Car Tax. I’m an idiot. Is there a grace period?

[WarmSausageTea]

I realised this morning that my car tax ran out on the first of August. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I renewed it this morning, but had used the car 3-4 times since then the tax expired, including a road with speed cameras, which I think also check tax.

Kicking myself, but also relieved that I didn’t have a knock, and am definitely going into direct debit for future payments.

I thought there used to be a 14-day grace period. I can’t find anything online about it one way or the other, but there is mention of an £80 fine. Does anyone have experience of this?

You’ll be fine! They tend to go for six months sending prompts before threatening compounding!

I did the same back in Feb. Unless you were unlucky enough to be caught by a police car looking for tax status, it will be fine. It’s unbelievable to me that there isn’t an automated system to fine you but I didn’t get fined! Good luck!

Prompts to pay it that is. I only know this because my write off wasn’t dealt with properly by my insurance by the way 😇

I went for over a month once without noticing, no fine 🙂

My understanding is there is no grace period anymore as it can be done online instantly. You just need to wait to see if you get a letter. Your insurance wasn't valid while you were untaxed, but someone will only know if a claim is made. I was untaxed for a couple of days a few years ago and nothing happened.

Thanks all, interesting to read your comments and experiences.

If I’m unlucky, I’ll try appealing, but it was my fault, so I can’t complain.

I’d read that no tax invalidates insurance, so it could all have been a lot worse than £80, if it even comes to that.

Having no tax doesn't invalidate your insurance. Just renew online today and it'll backdate to the 1st of August anyway.

You'll probably only get a letter if you passed a police car doing tax checks, so chances are you'll be fine. But yes, do it on direct debit from now on, if you're likely to forget - or don't they send reminders out any more?

I have a company car so assume (ha! I must check) that it's all done online by the lease company, so wouldn't know, but DP has his own car and I thought he did still get letters about tax.

If you have backpaid the tax for August, then the car would have been taxed from the beginning of the month and you can't be prosecuted for it not being taxed, surely ? You could be summonsed, but you have a defence - the car is taxed.

It's not like the old days when it was an offence not to display the tax disc (and peoples DFs got done for that very thing ) as they've got rid of tax discs.

Maybe so, Jane. Technically, the OP was committing an offence earlier this month, but if she taxes now, she's retrospectively cancelled that out. I don't know how the police would see it though.

I don't know how the police would see it though.

More the courts, surely ?

They have 6 months to contact you and issue a fine.
But I doubt you will hear anything.
I drove round without an MOT for 14 months, on major roads with ANPR and traffic cameras everywhere and never heard anything. Was shitting myself for a bit expecting to be arrested

The "grace period" is that they send you a reminder a couple of weeks before its due. No way to get around the fact that you broke the law for the first few days of August but if you didn't get caught there will he no consequences.

We couldn’t tax ours as we didn’t have the log book for about 3 months! Then ended up just getting a replacement as we were fed up with the dealer fobbing is off. Absolutely nothing happened.

@Nesssie What happened there?!

I totally agree that I broke the law, and if there’s a consequence, I’ll accept it.

That said, it seems odd (and old fashioned) that for something so important, there’s just a letter; surely their systems could generate an email and/or text message on the day that the tax expires.

Anyway, lesson learned, and we’ll see what happens from here, if anything.

Thanks again, all.

You'll be fine... They will only tax you for the full month so I'm assuming you've paid to be taxed from 1st August anyway as opposed to chosing 1st September and keeping the car off the road for the next few weeks.

I did this by accident earlier this year. Moved house in April. Filled in the v5 change of address, filled in my name and stated I was not a new keeper. New v5 turned up as new keeper and an advice slip to say I'd got rid of the car. FYI if you move house just put in house details not your name. If its slightly different you are automatically a new keeper.

Anyway it never occurred to me that I would have to re tax the car so from mid April to the beginning of June! when the new papers turned up along with a tax reminder, I was driving around with no tax. Had to ring about the tax and they kindly looked into it and said I could pay for May and June and set the direct debit back up. They put a note on the system to show that I had already paid for April. Also had another v5 through to show the right number of keepers. Was a right faff but all sorted in the end. Oh also my fiancé had done the same thing so had to do it for his 2 cars as well. Thankfully one is electric and the other sorn so no money to pay for those!

@YouKnowOneDayAtATime honestly don't know, obviously got confused and thought that the time I took it for its service was the MOT.

Have signed up for the online email and text reminder now! Can't believe it was never picked up.

I completely forgot mine - got the renewal letter (not quite sure why there's all this 'must renew' when my car is tax free yet I still have to 'tax' it) and it wasn't due for several weeks, so I put the letter aside.

Remembered it when the tax was two weeks overdue. Did it online immediately, so all good, but still received a 'prompt' letter a few days later.

Can anyone tell me exactly why I need to go through the whole tax rigmarole when there's nothing to pay? I don't mind, necessarily, it's only seconds out of my day once a year, but it just seems...a bit pointless really. I mean, I need to MOT it, so they've got it on record there, so what's the point of 'taxing' a tax exempt car?

Can anyone tell me exactly why I need to go through the whole tax rigmarole when there's nothing to pay?

So, we can enjoy that smug feeling of knowing you are driving a vehicle with zero tax.

Seriously, it could just be the practicalities - they'd have to program the system to exclude certain vehicles and then police would need to know that if they spot such a vehicle it legitimately has no tax. Or maybe just so they can keep all vehicles on the database and have that annual reminder to ensure the keeper details are up-to-date. Remember, new cars don't have an MOT record for three years so that wouldn't cover it.

I'm sure if you tax it online and it's backdated to 1st August you'll be fine.

I do wonder just how joined-up those systems are - I inadvertently drove my car without an MoT for four months last year (I'd not long bought it and the guy told me he'd put a year's MoT on it; I only discovered he hadn't when the garage had it in for a tyre repair and it came up on their computer). Thing was, I'd had two speeding tickets in that time (I know... ) and it hadn't shown up then. I still go cold thinking how big a book might have been thrown at me had they done checks...

We accidentally didn't tax ours for a couple of months, and we were fined. It wasn't a huge amount though. On direct debit now!!

there’s just a letter; surely their systems could generate an email and/or text message on the day that the tax expires

It costs money. And they send a reminder letter about a month before it expires anyway. This is one of the features of being an adult - you get to organise your own life without someone nagging you.

There was never a 'grace period', that's an urban myth.

I realised last week our car hadn't been taxed since February. Paid it as soon as I realised. No fine as yet!