The Lemon Fool

I was also surprised to get no reminder for my vehicle tax, which was due on 1 August.

They know where I live and have my e-mail, so it costs nothing to send an e-mail reminder.

I'm saved by 2 things:

1 I remember, as I bought the car on 31 July 6 years ago and had the seller drive it to my house, so it's taxed from 1 August.

2 I set up google calendar reminders for everything of importance in my life.

jaizan wrote:I was also surprised to get no reminder for my vehicle tax, which was due on 1 August.

They know where I live and have my e-mail, so it costs nothing to send an e-mail reminder.

I have mine set up as a direct debit (there's no surcharge if you pay the full 12 months). The only emails I get are a notification of a DD about to be taken.

Unfortunately you can't set up a DD for £0.00 so I still get paper reminders for my classic Mini. The DVLA doesn't seem to have any mechanism for email reminders as far as I can see, just postal ones. Seems to still be working as normal, my last one was in April this year. I can use it to renew on-line though, and get a confirmation by email.

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL - PLEASE DO NOT REPLY AS EMAILS
RECEIVED AT THIS ADDRESS CANNOT BE RESPONDED TO.

Confirmation of vehicle tax.

Thank you for using DVLA Vehicle Licensing Online.
Your application for vehicle tax has been successful.

Vehicle Registration Number: *** ****
Reference Number: **** **** **** ****
Application Made On: 06/04/2023 19:01:05
Vehicle Tax Period: 12 months
Vehicle Tax Amount Paid: GBP 0.00

The law has changed, you do not need to display a tax disc, therefore we will not issue one to you.

You may wish to save or print this email confirmation for your records.

.

Breelander wrote:"The law has changed, you do not need to display a tax disc"

The law changed 9 years ago, isn't it about time they stopped mentioning it?

Scott.

Tedx wrote:

yorkshirelad1 wrote:, and there are no longer tax discs on our windscreens to remind us.

Maybe put your own 'tax disc' on your dash somewhere?

I have exactly this. Well nearly anyway. I have a Post-It note on the back of my sun visor with the date the Road Tax expires, and the date the MoT expires. Also the reg number as I can never remember it!

Breelander wrote:

jaizan wrote:I was also surprised to get no reminder for my vehicle tax, which was due on 1 August.
They know where I live and have my e-mail, so it costs nothing to send an e-mail reminder.

I have mine set up as a direct debit (there's no surcharge if you pay the full 12 months). The only emails I get are a notification of a DD about to be taken.

Usually I get reminders. But I have read that it's not reliable.

I have a DD for our car that pays tax, but the other two that I still have to 'tax', it's hard to set up a DD for £0.00.

V8

Dod101 wrote:No email not even in Spam. I pay the princely sum of £570, willingly I may add but it is a hell of a lot when others are paying NIL (for now at least)

Dod

that's webmail spam folder? (Not outlook/thunderbird etc )


didds

88V8 wrote:Usually I get reminders. But I have read that it's not reliable.

I have a DD for our car that pays tax, but the other two that I still have to 'tax', it's hard to set up a DD for £0.00.

V8

could yous et one up for £0.01 ? Whether that would register at DVLA I suppose is the crux!

didds wrote:

88V8 wrote:Usually I get reminders. But I have read that it's not reliable.

I have a DD for our car that pays tax, but the other two that I still have to 'tax', it's hard to set up a DD for £0.00.

could yous et one up for £0.01 ? Whether that would register at DVLA I suppose is the crux!

A DD has to be set up by the payee (ie the DVLA). Seems they won't do it for £0 VED.

Scott.

didds wrote:

Dod101 wrote:No email not even in Spam. I pay the princely sum of £570, willingly I may add but it is a hell of a lot when others are paying NIL (for now at least)

Dod

that's webmail spam folder? (Not outlook/thunderbird etc )


didds

It is thunderbird. Whilst looking in the Spam folder I found an email from a friend of mine about his change of address which I did not know about. It was a useful exercise to take a look.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:

didds wrote:

that's webmail spam folder? (Not outlook/thunderbird etc )


didds

It is thunderbird. Whilst looking in the Spam folder I found an email from a friend of mine about his change of address which I did not know about. It was a useful exercise to take a look.

Dod

if it gets spammed/junked out at the email provider level, it wont ever reach thunderbird - they dont make junked mail there visible to clients typically, which is why I said here

viewtopic.php?p=606969#p606969

that one has to check in the junk/spam folders on the webmail provision (if of course one exists - and even then it doesn't necessarily mean it IS there etc etc etc).

didds

didds wrote:If it gets spammed/junked out at the email provider level, it wont ever reach thunderbird - they dont make junked mail there visible to clients typically, which is why I said here

My Thunderbird spam folder definitely shows what's in my Gmail/webmail spam folder.

Scott.

My spam folder certainly shows at least some of the emails that are spammed. Few of mine are so important that I am going to start rummaging away 'back of house' to find any that Didds helpfully tells us may be lurking there.

Dod

It would appear that what we are supposed to be doing now is to register here : https://www.gov.uk/driver-vehicles-account

Be prepared to have an email address, mobile phone, passport and any vehicle's V5C document reference number. Once you have an account, the utility is -

You can now:

add your vehicles that you are the registered keeper of to your account
view your driving record
view the vehicles you can drive
view any penalty points or disqualifications you may have
set up digital tax reminders and opt out of paper reminders
As more of our online services are developed, they will become available within your account.

Hi,
Mrs B had two reminders in July spaced two weeks aparts, so no complaints there.

However trying to get Licence reinstated, after an operation that required her to surrender it, took the best part of year. Some you win some...
Ray.

genou wrote:It would appear that what we are supposed to be doing now is to register here : https://www.gov.uk/driver-vehicles-account

However:

You cannot set up vehicle tax reminders if you pay by direct debit.

I suppose that's because you don't need reminding to pay when they are going to collect it automatically. Better keep my own record then.

Breelander wrote: The DVLA doesn't seem to have any mechanism for email reminders as far as I can see, just postal ones
[...]
renew on-line though, and get a confirmation by email..

Hmm, if only there was a system that knew your renewal date and had your email address........

Paul

raybarrow wrote:Hi,
Mrs B had two reminders in July spaced two weeks aparts, so no complaints there.

However trying to get Licence reinstated, after an operation that required her to surrender it, took the best part of year. Some you win some...
Ray.

I am over whatever age it is that you need to renew your licence by some self declaration and was reminded of that recently with a birthday coming up in three months. They wanted me to apply online with dire warnings of delays if I responded by post. I ignored their warnings, completed a simple form by hand, enclosed my old driving license and put the lot in the post. About three days later I had my new driving licence. Great service. Why can’t they do the same with my car tax?

Dod

My car tax reminder arrived today courtesy of the Royal Mail in good time for payment. A pox on all these unreliable modern innovations!

I found my driving licence had expired when I used it to prove my identity. It was over a year out of date. I'd driven on some very long journeys oblivious to its expiry. No reminders had been sent to me. I realised that, at my age, it needed renewing every three years.

Renewing online was not successful, presumably because it was so out of date. I sent off a postal renewal which took about three months to be completed.

I nervously phoned the insurance company to check the situation and explained that the renewal had been requested and there were no medical or other problems. I checked the conversation would be recorded and the customer service guy I spoke to laughed when he heard my story, and said, "like a lot of our other customers sir". He reassured me that I was covered. Maybe it was a covid issue but It seems that a lot of people weren't reminded.

regards

Howard

PS Note is in the diary to remember next time.