Whether you are taking up a short term car lease, are after a long term car rental or indeed any other sort of car lease deal, it pays to understand the new road tax changes, just to be on the safe side. Working in contract hire and leasing, we’ve been in the know for some time and this is how the new systems works: To cut a long story short, the new road tax system is ‘disc-less’ and came into effect on October 1st. So no more ‘pinch-able’ brightly coloured tax discs sitting on display in car windows. And interestingly, even if you do have time left on your car tax disc, you are free to take out the disc, rip it up, throw it in the bin, or at a work colleague, or even frame if for posterity. The system is now completely computerised. So whether your car is your own, or belongs to a vehicle leasing company, the paper disc carries zero value now.
So what’s changed with the new system you might ask? Have the pricing structures changed at all? How do I tax my car now? Well the road tax bands remain the same, along with the options to pay on six or twelve monthly increments. However, as from last month, there’s a new option to pay monthly, but this option will incur a 5 per cent surcharge to cover administration costs.
If you own your car, when it comes to selling it, any remaining road tax will not transfer to the new owner. Instead, the seller applies for a refund and the new buyer has to re-tax their new vehicle. The seller receives their tax when the DVLA receives notification that the car has been sold, scrapped, exported or taken of the road with a SORN. But beware! Sellers must inform the DVLA of changes to vehicle ownership immediately of they could face a fine of £1000.
And if you are using a long term car rental, contract hire or contract leasing vehicle, all you have to do is, well nothing, it’s the responsibility of the car leasing company, or owner.
For information on short term car lease deals, get in touch with Short Term Leasing now!