tax disc

How long do you have to get it before you get in  trouble?

We are waiting on new tires before we can get our mot then new tax disc

Someone told me you have like a 7-14 days after yours expires?

ANyone know?

I think you have to have it on your car to drive it on the road immediately.
Put another way . No disc, don't move the car or have it parked on the street.

Legally, there is no period of grace whatsoever.  The law says you must display a current license any time the vehicle is driven -- or parked -- on a public highway.  There are only a few specific exceptions, e.g. you are allowed to drive to and from a pre-booked MoT inspection without.    It's stupid, because technically it means one is not even allowed to  drive an untaxed car home after purchase when there's no chance of getting the license on the spot (e.g. a Sunday). 

A lot of people have the idea that you automatically have 7 to 14 days grace and even mistakenly quote it as fact, but this is only because unofficially the police in the past tended to act reasonably and not pursue a license which had only just expired so long as they believed you weren't deliberately trying to put one over on the system (i.e. the old trick of the 13-month year).

In practice, you might still get away with it today, but there are no guarantees.  If you are stopped with an expired license it will most likely be reported to DVLA, and it is the latter which will decide whether to prosecute or not.  If the tax is renewed within a few days, the chances are they won't (since all they care about is getting the money).  If the tax is paid back to the first of the month, an awkward cop could still cite you for "failure to display" a current license if he wants.   In fact there have been cases where a person has received such a citation simply because a valid tax disc has fallen off the windshield.

We are waiting on new tires before we can get our mot then new tax disc

Just to add, if your existing tires are worn to the point that they won't pass the MoT inspection, then it's illegal to drive on them anyway.  If you get stopped, the fines can be applied per tire and add up very quickly!

I've seen conflicting evidence of this.

My friends forgot to renew their tax (good excuse, they were moving house and having a baby at the same time so had bigger things to worry about!) and had a letter (with fine) within 2 weeks.

Another example was a car parked outside my house with a tax disc expiring on 31st December 2006, it was sat there for ever until April 2007 when a wheel clamp appeared...i'm pretty sure that they'd had the letters and fines and what not but it certainly took over four months before the car was removed for scrapping.

Best bet would be to keep it in a garage if you're not going to be able to renew it in time and i'd avoid driving at all costs (other than the mot visit)

Incidentally, i needed new tyres as well but the guy doing the mot fitted them for me before they did the mot so it was nice and quick!

I remember the days when my parents would slap a sign inside the windscreen saying that they'd applied for the tax disc and would get away with it for weeks but those days are long gone i'm afraid!

Without going into details of my opinion on this, I'll just say, DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE!

Without going into details of my opinion on this, I'll just say, DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE!

Totally 100% agree, not worth taking the chance, hopefully my comments weren't taken as advice as to how long to wait, i was just giving examples.

I've seen conflicting evidence of this.

My friends forgot to renew their tax (good excuse, they were moving house and having a baby at the same time so had bigger things to worry about!) and had a letter (with fine) within 2 weeks.

Another example was a car parked outside my house with a tax disc expiring on 31st December 2006, it was sat there for ever until April 2007 when a wheel clamp appeared...i'm pretty sure that they'd had the letters and fines and what not but it certainly took over four months before the car was removed for scrapping.

Best bet would be to keep it in a garage if you're not going to be able to renew it in time and i'd avoid driving at all costs (other than the mot visit)

Incidentally, i needed new tyres as well but the guy doing the mot fitted them for me before they did the mot so it was nice and quick!

I remember the days when my parents would slap a sign inside the windscreen saying that they'd applied for the tax disc and would get away with it for weeks but those days are long gone i'm afraid!

If you're not driving it, and it's not mot'd you need to apply for 'off road status'.  Otherwise, you'll get hit with a fine.

You do not want to get in an accident if it's not properply mot'd or taxed-and I beleive your insurance will not cover a car that isn't mot'd.  So, get it sorted asap.

My friends forgot to renew their tax (good excuse, they were moving house and having a baby at the same time so had bigger things to worry about!) and had a letter (with fine) within 2 weeks.

The thing you have to contend with now (which I should have mentioned earlier, my apologies) is the Statutory Off-Road Notification scheme (commonly called SORN), which was introduced just a few years ago. 

Upon expiry of the license, DVLA now expects the registered keeper of the vehicle to either renew the tax or make a declaration that the vehicle is off the road.   If you do neither, then the automatic fine system kicks in, although 2 weeks sounds a very short length of time.  I know there have already been concerns about people being out of the country for a few weeks and not being able to make the declaration coming back to find fines in the mail.

Under the old regime everybody knew his responsibilities -- Renew the tax or take the car off the road, and if you get caught driving without a valid tax disc, you're in trouble.  The system now effectively demands that one makes a statement of intent not to do something, which I think is wrong.

I can understand the reasons for introducing SORN to an extent though.  The 13-month year trick I mentioned is the case in point, where people knew they could probably get away with at least 7 to 14 days.  If they happened to get stopped in that time, they'd just renew from the first of the month and nothing lost.  After the first couple of weeks, they'd then perhaps be a little more cautious about driving or not use the car at all, then renew on the first of the following month, thus effectively getting a month's use (or at least a couple of weeks' use, for free).

Now everything is computerized the chances of getting stopped are much greater, since ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) can automatically flag up any passing car with expired tax.

I beleive your insurance will not cover a car that isn't mot'd. 

Not so, at least as far as legally mandated third-party liability cover goes.  If that were the case, you wouldn't be insured to drive to a booked MoT inspection. 

And when they mean "off the road" for SORN, they mean even off public streets, i.e. if you have parking outside your terraced house on the street, that is still considered on the road.  If you have a driveway, that's fine.  But if you declare SORN, it can't even be parked on anything remotely resembling a public road.

Not so, at least as far as legally mandated third-party liability cover goes.  If that were the case, you wouldn't be insured to drive to a booked MoT inspection. 

Your insurance company would probably give you a very hard time if you got in an accident while knowingly driving a car you hadn't tax disced or mot'd because you needed new tires.

Your insurance company would probably give you a very hard time if you got in an accident while knowingly driving a car you hadn't tax disced or mot'd because you needed new tires.

It probably would, and while there might be official charges related to the lack of MoT certificate and tax, the bald tires, and so on, you could not be charged with uninsured driving since you do have a policy in force. 

There's a part of the insurance legislation which says that an insurance company may not refuse to pay a third-party claim just because the driver was doing something illegal at the time.  That's logical really, since a large majority of claims result from illegal actions of one sort or another -- Speeding, running a red light etc.

It probably would, and while there might be official charges related to the lack of MoT certificate and tax, the bald tires, and so on, you could not be charged with uninsured driving since you do have a policy in force. 

There's a part of the insurance legislation which says that an insurance company may not refuse to pay a third-party claim just because the driver was doing something illegal at the time.  That's logical really, since a large majority of claims result from illegal actions of one sort or another -- Speeding, running a red light etc.

Right, Paul.  Now that we've argued over that minor thing. I think we can agree that it's foolish to knowingly drive without tax or an mot and that there is no longer a grace period in the age of computers and they need to get this sorted as soon as possible.