Can you advise on the new car tax rules? My father passed away last week. Foolishly, the first people we contacted were the doctor, the funeral directors and the registrar. It seems that perhaps it should have been the DVLA, because –as far as I can tell – from the very second of his death, the family car became untaxed and therefore illegal.
Is there a grace period when the car is still taxed because it is owned by the estate of the deceased?
We’ve been using the car to arrange the funeral and other affairs without changing the ownership. Is this illegal? The insurance company was excellent, and changed the main driver without charge. The other “gotcha”, of course, is that a change in ownership means the tax is paid twice for one month – but in this case it’s from the same family.
First my father paid, now my mother must pay. Are these really the rules for car tax, or are we mistaken?
MI, Melton Mowbray
Your reading of the rules is not quite correct. The DVLA told us this week that while you do need to tell it when the registered keeper dies – allowing the car to be re-registered – there is a period of grace, of sorts.
It says that if you contact it in the first half of the month – up until the 15th day – the car has to be re-registered at the end of that month.
If you notify it of the keeper’s death after the 15th, the family has until the end of the following month – a six-week grace period. This rule only applies if the car is staying in the family.
In reality, as long as the car is taxed the DVLA is not going to get heavy-handed if there is a short delay. We are not aware of it going after a recently bereaved family for failing to notify it of a change of owner – as long as this is done reasonably promptly.
Regarding the car tax, you should not double-pay in this instance. As the transfer happens on the last day of the month, the deceased’s estate is paid any unused months of tax. The new owner – your mother, in this case – re-taxes the car, starting on the first day of the following month.
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