty offence.  But you haven't got your docs so it would be foolish to risk the fine and a record.

[Ward-Minter]

Right no tax...........

 

The Police will not fine you it is a DVLA matter. What will happen is you MAY gat a small fine (no more than �50) and have to pay the back stamp of the tax. If you have recently acquired the car this will be what you should do anyway. The fact your insurance docs have not arrived is not a defence but in tis matter common sense will prevail.

 

If your insurance policy hasn't come through it is not a problem as long as you have paid the premium.

 

The problem is, is that under The Road Traffic Act the Police do not need a reason to pull you over. However if you have no tax they MAY throw the book at you. I can guarantee that an astute traffic cop WILL find fault with your car if he/she wants to. That is from tyre pressures to screen wash to dirty numberplates etc etc etc.

 

Also bare in mind ANPR. This stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition. These are fixed to most Gatsos and bridges. It photographs your number plate which will flash as having no tax. In these times of terrorism they are more common than you think.

 

My advice would be contact your insurance, get them to send your docs ASAP and get tax. If your case is genuine you will not be fined and enjoy your journey.

[tubeway]

For a garage to tax a car for you you would need insurance anyway (unless the garage registers it in their own name - but that adds another owner on th V5 {logbook}). Certain dealerships (I know ford main dealers can do it) can arrange a temporary free insurance cover note to tax it in your name but that is not always available.

[ianess]

I just bought a car last week and the garage taxed it for me 3 days before a cover note arrived through the post.
Sorry lucemma4, but the offence is failing to display a current tax disc so if you get caught you're guilty.
Up to you but you'll have made your mind up anyway by the time this reply reaches yoi.

[sistar]

dont forget, if you were stopped, you may get a small fine for not displaying, but if you get a decent officer and explain the problem you may get off. As for the other documents, you'll have seven days to produce, by which, hopefully everything will be in place.

[Coobeastie]

Question for Tim...surely if your car is not taxed and as such should not be on the road then driving it would invalidate your insurance.

[Tim Baxter]

No Coobeastie, I stick with what I said.  The offence for driving with no tax is simply not displaying and/or having no tax.  The insurers don't care.  Conversely, having no insurance doesn't invalidate your tax, see what I mean?

[Alltorque]

Ward-Minter, ANPR. Scary stuff. I, (obviously mistakenly), thought this sort of kit was only installed in the vans that the police use when carrying out "No Tax etc" operations at the roadside. These are on bridges also ? How to identify ?