DVLA WILL PAY BACK YOUR COVID CAR TAX
Swansea finally responds to owners forced to pay up to keep their historic vehicles on the road – we reveal what to do next
Owners of tax-exempt cars who have had to pay to keep their classics legally on the road during the lockdown will have the money refunded, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has confirmed to Classic Car Weekly this week.
Many owners have said that they have not been able to register classics for ‘Historic’ vehicle status since the agency suspended paperwork enquiries during the UK-wide COVID-19 lockdown. This has forced them to pay hundreds of pounds in additional road tax to drive their cars legally.
Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs communications director, Wayne Scott, said: ‘Despite the challenges all departments have had to face due to the pandemic, this seems a thoroughly nice gesture.’
The DVLA has announced that classic car owners obliged to tax their historic vehicles from April will be refunded each full month of excise duty paid. Refunds will take place six weeks after documents have been processed. The DVLA would not, however, confirm the number of historic vehicles waiting for their tax status to change.
Swansea has been working through the backlog of documentation needed to change the tax class of cars to ‘Historic’ since staff returned on 15 June but not everyone has been able to take advantage of their cars’ new-found Vehicle Excise Duty ( VED) exemption.
Despite great progress being made last month with paperwork at the DVLA’s end, some owners wanting to use their Vehicle of Historic Interest have had no other option but to keep their documents back and tax their car as usual. Classic Car Weekly reported on the difficulties in its 1 July issue, advising owners to bite the bullet, pay tax on their car as usual and wait until DVLA staffing levels return to normal before sending documents off.
A DVLA spokesperson said: ‘Following a change in the tax status of a vehicle we issue a refund for any full months of remaining tax from the date the application is received. This includes any tax paid while the application was with us for processing. Keepers will get a refund (if they’re due one) within six weeks of their application being processed.’
The news was relayed by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs’ legislation officer, Ian Edmunds. He told CCW: ‘ We obtained confirmation from DVLA that if, as a result of not being able to change the tax class to historic for vehicles becoming eligible on 1 April, keepers taxed a vehicle at the normal VED rate would be paid for each full month from the date the tax change took place. It is not possible for the DVLA to refund the “used” VED from before the tax class change.’
FBHVC communications officer, Wayne Scott, added: ‘Despite the challenges all departments have had to face due to the pandemic , this seems a thoroughly nice gesture on behalf of the DVLA.’