Road to exemption

Richard Parker got in touch regarding my rejoicing at the end of MOT tests for 40-plus-year-old vehicles. He says that he was unable to tax his 41-year-old Garelli Tiger Cross at his local Post Office – they insisted it still needed an MOT. Then Steve Baron reported that having got the V112 Exempt Vehicles form, none of the categories were applicable.

I also had no luck trying to tax my ’72-registered Tribsa online; I suspect because it’s been off the road so long it’s still registered as a ‘Bicycle’, like a modern bike, rather than a ‘Historic Vehicle’. It looks like it’s this taxation class that defines a 40-year-old vehicle’s eligibility for Mot-free status.

To change tax class you just write ‘Historic Vehicle’ in the panel (Box 7, Changes to current vehicle’) in the V5; but there’s a note beneath saying: ‘The tax class shown can only be changed when taxing. Please apply at your nearest DVLA office.’ Of course, they all got closed a while back. There’s a catch 22 here; you need an MOT and fee to tax a ‘Bicycle’ in order to apply to have it made into an Mot/fee free Historic...

The form V112 seems to be the key, but has only recently been updated to include a category ‘R’ for 40-year-old vehicles. Post Offices don’t seem to have been issued with them yet, so you may need to download one from the internet. Fill it in, sign it and hopefully all will be well. I’ll tell you how I get on...