DVLA charging for a whole months tax...

[TeddyRuxpin]

Is there any reason the DVLA charge for an entire month's tax, that makes any sense?

I declared my E350 SORN July 3rd. Only July 4th they took the direct debit anyway, £192.

There was no automatic refund as they say there will be, I was going through my bank account and noticed it. I called them up, Lots of waiting on hold, eventually they told me I'd get a full refund.

Just got a cheque today for a refund of £152.08, apparently because they charged me for the entire month of July. So, I paid for 6 months and they refunded me 5. Apparently there's 'nothing they can do'. I've complained but I suspect it will go nowhere, they've just had £40 off me for no reason, and I haven't been able to use the car.

Is there any sensible logic to this, or have they just intentionally created a system that 'skims a bit off the top'?

Of course, I now know never to cancel at the beginning of the month (I'd never declared a car SORN before), but surely the creation and implementation of this system is pure theft by design?

I'm sure a system that calculates when you start/stop could have just as easily have been implemented. Or they should say you can still use your car until the end of the month, like when you cancel many subscriptions.

Ironically I was doing all of this to try to save money and time (I've been using an old Golf as a runaround), in the end it's ended up being a huge waste of both.

 

[KennyN]

Just another rip off from those that can and that hide behind company "policy" and rules and regs , there is no reason apart from the rip off reason that the refund cant be done on a daily basis.

FWIW , i always pay my RFL on a monthly DD and cancel the DD the same day i get rid of the vehicle.

K

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

I did a 6 month direct debit, and cancelled/declared SORN the day before it was supposed to go out. It says in the SORN confirmation email that they will cancel the direct debit, but I guess it was too late as the wheels were ‘already in motion’. Next time I’ll cancel it directly from my bank.

I just can’t get over the idea that I gave them £192 and they refunded me £152 despite not receiving their service. I tried to save some cash and ended up not only paying for that month anyway, but paying the higher monthly rate rather than the 6 month rate. So I paid £40 to not be able to use my car.

Would love a few moments with the contractors that developed this system

 

[baxlin]

If you sell a vehicle privately, you get charged for the full month (as the OP described) but the buyer is also charged from the beginning of the same month. So the car is charged twice for that month…

And they say motorists aren't ripped off!

 

[ALFAitalia]

Its always been the case....even back when you could cash paper tax discs back in when a car was sold or off the road (as I did when I put used cars on the forecourt!).....you only got a refund for complete months. Same for the charging twice thing....nothings changed in at least 40 years......except you don't get a nice paper disc anymore!!!

 

[ChrisEdu]

It's a big swizz. I wonder how many years worth of tax they have stolen, I mean legally removed from the accounts of drivers, by shaving days and weeks from whole months to make them an entire month.

Effectively, if a seller disposes of a car after just paying the tax, the buyer then has to pay again, thus netting DVLA a double payment. Those cheeky blighters!

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Sure, I was aware of the the double tax thing if you sell it, but they took the £192 direct debit after I declared SORN/cancelled it AND they didn’t give me a refund until I chased them for hours on the phone. £40 theft and not using the car for the month isn’t going to kill me, but the ‘principle’ of it all is really ruining my day… I’m about to go full M Douglas in ‘Falling Down’

 

[Tonye]

I just pay for the whole year in one go £30

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Whoa big spender

 

[Germgh0st]

As has been said, this is how it's always been - you pay per month or part thereof. The amount of admin that would be caused by refunding/collecting partial months would be enormous, and would just result in the RFL going up anyway to cover the cost.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Sure, I was aware of the the double tax thing if you sell it, but they took the £192 direct debit after I declared SORN/cancelled it AND they didn’t give me a refund until I chased them for hours on the phone. £40 theft and not using the car for the month isn’t going to kill me, but the ‘principle’ of it all is really ruining my day… I’m about to go full M Douglas in ‘Falling Down’

You should have stopped the DD after SORNing it....could not have happened then...

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Nonsense - if my online subscriptions can either cancel immediately or run until the end of the month, so can the DVLA. It’s this way by design.

In any case, they took my money after my cancellation.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

You should have stopped the DD after SORNing it....could not have happened then...

Sure, but the email from the DVLA said the DD would be cancelled, and that was before the money was taken.

Of course I know not to believe them now, but it’s no excuse for them stealing people’s money

 

[Tonye]

No it just don't make sense £30 for a C250d, when i got the car in the middle of the month i told the dealer i would collect it at the end of the month, dealer said no its £30 for the year, next day it was on the road. I don't usually think about these things, what a nice surprise

 

[Will]

It’s a bit of a bugbear of mine.

I suspect the rule was introduced from back in the day due to the ‘calendar month’ nature of the paper tax discs kept at the local post office etc. You had a disc that was printed in advance and had a set end point for the given month.

Bearing in mind that MOT test dates and insurance policies are calculated from the actual day of issue, I don’t see why road tax should be any different?

The double month charge when someone sells and buys a vehicle in particular in the same month is clearly wrong, but they’re clearly going to be reluctant to change this. They would not have had that luxury in the past when people used to leave and negotiate remaining tax on the vehicle at the time of sale.

I suspect any changes to the system would include an increase to the VED to reflect the lost income to their organisation.

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi , is it worth

trying to use the direct debit guarantee scheme

 

[ALFAitalia]

Sure, but the email from the DVLA said the DD would be cancelled, and that was before the money was taken.

Of course I know not to believe them now, but it’s no excuse for them stealing people’s money

Always cancel your DDs (and standing orders) on anything you wont be needing in the future.....computers do the DD...not people. Saves any probs like this. I appreciate its easy to say that now. When my bike finance finished they should not have taken any more payments.....but I cancelled it the day after the final payment just to be sure.
The difference is that if they had taken it in error I would have got it back....does not work like that with the tax disc full month only system.

You used to be able to tax brand new cars for a year and a week (or two weeks) when I was in the new car game.....this enabled customers to pic up their cars on the 27th or whatever without paying for that whole months tax....not sure if thats a thing now.

 

[Will]

Nonsense - if my online subscriptions can either cancel immediately or run until the end of the month, so can the DVLA. It’s this way by design.

In any case, they took my money after my cancellation.

In fairness to the DVLA, you were trying to cancel after the start of the month?

Under the current system, you can’t expect a refund when you’ve used part of that month. You’d have needed to cancel at the end of June for that.

I agree they should acknowledge the cancellation and allow you to use the remaining days of the month in question but I guess they’ll have their reasoning - you’d have to have declared SORN if you cancel the tax, so that you are doing this knowingly from a specific time they probably want confirmation that it is off the road at that point already.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hi , is it worth

trying to use the direct debit guarantee scheme

Thank you for this suggestion - I'm on the phone to Natwest now and they're looking into it. They seem positive at the moment, we shall see (I'm on hold)

 

[Will]

I dislike the system but you owe for the month of July no matter how you make the payment?