NCT, TAX and insurance expired for a few Years. Not declared off road

masculinist

I have a car lying in my driveway for the last 5 years. Its in good condition. I thought it wasnt. it hasnt been driven in almost 5 years. I pumped up the wheels, put some petrol into it and attached jump leads. It drove. I opened the bonnet and the engine is practically gleaming. Its a miracle really.

Now heres the problem. It wasnt declared off road. It hadnt been taxed,insured, nct-d or driven since at least early 2010.

What can I do to regularize the situation apart from scrapping it ? Am I liable for back taxes on this since it wasnt declared off road ? They would be worth more than the car...

Furthermore, I heard something about penalty points being attached to the licenses of owners who fail to NCT their vehicle in time. So am I going to have penalty points automatically attached to my license if I do nothing about this ?

zl1whqvjs75cdy

You can "sell" the car to a mate for a euro and buy it back again. That'll reset the tax arrears anyway. Dunno what the story with the nct is.

masculinist

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

You can "sell" the car to a mate for a euro and buy it back again. That'll reset the tax arrears anyway. Dunno what the story with the nct is.

Thanks. I cant believe they made the tax so awkward and then just left a way around it at the same time

Hopefully someone else will be knowledgeable about the nct

mickdw

masculinist wrote: »

Thanks. I cant believe they made the tax so awkward and then just left a way around it at the same time

Hopefully someone else will be knowledgeable about the nct

What date did nct expire exactly?

goz83

When did the nct expire?

Whatever the case, when the car passes the nct, you will get the cert up until the anniversary of registration, but you can't get less than 3 months of a cert. you could get up to 15 months of a test, or more if the car is less than 10 years old.

masculinist

mickdw wrote: »

What date did nct expire exactly?

I just went out to have a look. Brrr its cold outside....

Nct expired 30-1-2012

tax and Insurance expired 11-2010.

it wasnt driven since well before 2010 really... but anyway those are what I read outside off the windscreen

Dark sun

As above just transfer the owner of the car to someone family or friend and back to you that will clear all tax up until it was transferred. If you nct the car you won't have to pay for any missed time and you will get it nct up to date of registration. Little loop hole in the system.

Moneymaker

masculinist wrote: »

Furthermore, I heard something about penalty points being attached to the licenses of owners who fail to NCT their vehicle in time. So am I going to have penalty points automatically attached to my license if I do nothing about this ?

Nonsense. Nothing to worry about.

What car is it as a matter of interest?

mickdw

Given the nct expiry date. Book a date after the 30th of October and should it pass, you will get an nct cert until 30 Jan 2016 (assuming car is 10 years old)

masculinist

if I just leave the car there and do nothing , am I going to be ok ? No penalty points etc ?I might have heard the wrong story about the new fixed charge 3 penalty points for driving with no NCT - which is a lot different from just leaving it parked in my driveway with no NCT.

cerastes

masculinist wrote: »

if I just leave the car there and do nothing , am I going to be ok ? No penalty points etc ?I might have heard the wrong story about the new fixed charge 3 penalty points for driving with no NCT - which is a lot different from just leaving it parked in my driveway with no NCT.

Well you'll keep owing the motor tax until you get it into the new system, you cannot do that unless you transfer the ownership (sell) to someone else and then buy it back, if you do this you could NCT it and then SORN it off the road for a year, ready to be sold immediately if you decide or drive it on.
If you dont do that tax reset and they close the loophole, you'll just be as well to scrap the car at that stage, so Id get it transferred to someone like a spouse and back again so no tax is owed before that happens, they might not be required to pay motortax either but they'd have to look into how or if thats possible.
You'll need it taxed to take on the road to get to the NCT centre anyway.

mickdw

cerastes wrote: »

Well you'll keep owing the motor tax until you get it into the new system, you cannot do that unless you transfer the ownership (sell) to someone else and then buy it back, if you do this you could NCT it and then SORN it off the road for a year, ready to be sold immediately if you decide or drive it on.
If you dont do that tax reset and they close the loophole, you'll just be as well to scrap the car at that stage, so Id get it transferred to someone like a spouse and back again so no tax is owed before that happens, they might not be required to pay motortax either but they'd have to look into how or if thats possible.
You'll need it taxed to take on the road to get to the NCT centre anyway.

You don't actually owe motortax if you are not on the road with the car.
You can sell this car and the tax won't be an issue as new owner only needs to tax from when they buy it.
If you don't ever intend to go back on the road with this car, whether as a result of letting it rot on your drive or scraping it or selling it on, you have no issues in terms of tax or nct.

cerastes

mickdw wrote: »

You don't actually owe motortax if you are not on the road with the car.
You can sell this car and the tax won't be an issue as new owner only needs to tax from when they buy it.
If you don't ever intend to go back on the road with this car, whether as a result of letting it rot on your drive or scraping it or selling it on, you have no issues in terms of tax or nct.

Correct, but if the vehicle is on the old system and he wants it back on the road, he'll have to pay back-tax, ie all thats due since the new system came in or since it was off the road, as far as Im aware.
If he starts about selling to wife or someone close, and then resells back to himself, it will be done in the right timeframe to start NCT so he can get a new NCT till Jan 2016, ie by going in 3 months early (and no earlier, so end of Oct/start of November, probably wont get an NCT straight away or might not be able to get a test to suit as a test centre might not be near the OP,
the new owner might be able to declare it off the road too and he even may be able to redeclare it off the road himself for the purpose of not having to pay motor tax, but I dont see the point of this as it will be even more hassle to do that when it will need to be on the road to get to NCT centre, there is something coming? or here about penalty points for not having NCT up to date, but that'd be the least important concern I think.

There is also the issue of his NCB on his insurance, its almost been 4 years by the OPs information since it lapsed, depends on whether its the start or end of Nov '10, letting that lapse (Im sure an NCB is valid for up to 2 years after you dont have insurance) unless he has it on another vehicle could also prove very expensive.
Importantly, no point in getting the NCT too early as it would be the difference between getting a 3 month NCT and a 1yr 3month NCT.
Whats the car OP?

goz83

It's also worth mentioning that the car does not need to be taxed if going to and from the nct centre.

CiniO

goz83 wrote: »

It's also worth mentioning that the car does not need to be taxed if going to and from the nct centre.

Well, that's fairly questionable.
First of all I don't think anyone here ever found a law confirming this - so the only source of this information was FAQ from motortax office.
But secondly this applied to vehicles "declared off the road" - not just "untaxed vehicles".
This might make a big difference.

goz83

CiniO wrote: »

Well, that's fairly questionable.
First of all I don't think anyone here ever found a law confirming this - so the only source of this information was FAQ from motortax office.
But secondly this applied to vehicles "declared off the road" - not just "untaxed vehicles".
This might make a big difference.

Should have been clearer on that. That's what I meant. The OP would be "selling" the car to avoid paying the back tax. Once transferred into another name, the car could then be declared off the road and as long as there is insurance stamped on it (perhaps by use of a drive other cars extension), then the car can be driven to and from the nct centre on the day.

I generally disagree with how the loophole is used to avoid the back tax, but in this case, it's acceptable in my view, as the car was off the road, but just was not declared off the road.

masculinist

It genuinely was not driven as I have another car in use. So no dodgy motives here. Thanks for all the advice

whizbang

Regarding the NCT more than 3 months prior, this is the text given on the booking page:

Completing an NCT more than 3 months prior to its NCT test due date/certificate expiration now falls under the NCT early voluntary testing. When the vehicle passes under the early voluntary NCT inspection, the next NCT due date will be calculated on the NCT pass date and not the test by date.