Tax, MOT & Insurance

Should bikes be Taxed, MOTed & Insured?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • No

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • MOT only

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Insurance only

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Tax only

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • MOT & Insurance

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Tax & Insurance

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • MOT & Tax

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1
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mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
Maybe this has been covered before (if so, sorry!)...

Should bikes have to pay road tax and have an annual MOT and compulsary third party insurance?

I'm not sure about road tax, although I wouldn't complain too loudly if it was introduced, but I'd expect to see far better cycling facilities as a result.

I am 100% in favour of an annual MOT and compulsary third party insurance.

Obviously to introduce any of the above there would need to be a national registration system, so maybe the trade in stolen bikes would reduce?
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
okey dokey here we go again.
There is no such thing as road tax.
 
OP
OP
mark barker

mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
May I ask why not?

Regarding road tax (or road fund licence if you prefer) As I see it, we use the roads, so why shouldn't we pay for them?
As for MOTs, how many occasionally users regularly maintain their bikes?
Insurance is a must surely? I don't believe that there has never been a case where a bike has hit a car....
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Car drivers do not pay directly for the roads through VED.
It all goes into the general taxation pot of which we all contribute one way or the other. So we all pay for the roads who ever uses them.
 
OP
OP
mark barker

mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
ianrauk said:
Car drivers do not pay directly for the roads through VED.
It all goes into the general taxation pot of which we all contribute one way or the other. So we all pay for the roads who ever uses them.
So surely by that reckoning the car drivers shouldn't have to pay either?
 

Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
I have said no. The reasons? At what age would you qualify to pay these charges? A child of 10 cycling to school or the park, or an adult above the age of 18? Electric vehicles don't pay any tax, as don't horse drawn vehicles. The same would go for MOT's, what size of bike would qualify? a 16 inch wheeled kiddies bike that is used over the park or the fields. It would be a logistical nightmare and cost more to run than it would bring in in revenue.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
We do pay for the roads. It's called tax. As for MOTs, MOTs are to reduce the number of people killed by motorists. How many people get killed by unroadworthy bikes? As for insurance, no. Don't need it. Compulsory insurance is there to cover third party damage/death - how much third party damage/death is caused by bikes?

Overall, totally bonkers ideas - all effort and thought should be focused on getting people *onto* bikes, not dissuading them. Think 'likely revenues from cycle tax'. Then think 'NHS costs directly relating to obesity and general unfitness'. Think about it...
 

XmisterIS

Purveyor of fine nonsense
mark barker said:
So surely by that reckoning the car drivers shouldn't have to pay either?

VED is Vehicle Emission Duty - with the emphasis being on the word emission. Bikes are about as close as you can get to zero emission (unless you fart), ergo there are no grounds on which to charge VED!

MOT? Not really necessary - looking after your bike isn't that hard!

Insurance? A good idea, but it shouldn't be compulsory. There are plenty of things that we all do that are dangerous, perhaps more dangerous than cycling in some cases. For example, if it is compulsory for me to be insured on my bicycle, surely I should also be insured before I'm allowed to pick up a hedge trimmer? Or a motor mower? Or operate a gas hob to cook diner? Or cross a busy road on foot?!
 

Bromptonaut

Rohan Man
Location
Bugbrooke UK
I might almost be persuaded of a need for compulsory insurance but none of the other stuff. MoT's were introduced because ill-maintained cars were killing people on a daily basis. No evidence of bikes doing the same.

The 'Road Fund' and it's licence came into being in the early years of last century after new fangled cars began to require massive upgrading of the nations roads. The seperate Road Fund was raided in aid of wider spending then abolished altogether by Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr WS Churchill around 1926.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Car tax is one of those archaic taxes that survives purely due to inertia in the system. It's regressive, and does nothing to limit the immense damage done to society by the internal combustion engine.

The main reason it survives is the power of the road hauliers' lobby, which has successfully resisted all attempts to move to a fairer and more rational system based on mileage and fuel consumption. Polluter/damager pays - through fuel tax and road tolls - would make more sense, would raise more money, would relieve the ever-increasing scourge of road congestion, and would tilt the balance toward more environmentally-friendly and less people-hostile forms of transport, both for moving people around, and for transporting goods. But it won't happen, because of an unholy alliance between big business and Jeremy Clarkson types living in big houses out in the countryside who consider it an Englishman's birthright to burn around the country in a V8 Range Rover.
 

BigSteev

Senior Member
I'm laughing at the idea of MOT'ing my bikes. In a normal year, it's not unusual for any of my bikes to be completely stripped down and rebuilt with new/changed parts. At which point would an MOT be relevant?
 
BigSteev said:
I'm laughing at the idea of MOT'ing my bikes. In a normal year, it's not unusual for any of my bikes to be completely stripped down and rebuilt with new/changed parts. At which point would an MOT be relevant?

True..

Then again, couple of years ago when I dropped out my dead (holed block) engine from my car, involving disconnection of many steering and control parts and subsequent re-assembly upon fitting the replacement engine...at what point was the MOT relevant there?

Though granted, most drivers don't usually perform their own engine swaps
 
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