Road Tax in Europe
 

Hi a quick word of warning if like me you let your road TAX lapse while on the road. Im in Madrid where after a minor parking problem i was told by the police that my bike was not taxed and would be towed away if i could not prove it was or i taxed it there and then. I did it on line and saved myself a 100 Euro fine plus tow charges.
Also if your in Madrid beware where you park a local guy said no probs park as long as you like .90 Euro fine first thing in the morning is not fun. Skip

You can park as long as you like....... but you will get a fine.:oops2:

British bike or Spanish bike?

Anyway... not every country has a road tax. ;)

British bike, they went straight on to the British government TAX & MOT page. Luckily i managed to do it on line there and then. Skip

Be aware the gendarmerie in France are doing it as well :oops2:

Also it clearly states on my UK insurance policy documents for both bikes & cars that the insurance is only valid if the vehicle is currently tax & has a valid MoT

I blame :censored: Brexit for it

OK, now if I am returning from a long (year plus) tour and the MOT and tax have run out how am I meant to get them sorted out when I get back when the ferry gets in at 8 in the evening? Wait until the garage opens and get the MOT done then?

Honestly the idea of keeping Egyptian plates is starting to make more and more sense (I know, I can’t, it just seems to make life easier - on the flip side will the average policeman realise that my Egyptian plates aren’t pukka?).

Ride it to the nearest mot station, sort out your insurance , & tax it on line (but all the details may not upload onto the DVLA database till the next day). Put it on a trailer otherwise you will get done, I was told this when checked coming back through Portsmouth :welcome back to England :censored: jobs worth

Apparently the whole of the UK is now saturated with ANPR cameras so there is nowhere to hide anymore. The days of “the tax is in the post” & “give me a 7 day producer officer” are long gone :surrender:

Don’t even try to get into a conversation with the DVLA about what constitutes a “temporary export” either !!

If arriving in Portsmouth, this city has many such cameras, some of which are placed near the port entrance.

But for a lot of countries you cannot let the road tax go. For Netherlands for example (where foreigners can also register their vehicle) the road tax is always demanded, unless you specifically say to pull it off the road (which you can do when you're outside (Western) Europe). Then you are not allowed to use it anymore, but don't have any obligations to pay tax or to do (our version of) the MOT.
However, perhaps for Germany, but I think also for Austria, when you do that you have to give the license plates back. That is not an option when you are somewhere still using the vehicle outside of Europe.

The MOT thing is annoying since it expires and needs to be done when getting back. We also once just paid the fine when coming back, finding it easier than all the hassle to prevent it.
Although I know one Dutch guy who challenged the fine (as in, in a court) with the argument: I'm just a user of my car, I'm doing everything right (still had it taxed), but show me where I can do MOT in Mongolia? And he won that, so he didn't have to pay any fines (he already got 4 of them)

But yeah, a lot of hassle, especially when coming back with all the cameras these days.

I suspect that they are actually in the port monitoring what’s going on and off the ferries as well - would make sense :detective:

So if we're now getting pulled for having no Tax whilst abroad, what happens on a long (year+) trip when coming back through these countries when there is no way to get an MOT in order to get Tax?

German vehicle tax is automatically deducted from the holders bank account by the taxman once a year.
If you have a valid registration it is automatically taxed. We can't escape that, even when riding down Russia.

MOT is only valid in the country of registration. No country cares if my German TÜV has expired. The vehicle has to be in a roadworthy condition however.

You can call your insurance company to tell them you're outside the EU and they will reimburse you for the time the vehicle is in some third party country, i.e. Morocco. Proof has to be provided of course. They need a shout before you come back into the EU.
It is really simple actually. The British system is really FUBAR, like most Brit beaurocracy is and always has been.

It's good that the tax is not linked to the German TÜV. Here in the UK you have to have MOT to get tax. MOTs can only be done in the UK so if on a year+ trip it seems you're shafted.

