I know that the rules have now changed on car tax and that it doesn't transfer to the new owner when they buy a car.

 

My question is this: as DVLA are only notified of a change of ownership when the V5 is sent to them, what's the possibility of being stopped for "no tax" before the V5's been sent away....?

Pretty slim I would say, how often do any of us get stopped Si?. only if your involved in an accident would they check.

That's what I was thinking, Paul. Just seems to be such a weird setup on the government's part (no surprise there!)

If you're the seller, and you haven't notified DVLA, you will still be responsible for the car / tax etc.

If you're the seller, you should give the buyer the V5C/2 or the buyer has no official doc that you have transferred the ownership.

If you're the buyer and you haven't got tax (which means notiyfing the DVLA), you'll be liable for not having tax.

 

Under what circumstance would a seller wish to remain responsible for the car having sold it?

Under what circumstance would a buyer want to be driving a car without insurance or tax or being able to prove he hasn't nicked it? (other than some feckwit who shouldn't be allowed on the road anyway)

 

And your reg no / MOT / insurance / tax is checked every time your plate is clocked by an ANPR camera so you don't have to wait for an accident before your tax is checked...

He is probably just thinking about how to get the new car home if he doesn't have the means to tax it immediately.

On completion of sale, the V5 form will be sent to the DVLA and a tax refund will be issued to the seller.

The V5C/2 (green slip) is given to the buyer as proof of being the new keeper. The new keeper can then immediately tax the car via internet, insurance is NOT required at this stage, but obviously is a legal requirement to drive it.

 

But, until the V5 is received by the DVLA, if the car is checked by an ANPR camera it will be seen as taxed under the previous owner and unless previous owner has cancelled insurance immediately the car will show clean.

I would imagine the OP is wanting to sorn the new car, but doesn't want to lose a months tax just for the journey home and under that situation, you're unlikely to get stung even though technically illegal.

 

Before the tax change, I sold my previous car. I agreed with the buyer, I wouldn't cancel my insurance until the Monday morning - it was Saturday. This was just to allow him to get the car 30minutes home without the added risk of flagging up. I told him if there was any incidents or fines etc. I would not accept liability, but I understood his reason, his insurance was due to expire the following week, to change the car with current insurance came with a hefty fee, to cancel and restart with new insurance company lost him a years NCB, so he just wanted to get the car home park it up for a week then sort it out. His risk, not mine, cash sale.

I'm collecting the car tomorrow afternoon and I'm just trying to minimise the faffing about at the time.

 

I think the government have dropped the ball with this, mind - a far simpler (and fairer) way would be to allow the tax to run til the end of the month, then make it the new owner's responsibility to tax from the following month onwards. It can't be long til there's a backlash about how they're getting 2 months' tax payments for every single used car (that's already taxed) that's sold in the UK now!!

I do know that the Motor insurance database is not an up to minute live indication of valid insurance, for eg: i had an insurance on the scenic changed to my new car and it remained on the MID for ten days before it showed as uninsured and i remember it took nearly 36 hours for it to show when i took out the insurance. I know it doesnt mean it was insured for that period of adjustment, just that it would still show on the database as insured, which is madness lol

Insurers are meant to update MID ASAP and have to about 97% accurate - I might be wrong on the percentage there.

Ours usually updates MID over night but it can take up to 5 days. I'm guessing broker policies may take longer as they would need to update the policies with the insurer/underwriter who'd then toss it across to MID.

 

In regards to the question, for a simple drive home, you'd beat the post so the DVLA wouldn't know that the car had been sold so camera's etc wouldn't show the car as untaxed. But if the car isn't showing insured on MID, for eg if the seller has already cancelled the cover on the car then there's the possibility of being pulled over and it might then come to light about the tax but I don't know if police officers would be the ones to enforce the rules on this.

 

Lonezedder is wrong in regards to his insurance and the fact he said that if there was an accident he wouldn't be liable etc. If the new dude hasn't insured the car (which I understand he didn't from reading the above) then zonezedders insurer who were still insuring it have liabilities under the RTA to pay out on third party damages etc so although he's verbally told the buyer he won't accept any issues, the insurer wouldn't have a choice and a claim could have still been paid out regardless of lonezedders consent or agreement. Although its possibly the right thing to do morally, you leave yourself a little open in this scenario IMO

I managed to drive near 600miles home recently stopping over in glasgow for the night The car was insured and its a bit of a grey area really i think as i did not post the little slip until the monday morning picked car up over weekend car still in previous owners name so technically its still taxed also and if you have insurance on it shouldn't be a problem, a dare say now the dvla have sorted out there online crash for taxing you could do it online at any time if you were worried but when i picked my car up the system was down so i just went for it :)

As long as you are insured when you drive home in a car you have just purchased - that is all that really counts. Road fund licence is backdated to the beginning of the month anyway - so if you buy a new car on (say) the 15th of the month, does it really matter whether you tax it before collecting it?

 

Of course not; because when you do tax it once you are home, the RFL will start from the 1st of the month.....

 

I would not worry.

 

And has the government dropped the ball? Probably not; more like the DVLA is acting autonomously in managing their own affairs, in attempt to streamline their own procedures....!

 

Richard:wink:

On the who's name the V5 is in... The V5 is the registered keeper. That isn't necessarily the legal owner.

Ive never really understood that one lol, surely if your name is on the logbook then you are the legal owner, i had a lease van from Lloyds autolease and they keep the logbook as they are the legal owners, but i was able to drive it as long as i insured it and paid for the van lease, no other paper work aside from a contract, to say i was the registered keeper.

On the who's name the V5 is in... The V5 is the registered keeper. That isn't necessarily the legal owner.

 

The registered keeper is the person responsible for taxing and insuring the vehicle but not necessarily the legal owned. For example: if a car is bought on H.P. finance, the legal owner is the finance company until the final payment is made. (Thats why you can't sell a car that is on H.P.)

Just sold my Skyline, the buyer bought the tax over the phone in about 3 minutes, was pretty straight forwards.

It takes 2 mins tops to tax a car online these days so there absolutely no excuse for not doing it when picking up a car you have just bought. You tax it using the code on the V5C/2W.

I think the problem will come when someone has had it uninsured, if the buyer then insures it on the day (happens all the time) it won't be on MID and so the tax system won't recognise it as being insured. Not sure if the tax system has changed at all mind

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

The registered keeper is the person responsible for taxing and insuring the vehicle but not necessarily the legal owned. For example: if a car is bought on H.P. finance, the legal owner is the finance company until the final payment is made. (Thats why you can't sell a car that is on H.P.)

 

Groover, just what he said mate ^^^

It takes 2 mins tops to tax a car online these days so there absolutely no excuse for not doing it when picking up a car you have just bought. You tax it using the code on the V5C/2W.

 

Assuming you are given internet access at the time of purchase.....:wink:

 

You're right though - but whilst there may be no excuse, I would not say "absolutely!" What's the urgency? As I said above, if you do it when you get home, the RFL is back-dated to the beginning of the month; so you're not cheating DVLA.....

 

But to be fair, most reputable dealers will arrange the RFL for you - and I know that some MB dealerships, for instance, will not let you collect the car without them having taxed it in advance!