Motor Tax Query

irlrobins · 02-03-2016 1:42pm #1

Hey all,

I purchased a new car from a dealer on Saturday (27/02). I went online that day to pay the motor tax and when I completed the process I saw that the tax ran from 01/02 to 31/01. So essentially I paid for 12 months tax but only got 11 months of cover.

Could I have gotten away with waiting until Tuesday (01/03) to tax it to get the full 12 months of tax, or would they check the date the car was bought and date it back to start of Feb?

MojoMaker · 02-03-2016 1:50pm

Mother of God.

CJhaughey · 02-03-2016 1:53pm

It goes by date of ownership change, you should wait till the 1st of the month to change the ownership not the last week of the month.
They will still charge arrears if you tax it next month.

duffman3833 · 02-03-2016 1:57pm

if you haggle sometimes dealers will give you free car tax, especially if its cheap tax. Also if you ask dealer, they would hold of to register the car if there is only few days left in month, but you need to ask first

biko · 02-03-2016 1:58pm

As said, the system forces you to pay from the first day of the month you bought car in.
You could perhaps have waited to sign papers until the 1st of March.

But hey, live and learn.

slimjimmc · 02-03-2016 2:00pm

The date ownership was transferred to you will be shown as 27th Feb. It won't matter when you actually tax it you're still liable for Feb.

bazz26 · 02-03-2016 2:07pm

If the dealer has already registered the car on the 27th February then the OP is liable for tax for the entire month of February, as that is how the system works. The trick would have been to get the dealer to register the car on 1st March and collect it then. Unfortunately that time has passed and there really isn't much the OP can do now.

irlrobins · 02-03-2016 2:14pm

bazz26 wrote: »

If the dealer has already registered the car on the 27th February then the OP is liable for tax for the entire month of February, as that is how the system works. The trick would have been to get the dealer to register the car on 1st March and collect it then. Unfortunately that time has passed and there really isn't much the OP can do now.

Yeah, wasn't looking for a way out. It's my first time buying a brand new car as opposed to a second hand one that is already taxed. Lesson learned.

Anyway, at least the tax on the new car is 40% of what I was paying on the old one.

Peadar_85 · 02-03-2016 2:36pm

Got shafted on that myself at the end of January - had to suck it up and pay them arrears for month of January but it wasn't much.

Slightly off topic but one thing which did cross my mind was technically would you be insured if you had an accident on say Feb 28th after agreeing with the garage to only change ownership on March 1st? Insurance companies don't ask for proof that you actually own the car when amending your existing policy and grant automatic cover but could they revoke your policy when they discovered that you legally didn't own the car

stimpson · 02-03-2016 2:40pm

Surely you are just liable from when you purchased the car? I bought a car yesterday that had been registered on Monday. I'm assuming my tax will be until 28 Feb 2017.

ohnonotgmail · 02-03-2016 2:46pm

stimpson wrote: »

Surely you are just liable from when you purchased the car? I bought a car yesterday that had been registered on Monday. I'm assuming my tax will be until 28 Feb 2017.

no. you are liable for tax from the first day of the month in which you bought the car. so in your case you are liable for motor tax from Feb 1st. your 12 months tax will expire on 31 Jan 2017.

R.O.R · 02-03-2016 2:47pm

It's a piece of piss to declare a vehicle off the road on the motorway.ie website, so if a car was registered last month but isn't going on the road until March, do the off road Dec before taxing and save one month.

stimpson · 02-03-2016 2:49pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

no. you are liable for tax from the first day of the month in which you bought the car. so in your case you are liable for motor tax from Feb 1st. your 12 months tax will expire on 31 Jan 2017.

I bought the car on March 1st, but it was registered on 29th Feb.

R.O.R · 02-03-2016 2:52pm

stimpson wrote: »

I bought the car on March 1st, but it was registered on 29th Feb.

If you don't declare it off the road for February then you have to pay for February.

ohnonotgmail · 02-03-2016 2:52pm

stimpson wrote: »

I bought the car on March 1st, but it was registered on 29th Feb.

if it was registered in your name on the 29th then you owned it from the 29th.

biko · 02-03-2016 2:53pm

It's not the date when it was registered (this could be when it was registered in the state) that matters - it's the date when you sign the VLC, aka "logbook"

stimpson · 02-03-2016 3:14pm

I couldn't be the owner on the 29th as I hadn't paid for it. I didn't sign a VLC, just a Simi Vechile Order/Sales Contract.

I'll see when the disc arrives.

GM228 · 02-03-2016 3:52pm

stimpson wrote: »

I couldn't be the owner on the 29th as I hadn't paid for it. I didn't sign a VLC, just a Simi Vechile Order/Sales Contract.

I'll see when the disc arrives.

When did you actually agree to buy the car? If you bought the car on the 1st then I assume you mean you completed the transaction and collected the car that day? If so it was registered prior to you collecting it (ie the 29th) and so you are the owner from the 29th.

This is fairly normal, it's your car from the date of registration, not necessarily when you actually pay and collect it.

bazz26 · 02-03-2016 6:14pm

stimpson wrote: »

I couldn't be the owner on the 29th as I hadn't paid for it. I didn't sign a VLC, just a Simi Vechile Order/Sales Contract.

I'll see when the disc arrives.

Most dealers have the facility to transfer ownership online these days and it's done in a matter of minutes. If they changed it online before 1st then you will be paying the tax from beginning of February.

You can check the status on the motortax.ie website using the car's registration.

R.O.R · 02-03-2016 6:24pm

stimpson wrote: »

I'll see when the disc arrives.

bazz26 wrote: »

Most dealers have the facility to transfer ownership online these days and it's done in a matter of minutes. If they changed it online before 1st then you will be paying the tax from beginning of February.

You can check the status on the motortax.ie website using the car's registration.

It's a brand new, first registration going by....

stimpson wrote: »

I bought the car on March 1st, but it was registered on 29th Feb.

stimpson wrote: »

I'll see when the disc arrives.

Have you applied for the tax online via motortax.ie? If you didn't (or the dealer didn't) do the off the road declaration, you've paid for the whole of February.

I had to talk a dealer through declaring a car off the road yesterday as they weren't aware it was so easy to do on line, and had been sending people in to the tax office.

Dealers reg lots at the end of the month to hit targets, so we've declared about 10 off the road in the last week so we don't get hit for Feb tax (all vehicles are actually off the road).

stimpson · 02-03-2016 6:31pm

R.O.R wrote: »

It's a brand new, first registration going by....

Have you applied for the tax online via motortax.ie? If you didn't (or the dealer didn't) do the off the road declaration, you've paid for the whole of February.

I had to talk a dealer through declaring a car off the road yesterday as they weren't aware it was so easy to do on line, and had been sending people in to the tax office.

Dealers reg lots at the end of the month to hit targets, so we've declared about 10 off the road in the last week so we don't get hit for Feb tax (all vehicles are actually off the road).

Thanks ROR. Too late though - I taxed it this morning.

Chape tax though so not the end of the world.

Motor Tax Query

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