Taxing a new purchase (1 Viewer)

[klaatu]

I hope to be a buying a new (to me) motorhome in the next couple of weeks. I have a quote for insurance, so just need to phone to start the policy before I drive it away from the dealer.

I was planning to tax it online (paying by monthly DD) immediately after phoning the insurance company. But I'm confused about what checks the online system will do. I believe it can take a week before a new insurance policy appears in the online database. Does the DVLA tax site check the database? If so, it will think I am uninsured, so won't let me tax the vehicle? Or does it not work like that?

Steve

 

[DanielFord]

You need the ref from the green slip on the V5, fill this in online, and it will be easy!
The DVLA do check the MID database, but you can do it yourself, here www.askmid.co.uk
Set up your policy, and give it 24 hours then check.

[edit to add]
DVLA only check that it is insured, not by whom, so if there is a current policy, you will be able to tax it.

 

[Shandyman]

Don't know if this helps but I bought a car and did the insurance at 5 p.m and taxed it next day at 9 a.m before collection and I had no problems.

Richard

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[klaatu]

You both seem to be saying that I can't do what I was proposing to do, i.e. phone the insurance company to start the policy and then immediately do the road tax, and then drive away. Instead I have to start the policy a day in advance to give it time to get on the database? I don't think it will already be insured in the same way that I will be insuring it, it's owned by a dealer, so he presumably has some other kind of insurance to cover all his vehicles.

Steve

 

[DuxDeluxe]

You both seem to be saying that I can't do what I was proposing to do, i.e. phone the insurance company to start the policy and then immediately do the road tax, and then drive away. Instead I have to start the policy a day in advance to give it time to get on the database? I don't think it will already be insured in the same way that I will be insuring it, it's owned by a dealer, so he presumably has some other kind of insurance to cover all his vehicles.

Steve

Interesting question. When I bought my last car, I arranged and paid the insurance a couple of days before, but the insurance did not start until the day of pick up. On the day of pick up, simply went online and taxed it from the dealership office.

To be honest, there is nothing to be lost by starting the insurance process a couple of days before as the policy runs from the day of pick up anyway, so the only loss is a couple of days cash flow on the cost of the insurance.

Hope that helps...

 

[klaatu]

Thanks. There will be a gap of a few days between agreeing to buy and driving away, so it looks like my new plan is to phone insurance company having agreed to buy, and then do road tax a few days later just before driving away.

Steve

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[DanielFord]

You both seem to be saying that I can't do what I was proposing to do, i.e. phone the insurance company to start the policy and then immediately do the road tax, and then drive away. Instead I have to start the policy a day in advance to give it time to get on the database?

I don't think so no. I believe that the insurance companies run an overnight batch process to update the MID, therefore you won't show as insured on the database until after the day you call insurance.

I don't think it will already be insured in the same way that I will be insuring it, it's owned by a dealer, so he presumably has some other kind of insurance to cover all his vehicles.

Yes, probably be covered by tradex (or similar) on all the vehicles, so it won't show on MID.

 

[GJH]

Whenever we've bought cars (and motorhomes) from dealers they have included 6 months or more tax in the deal and have arranged the tax themselves. One of our sons bought a car from a dealer in January and that's what happened then.

I was surprised that he didn't have to take a copy of his insurance certificate in before it could happen but the salesman explained that all he had to do was ensure it was covered from the delivery date and the tax system would pick that up on-line.

Could that be a way round the problem?

 

[Deleted member 29692]

The system has changed. I know this because I changed one of the cars last Friday and had chapter and verse from the dealer.

The VED (tax) online system no longer checks insurance or to put it another way you can tax a vehicle without it being insured.

Whenever we've bought cars (and motorhomes) from dealers they have included 6 months or more tax in the deal and have arranged the tax themselves.

They aren't allowed to do that any more either.

If so, it will think I am uninsured, so won't let me tax the vehicle?

