What to remember if you have a car
If you drive or store your car on a public road, you must pay road tax (also known as vehicle tax or car tax). To show that your tax is up to date, you must display a valid tax disc in your front window. The circulation tax can be renewed semi-annually or annually, depending on how much you want to pay at once.
Renewing your tax disk should be easy – you should receive a form reminder in the post about 2 weeks before your current disk runs out. You can use a reference number from this form to renew at a post office, online, or by phone. If you do not have a renewal reminder, you will need a reference number from your car registration certificate.
To renew your road tax, you also need a valid ITV certificate (if your car is more than 3 years old) and valid insurance. This is usually done by showing the certificates at the post office, or can be verified on a computer if you renew online or by phone.
If you are the registered owner of a car, you are responsible for paying road tax, so you must inform the DVLA if you sell or scrap your car. If you decide to keep your car off the road for some time, you must make a SORN (Legal Off Road Notice) statement.
It is almost impossible not to pay road tax now, if you are the registered owner of a car. The DVLA carry out monthly checks on untaxed cars and will issue you a £80 fine within 4-6 weeks after your tax runs out. The fine is reduced to £40 if you pay within a month, but can rise to £1000 if you continue to drive without a valid tax disc, and your car may be locked.
When you apply for a new tax disk, you can go back 14 days, so if you are a bit late on your renewal you can avoid a penalty, as long as there is no gap between the two tax disks. However, you should not use your car on the road before you receive the new drive.
The only time you can drive a car without valid taxes is if you can’t renew your taxes because your MOT has run out. You can then drive your car to a pre-booked ITV test.
ITV If your car is more than 3 years old, you must pass the ITV and renew the certificate every year. It is illegal to drive without an MOT (you can be fined up to £1000 if caught) and you cannot renew your road tax without a valid MOT certificate.
The only time you can drive without an ITV is for a pre-booked ITV test. The MOT system is currently being computerized so that police patrol cars can control specific vehicles.
You are more likely to get into trouble for not having an ITV if you are involved in a crash. You may have problems with the insurance company – check your policy to see if your car requires a valid MOT for the insurance to be valid. Most policies require the car to be roadworthy for the insurance to be valid, but of course a valid MOT does not necessarily mean the car was roadworthy at the time of the accident.
The ITV is renewed annually, although you can go to the garage for a test at any time. If you do the ITV less than a month before your old certificate runs out, the new certificate will start after the old one runs out (ie your new ITV will last a little over a year). At any other time, the new ITV certificate will have the date of the test day.
Insurance It is illegal to drive a car without at least third party insurance. This insures against claims from other drivers, but does not insure you or your vehicle (you need comprehensive coverage for this). You will not be able to renew your road tax unless you have at least third party insurance.
If you are caught driving without insurance, there are serious penalties: you will be fined and you will get points on your license. It is also possible that your car will be impounded and you could face legal proceedings.
Common problems
If you are a registered car owner, you must have insurance and keep your taxes and ITV up to date. The most common problem is forgetting to renew your ITV certificate until you discover that you cannot renew your road tax. Many people set some sort of ITV reminder to make sure this doesn’t happen. Try searching ‘MOT Reminder’ online to find a service that will send you an email.