Motorists who receive one particular letter could be at risk of paying a fine well into the £1,000s. The DVLA may send a ‘last chance’ warning letter if their vehicle is untaxed. Most vehicles in the UK need to be taxed in order to legally drive on the road; otherwise, the vehicle owner is at risk of getting into serious trouble.
The most common reason a car doesn’t need to be taxed is if it has been declared with a Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN), which means it shouldn’t be driven at all. Generally, the DVLA will issue a V11 document for vehicles that have not had road tax paid or been declared as a SORN.
V11 forms are usually after the fifth day of the month before a road tax renewal is due. For example, if your road tax is due on May 7th, you will receive it on April 5th. These V11 forms need to be filled in so the DVLA can either tax the car or give it a SORN status.
Ignoring these letters is strongly not recommended, as driving an untaxed vehicle on a public road without declaring it SORN can result in a hefty fine or even see you sent to court. According to official guidance, a minimum out-of-court settlement letter is first sent to the offender, asking for £30 plus double the outstanding vehicle tax.
If you ignore this letter and refuse to pay the fine, you will be committing a criminal offence and could see your case sent to magistrates court, where you could be slapped with a maximum fine of £2,500 or five times the amount of tax owed – whichever is the higher amount. Furthermore, your car could be clamped which means you will need to pay a £100 clamp release fee.
You may have to pay even more money if the vehicle is impounded as you will have to pay a flat out £200 impound release fee as well as £21 for each day the vehicle was impounded.
How to tax your vehicle
The easiest way to avoid any legal trouble or driving inconveniences is to tax your vehicle as soon as possible. There are a number of ways you can do this, however, you will need a reference number, which can be found on a number of things, including:
- The green ‘new keeper’ slip from a log book if you’ve just purchased the vehicle
- The vehicle’s log book (V5C) – in this case, the vehicle must be registered in your name
- A recent vehicle tax reminder
- A ‘last chance’ warning letter from the DVLA
If you have these details, the quickest and easiest way to tax your vehicle is online through GOV.UK. Full details on applying for vehicle tax can be found here.