Car Tax Renewal

Former Member

Anybody know what is the earliest I can renew my car tax? I might be unavoidably out of the area during the period when I can renew it and wondered how early I could get away with sorting it out.

Former Member

Ummmm im guessing when they send you the form, but i dont know how early that is

Former Member

Hey there,

Car tax is a hassle that we could all do without; but we have to do it all the same.

I found a page on the DirectGov website that answers your question exactly; Vehicle tax due to expire while you're abroad.

You can tax your car up to two calendar months in advance of expiry; but read the page for more detailed information.

Former Member

Bearing in mind that I couldnt find my insurance certificate, I know where it is (amongst all the crap in my glovebox) but it is cold outside. I just grabbed my registration certificate and went online.

It did the checks for me that I have valid MOT and insurance, and warned me that even though I next need to pay for car tax from the 1/3/11, if I proceeded then the new tax disc would be valid for 12 months from 1/12/10.

Since my car only costs £30 to tax for a whole year, I wasnt really fussed about losing out on 2/3 months of tax (£7.50?) and it means the new disc will arrive at my parents address before I have to drive down south to work

Former Member

G-Raffe wrote: »

Anybody know what is the earliest I can renew my car tax? I might be unavoidably out of the area during the period when I can renew it and wondered how early I could get away with sorting it out.

One month isn't it?

Former Member

It seems you can only normally do it a month in advance if you want it to continue from the expiry of the existing tax. You can it seems renew 2 months in advance if you go to a post office that does advanced applications or send it off in the post with a covering letter, this is mainly if you are going to be abroad.

However if you go on-line you can do it any time you want, just in my case my new car tax starts from the start of this month, even though i applied for it on the 24th.

Former Member

I know it's a bit late now but you could have SORNed it for the period you'd be abroad. But you're right, for £30 a year it probably isn't worth the effort.