Stiffed for road tax :-(

A couple of weeks ago I acquired a VW camper from a motor dealer (via Ebay, but with a dealer's receipt), with six months (ish) tax & test. All in good faith.

Yesterday the V5 arrived, followed today by a letter from the Post Office telling me the cheque for the tax had bounced and that they want a new payment of £99. Well p*ssed off.

The dealer had not registered the vehicle with DVLA, so it was still in the former keeper's name (and it was his bounced cheque). So it's not really the dealer's fault (though I'll be contacting him anyway). I can't see what comeback I have here.

What is not clear though is whether the £99 will give me a new tax disc or whether they will backdate it. My thinking now is to SORN the bus for a week or so then tax it afresh.

Reply to
asahartz
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He probably should have done. The previous owner will hopefully have filled in his part of the V5C and sent it to DVLA (to avoid liability for fines etc).

It will be backdated to the beginning of the month originally applied for.

Probably too late, if you've already been driving the van.

Reply to
Hooch

You seem to have missed the word "dealer" there. Different rules apply.

I believe you're wrong. I tried to apply for a backdated tax disc once when the plod kindly pointed out to me that mine had run out six months ago. I was told that I could only get one from the start of the current month, then wait to see if the DVLA wanted to give me a slap. (They didn't as the car was tax exempt anyway.)

That'd be an option. You'll need to park it off road of course. The other option is to simply ignore the letter and try to tax it as normal from the start of this month. As the current tax disc is invalidated by the bounced cheque, you should be able to treat it as if it hasn't got a tax disc at all.

They don't have to know that.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

You could ask about this in uk.legal rather than here. However..

Then you have a claim against the dealer for the value of the missing tax because the vehicle is not as described.

Presumably all they'll do is validate the tax disc you already have which means you'll lose the value of any months it has already run for. I would say legally their claim for the £99 is against the previous owner and not yourself.

My thinking now is to SORN the bus for

Or just go to the post office and tax it from the 1st December in the normal way and leave the previous owner to sort out the bounced cheque. IMO you can't be held liable for any road offences such as not displaying a valid tax disc if you couldn't have known it wasn't valid until you received the letter. As I say try uk.legal or uk.legal.moderated which is like uk.legal but without the idiots.

Reply to
Dave Baker

Interestingly, the DVLA computer doesn't know that... it is (or was until last night) recorded as "not due".

Well I've heard from the dealer and he has promised to send me the £99. I'll keep you posted.

I've SORNed the vehicle and will re-tax it very soon. At least nobody can say I haven't acted as soon as I know there's a problem!

Reply to
asahartz

Only just caught this thread, but I`d have thought that the fact the dealer paid by cheque should establish a debt from him to the DVLA/post office/whoever he paid for the tax disk. Therefore they`d have a good chance of forcing the money from the dealer. Whether they`d want to do it or not is a different matter, but maybe worth looking into if the dealer doesn`t come good on their promise.

Reply to
Simon Finnigan

Anyone on eBay can call themselves a dealer. Is there such a thing as a registered dealer to which these different rules apply?

Perhaps I should have said that the tax for the missing months still has to be paid.

They have cameras.

Reply to
Hooch

Simon Finnigan ("Simon Finnigan" ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Small detail - that debt's been covered by the voiding of the VED that the OP's got. DVLA & the dealer are square.

The problem now lies with the OP, because the tax disc he bought from the dealer, with a free car wrapped round it, is now void. The only comeback he has is directly to the dealer. Given that this dealer is so... ummm... wildly commercially succesful that he's bouncing cheques for tax discs, I think we can assume that it's going to be more hassle than it's worth.

Reply to
Adrian

Dunno, the DVLA seem appropriately vague: "(*For this purpose motor trader means motor dealer, a motor vehicle auctioneer, a motor vehicle insurer with whom you have settled a claim for total loss, a motor vehicle dismantler (scrap yard) or a finance company with a financial interest in the vehicle)."

I suspect that if it went to court, they'd find some way of deciding. Tax returns or posession of a shiny suit and dodgy hairdo, for example.

Depends where he's been. There aren't many round here, for example.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

So presumably, if the new keeper accepts the green "new keeper supplement" instead of the yellow "notification of sale to the motor trade" from the seller, he's not a motor trader. I'd be reluctant to use the yellow tear-off form when selling a car unless the so-called dealer had a showroom.

You're lucky. They're everywhere around here.

Reply to
Hooch

Though the vehicle was advertised on Ebay, he's a legitimate trader operating from an industrial unit, proper signs up and everything

As I need to drive the bus this weekend I've taxed it anew.

I't's been driven about 4 times, but over 25 miles each time! And I go quite close to the local VOSA HQ when I take it to work.

However... it wouldn't have showed up as untaxed, because the DVLA database still had it showing as "not due" - even though the disc was void. It was the Post Office who were out of pocket at this point.

Reply to
asahartz

IIRC the cheque was from the person who sold the car *to* the dealer, not the dealer himself.

Reply to
PCPaul

PCPaul (PCPaul ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Oh, fine. Even less come-back, then.

Reply to
Adrian

Actually, surprisingly not - I was wrong there - it was the dealer that taxed it.

Reply to
asahartz

I wonder when they submitted the refund request to the DVLA - if they did it after there was a sale agreement in place, they've committed theft I would have thought... (IANAL)

Reply to
Colin Wilson

Eh what? I never mentioned a refund request. There wasn't one. I have, next to me, what appears to be a totally legitimate tax disc. It's simply that the cheque used to pay for it was rubber.

Reply to
asahartz

Sorry, forgot the full details of the original thread (I was tired) :-}

I suspect you have no issues with the disc then, as the cheque itself is enough to do the issuer of the cheque as proof of a debt IIRC from my lurking over at uk.legal :-}

Reply to
Colin Wilson

I don't know what the legal situation is, but it's me the Post Office were attempting to pursue for the money!

Reply to
asahartz

I bought something off ebay which wasn't as described. Complained to ebay. Got a couple of circular letters from them then nothing. The person I bought it from is still trading normally.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You were not the issuer of the cheque - their claim is against them.

Reply to
Colin Wilson

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