Problem getting road tax.

[bonj2]

Oh, I see.

Is it illegal to take out a full policy, tax the car, then cancel the policy? Most policies have a cooling off period.

That's just an idea. If it's illegal, I wouldn't recommend it.

no it's not illegal but they shaft you through the nose for 'cancellation charges'.

 

[bonj2]

SORN it and/or sell it, then just hire a car, or borrow somebody else's when you need it.

 

[cannondale boy]

'I have no insurance and only use the car once a month if that'

eh?

No ANNUAL insurance, only have insurance from one day to the next. Thanks for all you options guys. I will phone norwich union and ask about the pay per mile insurance. But i think i will sell the car, seems to make more sense renting than forking out on a bucket. Maybe its a good time as petrol prices keep on rising.

 

[johnsienk]

Ok, here's the link for the pay per mile:

http://www.norwichunion.com/pay-as-you-drive/

One day cover:

http://www.tempcover.com/

 

[bonj2]

No they don't. They have a cooling off period. It costs nothing to cancel.

yeah but probably less than a month.
If he wants to use the car 'once a month', he has to plan ahead, get insurance, get tax, and cancel it again every time he wants to use the car. pain in the arse.

 

[alfablue]

I think a good answer might be the City Car Club, you can pay £12.50 a month then £3.50 per hour, or pay nothing per month and pay £4.60. I understand the hours between 11pm and 7am are not charged. Fuel is included in the price. It works out a lot cheaper than taxing, insuring, maintaining and owning a car for intermittent use.

For areas not covered by this club there are others such as Streetcar and Zipcar.

 

[bonj2]

Keep up Bonjy. He could get insurance, tax the car with the cover note, then cancel during the cooling off period. Only if that's not illegal of course.

And then he could use his temporary cover each time he wants to use the car.

Yeah, granted - it's economical in terms of insurance. But it's a bit of a faff.
But the reason it's less economical than hiring is you can only get refunds of whole months of unused road tax.

 

[bonj2]

Keep up Bonjy. He could get insurance, tax the car with the cover note, then cancel during the cooling off period. Only if that's not illegal of course.

And then he could use his temporary cover each time he wants to use the car.

Why would it be illegal. At the time that he's driving, he's insured. The fact that he then cancels doesn't mean he WASN'T insured for the time during which he had the certificate for.

 

[John Ponting]

... you can only get refunds of whole months of unused road tax.

... and you have to pay for whole months when applying for road tax.

A single days road tax will cost a full month; first of month to the day it's needed; day of cover; day of cover to end of month.

 

[bonj2]

I didn't say it was. If you read the thread that you are responding on then you'll see that I asked the question.

That's meaningless, I can only assume what it's supposed to mean is a barrage of pedanticity.
I was thinking of the situation in which, say, he wants to use his car 15 days apart. The insurance cooling off period is, say, 14 days. Before the first day, he has to apply for insurance, get tax, then cancel it after the first day, then a few days later, he has to get insurance AGAIN. Then cancel it AGAIN. Then cancel his road tax. Most people wouldn't bother cancelling it, then have a farce with the insurance company finding out they are getting stung through the nose for having exceeded the cooling off period. And anyway, how do we know that in the time it takes him to do all this messing around he could have earnt more than it would cost him anyway...

 

[bonj2]

... and you have to pay for whole months when applying for road tax.

A single days road tax will cost a full month; first of month to the day it's needed; day of cover; day of cover to end of month.

YOu can only pay for either 6 months or 12 months. But you can get a refund for unused time, in deciding how much to refund you, they work out what you have used and round it up to the nearest whole month, then refund the difference.

 

[John Ponting]

YOu can only pay for either 6 months or 12 months. But you can get a refund for unused time, in deciding how much to refund you, they work out what you have used and round it up to the nearest whole month, then refund the difference.

As i said - a single day will cost you a month, no matter whether you pay 6 and get 5 refunded or pay 12 and get 11 refunded.

Worst case of stupidity was me around 20 years ago when I applied for road tax from 28th of the month and got charged from the 1st.

I've been more carefull since. Current car was bought on 4th of month so I wasn't too bothered.

 

[bonj2]

As i said - a single day will cost you a month, no matter whether you pay 6 and get 5 refunded or pay 12 and get 11 refunded.

Worst case of stupidity was me around 20 years ago when I applied for road tax from 28th of the month and got charged from the 1st.

I've been more carefull since. Current car was bought on 4th of month so I wasn't too bothered.

yes, as you said. Same difference. We both obviously know how it works.
Bit of a con on their part how they only allow them to expire at the end of the month, thus meaning you 'losing' any time between the first of the month and the day you buy it.

 

[Smokin Joe]

In the original post Cannondale boy says he does not have a driveway.
If the car is kept on the public highway it MUST be insured, whether it is driven or not.

 

[P.H]

If the car is kept on the public highway it MUST be insured, whether it is driven or not.

As I said two pages ago
Some people like long pointless arguments about nothing, best leave them too it