Can You Tax A Car For A Day?
By
HuutiMoney
If you want to tax your car temporarily and are wondering if you can pay your car tax for a day, you will find the answer to your question in the following blog post. In addition to this, we will also explore the options available to vehicle owners if they are unable to tax their vehicles for a day.
Can You Tax A Car For A Day?
No, you cannot tax a car for a day. Regarding car tax or Vehicle Excise Duty, registered vehicle owners will need to pay their car tax on a monthly, six-monthly or annual basis. Even if you choose to keep your car parked in your driveway, as long as it is a road-worthy vehicle, you will need to pay the due amount of car tax before it runs out.
If you want to tax your car for a day only to take it to the mechanic, you will not have to pay car tax if you get them to tow your car to the garage. However, once the vehicle is ready to be driven out of the mechanic’s premises, a valid car tax will be necessary.
However, once you pay your car tax and choose not to use it either by selling it to a new owner, declaring it SORN or the vehicle becomes exempt from car tax, the excess amount you’ve paid to the DVLA will be refunded to you.
In such cases, paying a month’s car tax is best. Once you’ve done that you can cancel your tax and the remaining month’s car tax will be refunded to you.
If you intend to sell your car, the amount of car tax that you’ve paid will not be transferred to the new owner and they will need to pay the due amount once they’ve been registered as the new keeper of the vehicle.
In addition to this, you will need to make sure that your vehicle insurance is also updated. However, you can have your car insured on a temporary basis, whether it is for a day, a week or a month.
How Do You Cancel Car Tax?
If you need a valid car tax only for a day or a few days and need to cancel it once you’ve made sure that your vehicle meets all of DVLA’s requirements, you can follow the below-listed steps to cancel your car tax:
- Contact the DVLA and inform them of the reason why you need to cancel your car tax.
- The DVLA will ask you for documents to certify the reason you state.
- Once you provide them with the necessary supportive evidence, your car tax will be cancelled.
- Payments made through Direct Debit will stop automatically.
- You will get a refund cheque within 8 weeks from the DVLA for the remaining amount of car tax that you’ve paid.
If you don’t get your refund cheque by the end of 8 weeks, you should inform the DVLA. this can be done by calling the DVLA helpline at 0300 790 6802, from Monday to Friday, between 8 am to 7 pm, using the DVLA Webchat service, sending an email regarding Vehicle Enquiries or a letter through the postal service sent to the following address:
Vehicle Customer Services
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1AR
How Do You Know If You Don’t Have To Pay Car Tax?
While a valid car tax is necessary for all road-worthy vehicles in the UK (you can be penalised with a fine otherwise), your vehicle will be exempt from car tax in the following situations:
- a brand new car that produces 0 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and is priced lower than £40,000
- a vehicle that is registered as off-the-road (SORN)
- a vehicle registered that produces up to 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre and is registered between 1 March 2001 and before 1 April 2017
- a vehicle classified as a “historic vehicle” (at least 40 years old)
- the vehicle owner has a disability and uses an invalid carriage, such as a mobility scooter, receives War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement or the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
Despite being exempt from car tax, your vehicle will still need to be registered with the DVLA for its car tax status.
Conclusion:
The above discussion brings us to the conclusion that it is not possible to tax your car for a day as the minimum period of having a valid car tax is one month. However, if you have paid your car tax in advance and sell your vehicle or it becomes exempt from car tax, you can claim a refund of the excess amount of car tax from the DVLA.
References:
Driving without tax – what’s the penalty?
Cancel your vehicle tax and get a refund – GOV.UK