The Lemon Fool

My tax I realised this morning must be due soon. Having checked I was appalled to discover that it was actually due on 1 August. I try to be a law abiding citizen but I have received no reminder from the DVLA and have been using my car happily not realising that I was exposing myself to an accusation of breaking the law, even I gather if the car is just sitting on my driveway.

I find that one of my grand daughters had the same problem. Can DVLA no longer be relied upon to remind us?

Dod

I don't rely on others to remind me. I have reminders set up in my Google Calendar, with a notification email 1 or 2 weeks before the event, repeating every year

--kiloran

I got my reminder in May this year

I'll acknowledge that post as a confession. Take him away.

I can't say I've noticed anything amiss with VED reminders though.

You're vehicle should be either taxed SORN'd though.

A far more important reminder would be for the MOT - I drove my car around for 3 months without one last year. I didn't realise until the VED reminder came in through the post....

See you in Barlinnie

kiloran wrote:I don't rely on others to remind me. I have reminders set up in my Google Calendar, with a notification email 1 or 2 weeks before the event, repeating every year

--kiloran

I suspect that I will probably do similar in the future but the point is that DVLA has always been a reliable reminder service. Have they suddenly changed? In the last 12 months nothing has changed with me, neither my car nor my postal address.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:

kiloran wrote:I don't rely on others to remind me. I have reminders set up in my Google Calendar, with a notification email 1 or 2 weeks before the event, repeating every year

--kiloran

I suspect that I will probably do similar in the future but the point is that DVLA has always been a reliable reminder service. Have they suddenly changed? In the last 12 months nothing has changed with me, neither my car nor my postal address.

Dod

Brexit. Natch.

Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

monabri wrote:Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

There’s a 5% surcharge if you pay monthly or 6 monthly.

https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/02/set-up-a-direct-debit-to-tax-your-vehicle-today/

RC

monabri wrote:Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

simply because it costs more

ReformedCharacter wrote:

monabri wrote:Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

There’s a 5% surcharge if you pay monthly or 6 monthly.

https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/02/set-up-a-direct-debit-to-tax-your-vehicle-today/

RC

Reading some of the comments in the link above, the justification to add a 5% surcharge offered by the DVLA is weak imho.

"To limit the impact on public finances a small surcharge of 5% is levied on six monthly and monthly payments and is covered in legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/22/section/4 "

The advantage to DVLA is that the payment process is automated so why a surcharge? If there was a surcharge for processing a cheque I could understand it but not a Direct Debit. Normally, when paying by DD, there's a small reduction in the cost!

This was a timely reminder. I've just checked and my car was untaxed from the 1st of the month. Now fixed by paying the princely sum of exactly zero. Calendar reminder now set up. I am away from home, so I can't swear I have no reminder waiting for me, but it would have had to arrive after July 25, which seems unlikely.

I was in the same position. No DVLA reminder letter. My tax was due to renew on 1 Aug. Fortunately, I have a diary reminder.
I don't have a DD reminder as I pay £0 road tax (95g/km CO2), but am in the ridiculous position where I have to go through the renewal process and not pay anything.
Not everyone is OCD about putting a renewal reminder in their diary etc, and there are no longer tax discs on our windscreens to remind us.
Given the consequences of not renewing (points and fine?), it's a bit naughty of DVLA (what else does not expect of this organisation anyway) not to be better at reminders. One letter (and it's well documented how many letters go missing), and no nag letters towards the end of the month. No e-mail alert (you can set up a DVLA e-mail alert for MOTs).
I'm tempted to send a polite letter to my MP (sometimes if has an effect), so am watching this thread with interest.

yorkshirelad1 wrote: No DVLA reminder letter.

You can check yourself at https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/V ... ?locale=en which gives the MoT status as well and has already been updated for an MoT test this week.

My tax renewal is not due until later in the year, but I got a couple of MoT reminders from local tesing stations. In previous years I seem to think there was a DVLA reminder about renewal, but perhaps you need to have ticked a box about paper reminders.

monabri wrote:Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

That is a question that had not occurred to me. Anyway I have paid for next now.

Dod

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?

One thought. IF the reminder comes by way of an email, and you are using an email client (Thunderbird, outlook etc) then it is possible that the eail is somehow regarded as spam by your enmail provider (eg yahoo, google etc etc) and has been spammed out at source and thus hasnt veen appeared in the client, not even in the client's spam/junk folder.

To check log onto the email provider's webmail provision for your email account and check there.

And whilst not for DVLA emails (yet!), I have seen this happen for other large organisations' emails which the recipient has sworn blind they are not receiving, not in junk/spam folders etc etc etc. Until they check in webmail and ... hey presto ...

didds

Alaric wrote:You can check yourself at https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/V ... ?locale=en which gives the MoT status as well and has already been updated for an MoT test this week.

It gets updated the moment the vehicle passes the test. I usually know how my car has got on before the garage phones me to tell me.

Scott.

pje16 wrote:

monabri wrote:Why not pay monthly by direct debit?

simply because it costs more

That is a good reason for not paying monthly. I will stick to an annual payment.

Dod

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

I’m in a bit of limbo too with car tax due, as I expected, on 1st August. Tried to tax over a week ago online but I don’t have either the reminder (if they sent one) or the registration doc. By chance, I checked my bank statement and noticed £30.50 (annual tax) taken last week and thought I could stop worrying, I’m taxed. Checked vehicle tax status this evening after seeing this thread, computer says ‘No’. Not looking forward to sorting this out by phone tomorrow.