It won't care and it will let you tax the vehicle whether you're insured or not.

I believe that the insurance companies run an overnight batch process to update the MID

In theory they're supposed to. In practice they don't always. I've known it take a 2 or 3 weeks for a vehicle to show up. It's particularly bad for some reason with fleet policies.


Apparently there have been 4 or 5 cases since they changed the system where people have picked up brand new cars, driven them off the forecourt, written them off on the way home and then realised they had forgotten to insure them. That's why the dealer push their complimentary 7 day insurance so hard.

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[MC 55 FUN]

Interesting question. When I bought my last car, I arranged and paid the insurance a couple of days before, but the insurance did not start until the day of pick up. On the day of pick up, simply went online and taxed it from the dealership office.

To be honest, there is nothing to be lost by starting the insurance process a couple of days before as the policy runs from the day of pick up anyway, so the only loss is a couple of days cash flow on the cost of the insurance.

Hope that helps...

We did this too when we recently purchased our M.H. & it worked for us.

 

[davanne]

I would agree that if you ring the insurance a few days before and arrange for it to start from when you are picking up the vehicle then it will be on the database when you tax online the day before.

 

[GJH]

They aren't allowed to do that any more either.

They were in January when our son bought a car as mentioned above. When did it change?

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[Yorick]

If you buy a brand new vehicle does it still come with 6 months free road tax?

 

[Deleted member 29692]

They were in January when our son bought a car as mentioned above. When did it change?

I'm going by what the dealer told me. Must be quite a recent thing.

The other bit, removing the MID check when taxing a car, came in when the paper discs were scrapped.

 

[Geo]

I can confirm an Insurance check no longer applies to on line taxing of vehicles.
Geo
And why should it? That is checked by every police car in the UK fitted with ANPR

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[GJH]

They aren't allowed to do that any more either.

They were in January when our son bought a car as mentioned above. When did it change?

If you buy a brand new vehicle does it still come with 6 months free road tax?

Using Google I found several references (like This One) stating that car dealers can continue to tax vehicles for customers on their behalf by using V5C/2, either online at https://www.gov.uk/tax-disc using the V5C/2 of the V5C, by telephone on 0300 123 4321, or at a PO branch that deals with vehicle tax.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Using Google I found several references (like This One) stating that car dealers can continue to tax vehicles for customers on their behalf by using V5C/2, either online at https://www.gov.uk/tax-disc using the V5C/2 of the V5C, by telephone on 0300 123 4321, or at a PO branch that deals with vehicle tax.

Fair enough I was just going by what he said. I wasn't expecting them to pay for it, just to do it, so I didn't think they had any reason not to if they could.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

If you buy a brand new vehicle does it still come with 6 months free road tax?

Bloody hell no.

Depending on the vehicle you might have to pay extra in the first year, the so called showroom tax.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/88369/car-tax-bands-what-you-need-to-know

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[GJH]

Fair enough I was just going by what he said. I wasn't expecting them to pay for it, just to do it, so I didn't think they had any reason not to if they could.

Not disputing your experience Nick .

When I went with Rob to look at cars (and buy as it turned out) I must admit it never even crossed my mind that the dealer wouldn't tax it. Just seemed the usual "includes 6 months tax" deal. The strange thing (we last bought a car in November 2013) was that he didn't have to produce his insurance certificate.

 

[frogijock]

I picked up a new van last week (10/3/16) dealer taxed it for me and I informed insurance company 3 days before collection for them to start insurance as from collection day.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Just seemed the usual "includes 6 months tax" deal. The strange thing (we last bought a car in November 2013) was that he didn't have to produce his insurance certificate.

The "6 month deal" has been disappearing anyway. If they include it they'll give you less discount. I usually try and think of as many add ons and accessories as I can and get them thrown in instead.

As I said before you haven't had to prove insurance in order to tax a car since they did away with paper discs. Think about it: if you pay by ongoing DD, whether annually or monthly, your aren't making an application so it never gets checked.

