vehicle tax disc expiring whilst away - any ideas
 

Hi all,
We leave in 3 weeks for Africa and our tax disc runs out end July whilst we are out there.
1) called DVLA and they said can register up to 2 months before for new BUT we are gone then.
2) what impact does this really have?
we don't have an MOT as this also runs out then and vehicle already left the country en-route to start point.
Obviously we have the carnet etc.

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance

You can have an MOT done any time. As far as the tax goes you sould be able to take your disc into the post office for a refund of the remaining time on it (cancel it in other words), then go back in the following day and either get a new one or have the vehicle 'SORNed' (Statuatory Off the Road Notice or something).
I'm pretty sure you won't need either tax or MOT while you are abroad, even in the EEC, but could be wrong. Certainly I've never been asked for either when travelling!
The problem with SORNing your vehicle is driving it in the UK before you leave and after you come back (before you get a chance to get a new disc). SORNs have to be renewed every year like Tax discs.
If you decide to let you MOT lapse while you are away I'm fairly sure the law allows you to drive an un-MOT'd vehicle as long as you are going straight to the garage where the MOT is being done. If you get stopped by the polis on the way back from the ferry you could try telling him this, although whether he'll believe it if you've got Jerries etc. on the roof is down to your Derren Brown/Obi Wan Kenobi pursausion skills! :)

Matt :)

thanks Matt, looks like I will just be winging it then!

The vehicle has already left the country - we meet it in Mombasa in 3 weeks, so can't have one done anyway.

I am currently dealing with an insurance company so have it fresh in my mind just how slippery and heartless they are. These are the people who might be interested in your paperwork should you be unlucky enough to need to make a claim.

easy...
 

tax is available online now so just buy it online whilst you are away. The only way you will get done for no tax is if you have none, just stick it on the screen when you get home. MOT is equaly easily solved. UK law allows you to drive without one to a pre-booked test. Get a friendly MOT garage number and phone them and 'book' a test for the day of your return......

Roger.

ROAD TAX. Only required if a UK registered vehicle is used on UK roads.

SORN. Must be submitted when existing road tax expires or is cancelled. It must be re-SORNed a year later. This can be done online or by phone within a fairly narrow time band around the anniversary.

MOT. Only required on UK registered vehicles if used on UK roads. Outside UK not required. There is no obligation for UK registered vehicles to be submitted for tests in other countries - indeed some countries do not even have such tests for motorcycles (eg. France). Insurers might take a different view as they wriggle out of insuring you having happily taken your money!

RETURNING VEHICLES. Vehicles can be used on UK roads if travelling to a prebooked MOT. Make an appointment before leaving the docks. Distance doesn't matter - I have heard of the Police once being powerless when they found a car driving from Liverpool had actually prebooked an MOT in Kent! You cannot obtain Tax without the MOT so using it to obtain the MOT is permitted without ROAD TAX (as is, oddly enough, travelling between your home and a Polling station to vote).

The use of private vehicles visiting other countries is governed by the Geneva Convention assuming both your own and the visited countries have signed up. The Geneva Convention is 'all or nothing' with no opt out of parts not liked. Yet Blair's wonderful government (and the even more wonderful EU) has decided to ignore the Geneva Convention by not requiring the white oval nationality identifier plate (GB, F, D, RUS, EAK, etc) on visiting EU registered vehicles carrying the little blue corner showing this on their plates.
But we all know that Human Rights don't apply to road users who are only there to provide money!!

Reply to Tony P.
I have always believed that you can use an un-taxed vehicle to go to - and return from - voting in a general election as you say, but can find no reference to it on the DVLA website, only that you can travel to, and return from a pre-booked MOT as you say ( provided you have insurance in place).
Bill H

Bill
The DVLA website only spreads the Gospel as they would like it to be - which is not necessarily as it may actually be.

My view of this comes from documents I read in the late '50s or early '60s when I was young, anti-Establishment (nothing changes !) and keenly gathering information. In those days Governments, and their Departments, were also more honest. Secretive maybe, but honest.

It may arise from legislation other than the RTAs - probably Electoral Rights or something similar. I might research it back some time ahead when I have the time.

Ours runs out at the end of July. hopefully we will be well in to europe by then so plan to apply online in an internet cafe for a SORN trying to rember to reaply each year until we return.

Sod paying for it when we arnt even in the country.

I was wondering the same considering our emminant departure. I recall this being discussed in detailed on a previous thread.

I'm going with Bernard on this one. I'm am also sure that you other guys are correct; yes it makes sense that Road tax and MOT are only for UK use.

My sense is this: For a vehicle to be used legally anywhere in the world it should at least be legal in it's country of origin. So you must have a current Tax, MOT and Insurance for the bike to be on th road; which ever road that may be. chaces are nobopdy is ever going to ask about it, but if you are involved in an accident in Outer whereever and they phone up DVLA who says the bike is not fully registered etc then you could pick up problems.

Yes there are lots of ifs and maybes but we are talking about £50 or thereabouts. On the grand scheme of things is that really worth taking a gamble on? Any insurance company will make an issue of it, even if they are wrong, and delay payment as long as possible etc etc.

In a way both sides of the discussion are correct. The UK authorities don't give a damn whether you have road tax or MOT if you are not in the UK so long as you have either SORN or Road Tax. But to be legal in any other EEC country your vehicle must be legal in it's country of registration, which means MOT and road tax. It's obviously a catch 22 situation since once your MOT runs out you can't renew it or your road tax anyway.
There are lots of people I know in France who are winging it (including me) with UK registered vehicles and no longer taxed/MOT'd in the UK. The local police are only interested in checking your driving licence and insurance.
But if the worst were to happen and you came under closer scrutiny as a result of an incident then you may find your insurance is worthless.

I'm one of the front runners when it comes to taking a chance but I do like to know when I am taking a risk and not be under any missapprehensions.

I think it is a catch22 situation.
Are there any riders/insurance loss adjusters out there who can share with us their perspective on this?

All this applies to vehicles temporarily out of the UK.

The DVLA's version of things is in their Leaflet V256
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum...dg_4019050.pdf

This says the vehicle must be taxed while abroad. Their earlier information a few months ago said exactly the opposite to what they are now saying. I do not hold with their present line and think it just a means of frightening people into paying money that is not legally payable.

They say if you intend for the vehicle to be out of the UK for more than a year this is considered by DVLA to be Permenant Export and thus the Registration must be cancelled - presumably before you go, sooner than in a year's time. Once cancelled you would not be legal in using it in other countries unless it is registered elsewhere - but you can't as you do not live elsewhere!

But, as ever being unhelpful (except for parting you from your money), they do not state what to do where a vehicle was not intended to be abroad for more than a year but events make this happen!

This is yet more of Government trying to stifle individual freedoms or the free spirit lifestyle we on the HUBB seek to enjoy.
(Rant over!)