yungjamie

Hi peeps,

Recently been in a front end bump with no other cars involved. This was on the 5th December. My road tax expired on end November (12 months) My question is; Will this cause any complications on the insurance company paying out being a few days over. Always pay my road tax either on or a few days over the expiry date as for many years thought that there was a week or so grace days. Does anybody know what my position is with insurance company as they have asked me for a copy of the tax disc. Am I right about the 'grace days' Estimate from bodyshop is £6500

Thanks. Jamie

nick_wrx

You normally get a few days grace, tbh ive never been in your situation - probably best to give either the dvla a call or your insurance company.

adrianp

I hate to say it but I don't think there has ever officially been a few days grace...

and to need £6500 of work, it must have been a BIG bump...

powerman1

You could have bumped it on a private road with no tax and they still would have paid out.Just tax it and send the disc in and try to erase the post office date stamp a little bit. Must admit its unusual for insurance company to request tax disc unless they are aware it wasnt taxed via dvla,i have had a few claims but they never request the tax disc

Sweepickit

Even when mine was written off they didn't want the disc. I think their records show the car is not taxed. I'd also get in touch with DVLA as you probably have an automated £80 fine winging it's way to you as we speak.

nick_wrx

A friend of mine "forgot" to tax his car for over a month recently and never received an automated fine - has anyone ever recieved one or know anyone who has - is this an urban legend, or would it have to be untaxed for ages to actually get a fine?

The Chief

2 weeks

Tripple'O G

A month....straight from the DVLA's mouth....

yungjamie

So there are no days grace then? I have the renewal notice for the tax. saying it ran out on the end November 06. I always renew the road tax on the cars within 7 days after expiry. Never had no probs before, even from traffic wardens or cops when the tax has recently expired. Yes, it was quite a bump but I did'nt have a scratch on me. So it's unusual for the insurance company to ask for the tax disc then? How would it be then if somebody was driving his car for a month or so without tax on the car, would that make the insurance void? very grey areas, especially the grace days

Jamie

brybusa

No grey areas really…the fine is automated( I know, both my brother and I forgot to SORN our bikes last year and get the fines came within 3 weeks..)

However I do tax my car at the post office the DAY AFTER the tax expires to avoid the quque at the post office and never had any problems(However, in November I ordered the disc online – much better system)

I guess the fine system takes a certain amount of time to update the data, then letters to be created/sent etc so I would hazard a guess that a week maybe OK

No tax does not mean your insurance is invalid neither does no MOT despite what some people would have you believe.

However, having no MOT may result in a reduced payout being offered from an insurance company

If I was you, id SORN the car online now (you’ll need the log book to do this or the tax disc renewal letter)

Don’t fret, all will be fine

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

You can be fined for not DISPLAYING a valid tax disc - this kinda implies that you must have a valid tax disc at all times (ie; no grace).

It is possible to buy a tax disc before the old one expires, although you may get the odd day or two as grace. Have you paid for a new tax disc since? If so, just send that?

You can't SORN the car yet as it was obviously on the road at the beginning of December!

ADY 555

An insurance company will do whatever they can to get out of paying out, and they will see by the national computer that your car is not registered as been taxed, hence the reason they are asking for your tax disc just incase the register isn't bang upto date which on the very odd occation it isn't, i know of a case where a vehicle wasn't taxed had an accident and the insurance company refused the claim, read through your insurance certificate and policy it should state that your vehicle must be road legal ie taxed and tested, having said all that good luck with your claim, but be careful what you post on here as insurance company's have spies.

mgcvk

I couldn't get my new disk before old one expired as I was waiting for new insurance stickyfut as that expired at the same time. Bloke in post office said not to worry as DVLA don't send out warning letters for at least two months.

billythekid

Not having a valid VED will not impact on your claim one bit.

UNLESS it states in your policy T&Cs that you must have valid VED.

Shooza

My brother had a problem with his insurance company where they kept maknig all sorts of daft reasons not to pay up. Best to check their terms and conditions first.

mgcvk

Best get your new disk as soon as. It will be "backdated" anyway in that it will carry on from where your previous one finished.

powerman1

post office will stamp it at point of sale with that days date on it

mgcvk

I was a week late and mine just carried on from the last one, taking in the form they send you in the post.

Sweepickit

The disc will run From Dec 1st(ie be back dated), but the Post Office will stamp the disc with the current date, not a past date... therefor once sent in to the insurance co, they will see when the tax disc was bought.

DevilHimSelf

easily sorted, go online to tax your car Always!

Dazza01

and to add to the above if it were that big a bump surely the police were called ? and first thing they do is check the details ?