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[GJH]

The "6 month deal" has been disappearing anyway. If they include it they'll give you less discount. I usually try and think of as many add ons and accessories as I can and get them thrown in instead.

As I said before you haven't had to prove insurance in order to tax a car since they did away with paper discs. Think about it: if you pay by ongoing DD, whether annually or monthly, your aren't making an application so it never gets checked.

Yes, perhaps "deal" was the wrong word for me to use. I always look at it as an inclusive price I am being asked to pay and it's convenient to include the tax as there are no savings to be had by purchasing it separately. When we bought our last car the standard offering from the dealer was 6 months but it suited us better for renewal scheduling to have 12 months. The dealer was perfectly happy to do that and just add on the difference, which was fine by us.

Good point about the ongoing DD

 

[Yorick]

Bloody hell no.

Depending on the vehicle you might have to pay extra in the first year, the so called showroom tax.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/88369/car-tax-bands-what-you-need-to-know

I was mainly referring to bikes as I've bought 10 new bikes and all came with 6 months tax. Won't be buying any more in UK, but was just interested

 

[gus-lopez]

The "6 month deal" has been disappearing anyway. If they include it they'll give you less discount. I usually try and think of as many add ons and accessories as I can and get them thrown in instead.

As I said before you haven't had to prove insurance in order to tax a car since they did away with paper discs. Think about it: if you pay by ongoing DD, whether annually or monthly, your aren't making an application so it never gets checked.

I can't see this as when "continuous insurance" was introduced a few years back it became illegal to sell a vehicle with road tax, & the instant dvla receive the V5 for transfer then any tax is cancelled & a credit sent to the seller of the vehicle.
The buyer always has to re-tax a vehicle.
It was done specifically to ensure that a vehicle could not be on the road with tax but no insurance. Seems nonsensical to me if they have removed the need to ensure a vehicle is insured before tax is issued ?

& here it specifically states under " buying a vehicle" that tax is automatically cancelled on sale & buyer must re-tax &

that the dvla check insurance .


https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vehicle-tax-changes



& here it states that a 'motor trader ' can still tax a vehicle for a buyer .
Broken Link Removed

So either new or used , which makes a complete nonsense of the system of ensuring that it has to have insurance.??
How does a dealer know that the buyer has insurance ? Even if he asks & sees something how can he know it isn't forged or can they check the data base to ensure buyer has insured it ?

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[Deleted member 29692]

How does a dealer know that the buyer has insurance ? Even if he asks & sees something how can he know it isn't forged or can they check the data base to ensure buyer has insured it ?

Basically they can't know. That is why dealers (main dealers anyway) almost all offer complimentary 7 day insurance with any new or used vehicle and really encourage buyers to accept the offer, so that they can be confident that the vehicle is insured when it's driven off of their forecourt.

 

[denisejoe]

When we informed our insurance company they just insured both vehicles for change over day without charge.

Joe

 

[dave met]

When we got our motorhome from webbs in Warminster the other month they asked if they wanted them to tax it for us,they had our address and all other information and taxed it in our name and address for us and we just gave them the extra money,they didn't even ask about insurance,not sure if it could be set up if you want to pay monthly though

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[gus-lopez]

Basically they can't know. That is why dealers (main dealers anyway) almost all offer complimentary 7 day insurance with any new or used vehicle and really encourage buyers to accept the offer, so that they can be confident that the vehicle is insured when it's driven off of their forecourt.

That's how it is done then .They have to offer it as otherwise they could be leaving themselves out on a limb

 

[Deleted member 29692]

That's how it is done then .They have to offer it as otherwise they could be leaving themselves out on a limb

I don't think they have to offer it and you definitely don't have to take it. They can't force you to show them proof either.

As I posted before the dealer that I used last week told me that since the system changed there have been 4 or 5 cases where people have collected brand new cars, written them off on the way home and not been insured.