Car tax disc abolished after 93 years!

[Station]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25223631

 

The tax disc to show motorists have paid vehicle excise duty is to be replaced with an electronic system, Chancellor George Osborne is to announce in his Autumn Statement.

 

The disc was introduced in 1921 but officials say it is no longer needed with the DVLA and police now relying on an electronic register.

 

The new system will allow people to pay the charge by monthly direct debits.

 

The Treasury said it showed government was moving "into the modern age".

 

I'm sure all this will go well, due to the reliability of the DVLA, computer networks never failing and what with the police always being reluctant to seize your vehicle and all that.

I will miss tearing the little disc out of the backing, usually not making it all the way round and ripping a little bit off the corner.

[Cavcraft]

The monthly payment bit is a good idea

[Cavcraft]

Forethought: what happens when you sell your car and stop the direct debits because you can't be arsed or don't have the funds?

[londonm]

So, the theft of discs will come to a halt, to be replaced by a massive surge in cloned number plates. The monthly payment scheme will also make it easier to raise prices, in the commons they'll be able to say 'oh, it's only a rise of £5.00 a month' as opposed to saying '£60.00 PA rise'. All politicians are cut from the same cloth.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Bring it on I say, the paper disc bit is ba11s. I wonder if you will be able to tax for individual months? Would be ace if so for doing shite contract hire car loans and that.

[nigel bickle]

Cautiously approve. Awaiting the small print though......

[Station]

 I wonder if you will be able to tax for individual months? Would be ace if so for doing shite contract hire car loans and that.

 

No, as this would assume the DVLA are actually helpful.

[mercrocker]

Be certain that this will - A) cost us more be extremely capable of fukuppery by spods in Swansea C) come with some other kind of onerous task on our parts and yes, quite probably lead to more plate thievery and cloneage.    The only small upside is that I can put the original tax disc back in my old chod for that genuine 60s kerb-side look and on the modern stuff have more room for my "its taxed now fix the fucking road" sticker....

[brickwall]

I approve...or at least, I think I do.

[Stixy]

I like most on here  have several motors  and think It would be good to be able to tax for a month at a time as i can more use out of my cars  , also it would be good if it could be for 30 days rather than a calender month    

[Stixy]

when this happens  i will print the recipt for my payment off and put it in the window of my car to prove ive paid just in case

[Vince70]

when this happens  i will print the recipt for my payment off and put it in the window of my car to prove ive paid just in case

No being Autoshite and old skool you will have to go for the 70s look and either put in the old tax disc holder an old Guinness label to fool the old bill... Or plop I note in saying "tax in the post".

[Asimo]

Not paying anything by direct debit, give the govt. permission to take money from my account?  No way!

 

Just get rid completely and put the cost onto insurance tax. Insurance certificate to be displayed on vehicle.

[catsinthewelder]

They could make the receipts round with a big date on just to make this fairly foolproof

 

 

I do like this news though,  it's too much of a faff to send the current discs back when you run one of your motors over the summer and want 7 months tax or whatever. 

[dieselnutjob]

they should have replaced it with a requirement to have a round insurance certificate in the windscreen

 

if someone hits me I don't give a hoot whether they have tax but it would be nice to see at a glance if they are insured

[skattrd]

I rarely display tax discs anyway, I think the last 2 or 3 for the Spider are in the glovebox. It's all done via ANPR anyway.

 

Not sure about the direct debit thing though

It sounds like it could get confusing for those of us with a few cars on the road. Stop one payment as a cars off the road for a bit (the wrong payment gets stopped then get pulled for no tax). It could be a good thing though, but the odds on it working properly from the start are slim.

[dollywobbler]

Cautiously approve. Awaiting the small print though......

 

Indeed. The cars we love don't come with cheap road tax, and I hate getting walloped for a huge lump sum every few months. Will be interesting to see how it actually works. If it's on Direct Debit and you can cancel it at any time, perhaps we've seen the end of cars being sold with tax.

[scruff]

I wonder what the craic will be with historic stuff now and in my case, no MoT, no RfL to pay, no disc needed - just register online with insurance details perhaps?

Do like the idea of running an old disc though, the LR looks like it's just stepped out of a 70s cattle market so it'd be a nice finishing touch!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Hooray! Particularly good news for those of us with tiny upright windscreens and no roof!

