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 road tax can be renewed semi-annually or annually, depending on how much you want to pay at one time.
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 don’t have a renewal reminder, you’ll 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 normally 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 any length of time, you must make a SORN (Statutory 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 do monthly checks on untaxed cars and will send you a £80 fine within 4-6 weeks after your taxes run 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 disc, you can go back 14 days, so if you’re a little late in renewing you can avoid a penalty, as long as there isn’t a gap between the two tax discs. However, you should not use your car on the road before receiving the new disk.
The only time you can drive a car without valid taxes is if you are unable to 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 police patrol cars can monitor specific vehicles.
You are more likely to get into trouble for not having an ITV if you are involved in an accident. You may have problems with the insurance company: check your policy to see if your car requires a valid ITV 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 is 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 be dated from the day of the test.
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 full coverage for this). You will not be able to renew your road tax unless you have at least third party insurance.
If you’re caught driving without insurance, there are serious penalties: you’ll get a ticket and you’ll get points on your license. It is also possible that your car could be impounded and you could face legal proceedings.
Common problems
If you own a registered car, 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 up some sort of ITV reminder to make sure this doesn’t happen. Try searching for ‘MOT Reminder’ online to find a service that sends you an email.