There is no enforcement here except cameras. If you were to get a plate really dirty or you broke it or the plate maker in Mongolia got it slightly wrong I'm sure it would take more than one journey from the ferry to your home to get caught.

The legislation stands that you can travel to an MOT. Book an appointment for 9am the day after the 8pm ferry gets in and you can try claiming you are on your way there.

Andy

I think you will find that if your vehicle is “out of the UK” for more than 12 months you have actually exported it according to the DVLA.

https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk

Yes it seems "you need it to register your vehicle in the country you’re taking it to". Which is a joke really if you are travelling through various and many countries.

Aside from what you've already been told that under DVLA rules more than 12 months out of the UK classes as permanent export, basically what you say is correct. You could risk it and just ride home of course, but get stopped by the police, pinged on ANPR or have an accident and you're in serious trouble.

So the textbook answer is insure the bike online. You have no excuse not to do this anyway. Then google up the nearest bike shop to your port of re-entry, book an MoT for your arrival date and ride it straight there. You can then tax the bike online as soon as it passes the test.

On a more general note (and relating to the OP) it is usual that bikes need to be fully legal in their state of residence in order to be legally ridden abroad.

A little bit of trivia for you. In the UK vehicles (cars and motorbikes at least) over 40 years old are exempt from needing road tax and MOTs. This will mean that all you need is insurance and you are legal all over the world. No need to worry about getting caught owing off the ferry without an MOT or road tax.

Do any other countries operate such a system? If so can people register a vehicle there easily?

I think you will find that you sill have to tax over 40yr old vehicles, but it is free (zero duty), and apply for the V5 to be changed to histrionic vehicle status, and also proof that the vehicle is over 40years old to be able to be exempted from the mot.
In France there is no road tax anyway, and currently motorcycles do not need a control technique (mot), but you need proof of residency ( utility bill, copy of tax habitation), and a valid driving licence for whatever you are registering in your name.
Also any vehicle over 30 years old can be registered as a “vehicle collection” but the above criteria still apply.

Extract from the DVLA website

Bringing your vehicle back untaxed
If you bring your vehicle back to the UK untaxed you cannot drive it back into the UK - it’ll have to be transported and a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) must be made straight away.

And just to cheer u up further the Spanish police like to use the dvla site to check if u r legit . I speak from personal experience.......random stop check near port , its apparently due to ex pats using UK plated vehicles un taxed no mot etc etc according to the guarda chaps

I thought that was a pre Brexit thing as now we’ve ‘taken back control’ those foreigners no longer have access to our sovereign databases (:rofl:). No French camera speeding fines have caught up with me recently anyway.

I suppose there’s enough cops around in in France / Spain that someone has to get stopped by them but in my experience it’s pretty rare as a tourist keeping somewhere near the limits. In fact I’ve been struck by lightning more often in the 20 yrs than I’ve been stopped by the cops in either France or Spain. Is a loaded up bike really going to be mistaken for a tax dodging expat in a rusty VW?

It was a drink drive check IMHO but the officers commented on the bike being taxed .I asked the obvious question and was shown the dvla site on the officers phone . It was since brexit occurred . My friends campa was also subject to this when local police were checking car parks on the Costa del sol.....he was told ur tax is due in x number of weeks.......

Did he tell you when your MOT was due as well? Years ago I did get stopped by the cops on a bike (in London) for a ‘vehicle check’ I wasn’t speeding so he wanted to see if he could find some mechanical issue like no lights or non functioning brakes. After 15 mins or so of nothing he proceeded to warn me that my tax was running out in two weeks as though tax ran out gradually like tyres, so nearly run out was on the margins of an offence and I was lucky to get away with it. And they wonder why nobody trusts them.

They are also using this site to check insurance as well https://www.mib.org.uk/check-insurance-details/

I was stopped by a copper once who told me my tyres were almost illegal. I replied that was why I'd almost changed them.