Girlfriend's VED band A (no tax) car clamped for having no tax

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 11:52

So it's my girlfriend's birthday today and wouldn't you know it her car's been clamped while she's at work, apparently for having no tax, even though the vehicle, being a VED band A (Hyundai i30), doesn't require the owner to pay tax.

She's called them up and they've apparently agreed they've made a mistake and are going to try and unclamp it today, but they've made her pay a £260 fee and told her she can get a refund if she sends in the appropriate paperwork. Needless to say though she's in a terrible mood :eek:

How can the clamping firm get away with charging such a high fee if they are clearly in the wrong? And is the process of getting a refund fairly quick? I really hope she gets unclamped today because she is really ****ed off.

dirtychinchilla · 10 May 2016 at 11:56

Who is it that clamped her?

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 11:56

dirtychinchilla said:
Who is it that clamped her?

I don't know. I presume it's some company acting on behalf of the DLA.

Skillmister · 10 May 2016 at 11:57

Why has she paid?

Yaayuh! · 10 May 2016 at 11:57

Find out who it is exactly first.

Firestar_3x · 10 May 2016 at 11:58

Don't you have to 'renew' the tax each year even though you pay nothing?

Richdog · 10 May 2016 at 11:58

I would have called the police and got the police to call the clamping company.

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 11:58

Skillmister said:
Why has she paid?

I suppose just to get it unclamped quicker.

Clarkey · 10 May 2016 at 11:58

Was it taxed though? Presumably such a vehicle still must be taxed even if it doesn't cost anything.

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 11:59

Firestar_3x said:
Don't you have to 'renew' the tax each year even though you pay nothing?

The thought did cross my mind but I Google'd it and although I'm not 100% clear it doesn't look like you have to do that.

tom_e · 10 May 2016 at 12:00

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-for-cars-registered-on-or-after-1-march-2001 as it states a £0 rather than not available for the 12 month under band A I'd guess you do indeed still need to tax it or else how do they know it's band A as it will just flag as untaxed.

You still need to apply for vehicle tax even if you don’t need to pay vehicle tax.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-exempt-from-vehicle-tax

She's not exempt therefore it must still be "taxed" at a rate of £0.

Looks like it may be an expensive lesson on her birthday!

Third Opinion · 10 May 2016 at 12:05

Although I overall am in favour of the new tax system it does seem to have some flaws.

One we have at work is we can't tax our vehicles. Taxi's don't have MOT's but Hackney tests every six months. When you try to tax them you cannot as they show up has having no MOT.

I don't know how the account lady gets round it but this has been a problem since they introduced it. I am not 100% sure I am right but I think they have to send them for an MOT as well so they can tax them.

I must ask her when I see her next but I know it is still happening as she was talking about it the other day.

Janesy B · 10 May 2016 at 12:08

You still have to tax the car even if the rate is £0.

[TW]Fox · 10 May 2016 at 12:15

Janesy B said:
You still have to tax the car even if the rate is £0.

Exactly this. You must still apply for VED annually, it's just charged at £0.

Otherwise how would they tell the untaxed cars easily from the zero rated cards?

ADT · 10 May 2016 at 12:19

Expensive mistake!
How did they get her at the work's car park? Someone must have reported it there?

Jamesyboyjim · 10 May 2016 at 12:24

ADT said:
Expensive mistake!
How did they get her at the work's car park? Someone must have reported it there?

Some sad petty colleague probably who spends all day checking peoples cars on the online mot/tax checker.

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 12:32

I just texted her. She reckons it's taxed (tbf she's had it for about 4 years and has never had a problem with the tax). She said the error was on the DVLA's end and that they acknowledged they have a record of her calling to tax it back in Feb. I just hope they don't contest it and say that's not proof of an attempt to tax the car. But surely even the DVLA wouldn't pull that one given that it's a £0 tax rate anyway and they have a record of her calling!

I'm just annoyed because she doesn't like her birthday anyway and I've been trying to cheer her up about it and this isn't helping.

kissenger · 10 May 2016 at 12:33

Jamesyboyjim said:
Some sad petty colleague probably who spends all day checking peoples cars on the online mot/tax checker.

Who knows. She does have a work car park though, so it wasn't parked out on the street.

HangTime · 10 May 2016 at 12:37

kissenger said:
The thought did cross my mind but I Google'd it and although I'm not 100% clear it doesn't look like you have to do that.

You do. My wife has an A-band car and renews it every year. Given that you no longer need to display a tax disc nor pay any money for this band I can kind of see why people might overlook it, but you still have to go through the process (can be done online and they send you something through the post).

edit: sounds like she's done that via phone anyway so should be nothing to worry about other than the annoyance of being clamped.

andicole0 · 10 May 2016 at 12:39

This is the problem with not having a VED disk. It also looks like £0 is about to become £140 for most low emission cars, only true zero emission vehicles will be £0 from 1/4/17.
Andi.