 

Let's look at the comments on the article!

 

 

 

if we don't have to display the disk, how will the police know which records to check to find out if VED has been paid?

 

Maybe they'll start teaching that in police school!

 

 

Isn't the tax disc a good, quick, visual way for garages to check that a vehicle is taxed and is suitable for the MOT test? A car which is not taxed will not be insured and therefore cannot be MOT tested. How many MOT garages will bother to check or buy a computer system to access the DVLA database to check this requirement?

 

That is a well informed concern which stands up to scrutiny!

 

 

 

Sounds good but watch out for twenty or fifty cars,same model, driving around with one legal number plate

 

Currently prevented by uncopiable paper!

 

 

[Pillock]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments here. If it was anyone other than a government agency it'd run fine, sounds a fairly simple system. I bet the DVLA find some way of screwing it up.

 

Only big benefit would be the ability to tax for any amount of time, not just 6 or 12 months.... But they've not actually announced that bit. Just that DD will plonk another 5% on top.

 

The article comment about checking tax status at MoT stations.... Erm, any fool can do that. Gov.UK website, bang the reg in, get liability date.

 

[HillmanImp]

I agree with Skattrd, I don't even put the tax disc on the car anymore. I lost the one for the Audi until last month that runs out in December. Volksy had his delivered to his old house so never even put it on his Volvo a few years back IIRC.

 

Its obviously still an offence to not display but nobody checks. The police will be able to check with ANPR and online easily etc. I suspect the only time you will get done is if you are getting a parking ticket or similar.

 

Will sort out the problems people were rasing with the AA not picking up taxed cars unless they check online? Will they be arsed to do this?

[gary_davidson]

Stopping the paper tax discs should be simple, turn the printer off, do not turn it back on again, surely even the DVLA can get that bit right?

[Six-cylinder]

We will see how this works but I tax lots of cars in the summer all for 12 months and then cash in discs as I put them back in storage and retax them again maybe for just 1 or 2 months when I use them. Taxing for 12 months has no penalty unlike taxing for 6 months, will canceling a DD have a penalty? 

[Junkman]

I can't understand why they bother with the VED thingy at all and don't simply scrap it altogether.

Those 200 odd quid per car don't even cover the administrative costs of the system, let alone a new fancy computer system and the external consultants' bills for that.

Just simply scrapping the entire car tax shebang would save the beloved guffament a shitload of moolah, that then could be used against the population and/or otherwise misappropriated much more efficiently.

[daveb47]

Its not till next october anyway...

[Stixy]

Would be good for funeral directors  or fleet vehicles all the same make model and colour

 

and my fleet of red Sierra's 

[brickwall]

My system is this: you pay your road tax through your insurance, all at once or monthly whatever, so If you cancel your insurance your tax is cancelled. The government can collect the money from the insurance company.

[Wilko220]

I can't understand why they bother with the VED thingy at all and don't simply scrap it altogether.

Those 200 odd quid per car don't even cover the administrative costs of the system, let alone a new fancy computer system and the external consultants' bills for that.

Just simply scrapping the entire car tax shebang would save the beloved guffament a shitload of moolah, that then could be used against the population and/or otherwise misappropriated much more efficiently.

 

Indeed. They should scrap VED and put (not very much) extra duty on fuel to make up for it, in my view.

 

Anyway, RIP: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25230552

[lovejoy]

What Wilko said  -   pay on use of fuel   -   use more fuel = pay more "road fund tax"   -  simples!    

[Burnside]

So, the theft of discs will come to a halt, to be replaced by a massive surge in cloned number plates. The monthly payment scheme will also make it easier to raise prices, in the commons they'll be able to say 'oh, it's only a rise of £5.00 a month' as opposed to saying '£60.00 PA rise'. All politicians are cut from the same cloth.

 

To be honest I'm not keen as londonm said surely it will make it easier for criminals to just clone the details of an identical legal car with a set of plates brought online which is easy enough to do without proof of ownership. Then on face value to the ANPR etc it's a legal motor ready some scumbag to do whatever.

 

We should have seen something like this was going to happen once they sold off the Post Office on the cheap I guess!

 

But what I want to know is how are people like my dad and granddad who don't have internet access or interest in it going to tax there vehicles in the future? 

 

One other thing is how will this effect tax exempt vehicles? Will they still be allowed free road tax?