As for days of grace they tell you its an automatic fine, but alas i couldn't swear to it, so i can't comment.

Just hope all goes well mate

Dazza01

or just take your doc's to your local PO and get one, the form arrives 15 days so you have plenty of time

yungjamie

thanks for all the info. Yes the police were called to scene. I had a det.constable as an independant witness who stated it was'nt my fault to the police who were called. The police did all their checks, breatherliser, never mentioned tax being 5 days out of date. received letter from police that no action is to be taken. Just hope the insurance buggers pay out. Never been in a bump, fully comp. The insurance comp. are certainly dragging their heels, would it be best if I keep pestering them to get a move on, but I don't want to upset the apple cart. Bodyshop is pestering me to get it sorted out.

Jamie

ADY 555

Yes give them some pain.

silent running

Well with my experience of battling road law in recent years, I'd suggest that grey areas don't exist, however much pub talk there is floating about on internet forums. In court it would play out like this LOL:

At the time of the accident was your car taxed?

It ran out at the end of November but I hadn't bought the new tax disc?

So you were driving an untaxed car at the time of your accident?

No, because I meant to buy one the next day, I thought I had a grace period.

So, at the time of the accident, did you, or did you not have a valid, paid for tax disc displayed on your car, which is the legal requirement?

No, but...

No further questions your honour.

Although it sounds like on this occasion you may just have got away with it, you must have the stupidest insurance company in the world if they don't mind paying out claims on untaxed cars. I bet you somewhere in the small print it is a requirement of their insurance that your car is MOT'd and taxed, regardless of whether you use it on or off the road. I know you could argue that you were going to leave it because when you eventually went to get your tax they'd only backdate it to the proper date anyway. But the fact remains that you were untaxed on the road, and there is no proof that you were intending to buy another tax disc.

A couple of years ago I was done for having no valid MOT, even though my tax still had a month or two to go. I swear on my life after 15 years of driving, I had never realised that MOT certificates had to run concurrently. I thought that they were just a requirement for getting tax and so gradually I always let a little gap build up between then end of one MOT and the beginning of the next...not deliberately, just because I didn't think it mattered - as long as it was taxed and insured, no problem, or so I thought! But when it came to court, it made no difference that I hadn't realised about it - it was my duty as a driver to know the law, which I fully accept. It was stupid of me and I've no-one to blame but myself.

yungjamie

I've been through all the dvla threads on the tax disc matter and nowhere can I find anything that says either yes or no to the question of grace days. I think a lot of joe public think that there are grace days allowed for retaxing your vehicle. The DVLA should state either on their web site or alternatively on the back of the tax disc that there are NO grace days allowed then everyone will know what the position is in the matter. I GENUINELY thought there were grace days allowed. The V11 renewal that is sent out gives 14 days on the V11 to use that form for renewing your tax from when it ran out, after that you have to present log book, together with all paperwork to get your tax from when it ran out. This 14 days element does not state anywhere that there are no grace days. When my public liability insurance runs out, I have 21 days to renew and I still have full cover.

hades

It does state "your tax expires on 30th November", and it doesn't say "and you must tax the car within <grace period> of this date". I'm also pretty sure it will say something like "it is a legal requirement that a car be taxed or declared SORN". The fact that you have a specified grace period on something else is irrelevant.

VED forms also don't explicitly state "please note Subaru's are exempt from roadtax", or "blue cars don't need to display a valid tax disk", but you wouldn't expect either to be the case. My point being, it's not down to them to tell you everything that doesn't apply. They tell you the facts that do apply (i.e. it expires on this date, it's illegal not to have one and you can buy them in this way).

Put another way, would you be happy if someone owed you money by a certain date, didn't pay up and said "well I thought there was a 6 month grace period on loans from mates. John gave me 9 months."?

chief-long-shin

TBH mate if you have no tax disc you will be lucky if they pay out. Usually part of insurance stipulations are that the vehicle is legal. I know for a fact we wouldnt cover an untaxed vehicle.

We would have no way of proving how many days grace you usually take and you would have no way of proving when you was going to purchase.

Sorry fella - hope your lucky and it gets sorted though,.

Dazza01

Wrong, it is sent out 15 days early to remind you your tax is due at the end of that month and you can use this form to tax your car BFEORE it runs out, not after it runs out.

what happens then if you don't renew you public liability insurance for 26 days after it runs out ? and someone makes a claim against you on the 23rd day are you still covered then if you havent contacted them ?

STI Craig

i would pay it now before the end of the month so you have a tax disc to sow to them if they ask, i means whats a months tax, 20? and your car is gonna cost £6500 to fix, dont give them a reas not to pay out, so pay it now so they dont know.