Taxing time at post office

[p7rider]

Today I went to my post office to try to tax my 41 year old spitfire. I've been reading about what to do since this time last year as I thought it would be tax exempt last year. But looked as if I needed to wait a year. So I wanted to get the ball rolling in case of any hiccups.

I printed off the 112 MOT exempt form and took my log book , insurance and printed instructions from the DVLA. 

Post office say they couldn't do it and I need to send V5 to DVLA and apply for historic vehicle .

Telling me their computer screen can only change a vehicle to tax free if it's for a disabled car or emission changes. 

So even though I stood there with DVLA instructions they couldn't help.

Anyone else had similar problems?

I know there's lots of answer on here about what to do , but I'm looking for people's own experience of obtaining free tax .

Thanks 

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, p7rider said:

Post office say they couldn't do it and I need to send V5 to DVLA and apply for historic vehicle .

The PO is wrong. They should physically take your V5 and send it to the DVLA on your behalf as per the DVLA policy - you will have to pay the current rate of RFL but will be reimbursed once the admin has gone through. Your updated V5 will come back showing Historic status and the refund afterwards.

I suggest you print the following GOV UK link and pop it under the nose of the PO worker for enlightenment, plus advising them not to be so lazy in the future !!

https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles/apply-for-vehicle-tax-exemption

May I also suggest you take the RFL application to the PO at the beginning of the month (March) otherwise you will be paying for all of February with but two days left and your DVLA refund will charge accordingly - as in less of a refund !!

Regards.

Richard.

[p7rider]

Yes that's exactly what I did.

[dougbgt6]

I got mine done before tax discs were scrapped. I went to the Post Office a couple of weeks before hand to enquire what the procedure was and they were pretty switched on as to what was going to happen. On the day it was much as Richard described, they took the V5 for the DVLA and gave me a tax disc. However, no money changed hands, but that may be different now.

Sadly my Post Office has now closed and the new one I go to has difficulty locating stamps let alone specialist forms!  So I would advise trying another Post Office. 

 

Doug

[p7rider]

1 hour ago, dougbgt6 said:

I got mine done before tax discs were scrapped. I went to the Post Office a couple of weeks before hand to enquire what the procedure was and they were pretty switched on as to what was going to happen. On the day it was much as Richard described, they took the V5 for the DVLA and gave me a tax disc. However, no money changed hands, but that may be different now.

Sadly my Post Office has now closed and the new one I go to has difficulty locating stamps let alone specialist forms!  So I would advise trying another Post Office. 

 

 

 

[p7rider]

Yes I will try else where.

[NonMember]

As Doug, two of mine had been tax exempt before the discs went away. The third, however, had been off the road since before full computerisation up until two years back. I took the V5 and the V112, along with a printout of a DVLA web page, to my local post office. They took the V5 to send to DVLA and returned the other papers along with a receipt for £0.00 and that was it, vehicle taxed.

Definitely worth trying another post office

[Nick Jones]

The procedure for this has changed at least 3 times and the post office folks are as confused as the rest of us.

In 2010 ish, to get my PI taxation class changed, the choices were post the V5 off to the DVLA and wait, or visit the local vehicle licensing office (40 miles away in Exeter). In 2019, that office was long closed down along with nearly all the others, but my nearest main post office did it very efficiently and didn’t even want any money. Took flippin’ ages for the V5 to come back though.

Nick

[p7rider]

Our DVLA closed years ago

[NonMember]

2 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

The procedure for this has changed at least 3 times and the post office folks are as confused as the rest of us.

In 2010 ish, to get my PI taxation class changed, the choices were post the V5 off to the DVLA and wait, or visit the local vehicle licensing office

When I had my PI, around that time, I had the same options. However, that was because the exemption cut-off date was frozen at 1/1/1973 and the car was registered in May 1973. I had to present proof of date of manufacture (BMIHT certificate showed it as 28/12/1972) at a DVLA office (Peterborough in my case).

[p7rider]

Tried a 2nd post office and still no success. Though they were more helpful. I ended up paying and they sent my v5 to DVLA. Hopefully I'll receive a refund. 

However this morning I found an updated post on Honest John's website suggesting for a 1979 car it will be free after April this year. 

[NonMember]

34 minutes ago, p7rider said:

However this morning I found an updated post on Honest John's website suggesting for a 1979 car it will be free after April this year. 

That's correct. The rules are odd, in that the cut-off to qualify is 1st January but the year doesn't shift until April, so your car needs to be at least 40 years 3 months old to be exempt, even for those built after Christmas.

[Nigel Clark]

On 27/02/2020 at 13:44, classiclife said:

The PO is wrong. They should physically take your V5 and send it to the DVLA on your behalf as per the DVLA policy - you will have to pay the current rate of RFL but will be reimbursed once the admin has gone through. Your updated V5 will come back showing Historic status and the refund afterwards.

I suggest you print the following GOV UK link and pop it under the nose of the PO worker for enlightenment, plus advising them not to be so lazy in the future !!

https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles/apply-for-vehicle-tax-exemption

May I also suggest you take the RFL application to the PO at the beginning of the month (March) otherwise you will be paying for all of February with but two days left and your DVLA refund will charge accordingly - as in less of a refund !!

Regards.

Richard.

My experience at a local post office when my Scimitar GTE qualified for historic status two years ago was exactly as Richard describes, except I didn't have to pay and claim a refund..

Try again at another post office perhaps.

Nigel