Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

DVLC not emailed to renew tax

13 replies

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 12:15

Just wondered if anyone else has had this? I know my tax (well, my car is tax exempt but I still have to fill in the form) is due at the beginning of July and they've usually sent me the email by now, but I haven't had it. It was only because I know I bought the car around this time of year that I checked. Nope, no renewal email at all.Which means I'm going to have to hunt out my documentation so I can do it without.

Anyone know anything about this?

OP posts:
cherrycherrypickin · 27/06/2025 12:22

What's the problem? You know when it's due anyway. I think you'll need documentation whether they send you a reminder or not. I think they aim to send reminders but sometimes they don't go through for various reasons so it's you're responsibility to remember, which you have.

Original poster
Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 12:25

You don't need documentation to renew if they email you, you quote the number they send you in the email. Which I don't have, despite having been sent it every year for the last eight years I've owned the car, so I haven't needed to find the documentation. Now I do.

And it would have been SO EASY to forget. I only remembered because I've just booked the MOT, which is a month later and I could have been driving without the tax exemption being complete for a month if it hadn't occurred to me to check.

OP posts:
ThirdStorm · 27/06/2025 12:30

I did not know you could notification via email instead of post! I get mine my letter in the post with a reference number I use to renew online.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Driving & parking General money
cherrycherrypickin · 27/06/2025 12:30

It's still your responsibility to remember, not the dvla's to remind you. I'd suggest keeping your documents somewhere you can find them too.

Original poster
Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 12:35

Oooh! That's me told.

My documents are where I can find them, in a fireproof filing cabinet. I was just wondering whether anyone else had noticed DVLAs lack of email - you know, in case it might jog someone else's memory?

OP posts:
Wolmando · 27/06/2025 12:43

I get the postal one and one year it didn't arrive, fortunately I knew to tax my car, mine is also £0, I googled to see if it had happened to anyone else and it had, it had been some blip in the system and many reminders hadn't gone out that month, maybe it's something like that. Have the emails arrived in the past?

As an aside, mine is usually £0 but I think all the £0 rated cars are now £20 or £30, but I may be wrong. Mine is a 2016 Fiesta.

Original poster
Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 12:58

Wolmando · 27/06/2025 12:43

I get the postal one and one year it didn't arrive, fortunately I knew to tax my car, mine is also £0, I googled to see if it had happened to anyone else and it had, it had been some blip in the system and many reminders hadn't gone out that month, maybe it's something like that. Have the emails arrived in the past?

As an aside, mine is usually £0 but I think all the £0 rated cars are now £20 or £30, but I may be wrong. Mine is a 2016 Fiesta.

Every year the email has arrived, usually around the 9th of June - I actually went back to check! This year - nothing.

I don't know if the car is still exempt, I'll have to look that up to check it as well, because I usually rely on the email to tell me.

I wonder if they are anticipating an increase in fines....

OP posts:
mondaytosunday · 27/06/2025 13:27

This year they just emailed saying it was automatically renewed. I pay, but unless you tell them you’ve sold the car it just ticked over to the same term I had before.

carolineol · 27/06/2025 14:04

Having just doen this for my parents I have found out its fairly easy to do from your desktop. As others have said the onus is on the owner to make sure the vehicle is taxed rather than wait for a reminder.

To check if its taxed go to https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

And to tax it go to https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax - you can do it if you have the V5 registration document or the renewal letter

Original poster
Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 17:12

I think people may have missed the point of this thread. I know that the onus is on me to renew my tax. I know how to do it online. I was simply pointing out to others, who may have lost track of time, that DVLA can't be relied upon to send out the email reminders. I don't know why - this must be an automated procedure, so it SHOULD just 'happen.' But if you have a busy, overloaded life and you rely on the email coming in to remind you to do it - you might need to be aware that it's not foolproof.

I've taxed my car now, I had all the documentation to hand and I knew my tax was about due, but it's only too easy for memory to fail and I admit that I normally rely on the arrival of the email to remind me.

OP posts:
Whattodo1610 · 27/06/2025 17:16

It’s DVLA now 😉

Original poster
Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/06/2025 19:19

Whattodo1610 · 27/06/2025 17:16

It’s DVLA now 😉

Yeah, I know.

OP posts:
AuntieDen · 27/06/2025 19:26

last year or the year before we didn't get reminders for either car, i think it may have been a glitch when the systems changed. One of the cars was actually untaxed briefly until we realised but luckily not on the road so we weren't uninsured

New posts on this thread. Refresh page