Selling Laid-Up Car

[yottie]

Am advertising a "Sorn" MX5 which is insured and MOT'd
Do I need to tax the car just to sell it.
If so does the Tax start from the 1st of the next month only.
Any general advice most welcome, (even about the car!!)

 

[Mottie]

You can't transfer any road tax when you sell a car anyway, so no, no point in taxing it. The new owner will need to tax it from the first of the month they want to use it in.

 

[Mottie]

Yottie & Mottie. Sounds like a comedy double act!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

.

 

[JohnD]

You can only tax and untax it in whole months. So you could say, advertise it right at the end of May and tax it (for test drives) starting 1st June, and cancel it on sale. But your refund would start from 1st July, so it would cost you one months tax at least. Even if the buyer also taxes it from 1st June.

Otherwise it would be untaxed for test drives.

 

[Mottie]

It would need to be insured too for test drives so unless the OP has it insured for any driver, he'd have to check the prospective buyers licence and insurance to make sure they are licensed and insured to drive the vehicle otherwise the OP will be party to aiding and abetting an unlicensed and uninsured driver (or some such offence).

 

[JohnD]

By chance, I have a car whose tax expires at the end of the month. The new one arrives at about the same time so I will try to sell it the week before.

Extending insurance for a week or two's overlap is easy

 

[Old Salt]

Any buyer won’t be able to test drive it unless it is taxed. You can pay monthly by direct debit so if you pick your timings carefully, you could tax it for a month, then sell the car and cancel the road tax.

 

[Mottie]

You don't have to physically cancel the road tax - it automatically cancels when you change owners. You can do it online and it's immediate. https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle

 

[norseman]

Technically illegal I know, but I think there's very little chance of a 'tug' if a perspective buyer drove it un-taxed. All this propaganda about the proliferation of ANPR cameras doesn't seem to deter people from using cars & even vans used for business.
Over the past couple of years I've run a DVLA on-line check on several such vehicles in my area only to find that they are devoid of VED or MOT or even both.
Not quite sure if such omission(s) effects the insurance though.

 

[cdbe]

When I recently sold a car the lad who bought it paid £10 for 1 hrs insurance to test drive it, my son did something similar when he borrowed my car to move house.

I think there's some debate about whether police ANPR picks up tax (and even whether theres a buffer of a month or two, otherwise they'd probably struggle to drive down the road without stopping 20 cars) - the DVLA claim to operate their own ANPR - but I wonder if a bit like those mythical TV licence detector vans with the coat hanger on the roof.

 

[norseman]

[QUOTE="cdbe, post: 5227510, member: 131148"
the DVLA claim to operate their own ANPR - but I wonder if a bit like those mythical TV licence detector vans with the coat hanger on the roof.[/QUOTE]

I always reckoned that the 'coat hanger' was being rotated by a bloke sitting in the back with a cup of tea in his other hand

 

[Old Salt]

You don't have to physically cancel the road tax - it automatically cancels when you change owners. You can do it online and it's immediate. https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle

But you do have to cancel the DD because they will try to collect it depending on the timing of the payment.

 

[Mottie]

But you do have to cancel the DD because they will try to collect it depending on the timing of the payment.

If that does happen, they do refund pretty quickly.

 

[Old Salt]

If that does happen, they do refund pretty quickly.

Still waiting for mine, robbing bar stewards