HOW CLUBS CAN HELP YOU TO SAVE MONEY
Clubs vow to win some cars achieve historic status a year or two early
Classics built before 1 January 1982 became eligible for historic vehicles status on 1 April, but classics that were registered a significant time after they were built may be missing out on a year or two of exemption.
Historic vehicle status grants advantages such as VED, MOT and ULEZ exemption, potentially saving owners hundreds of pounds a year, and is granted to cars that are more than 40 years old. Better yet the exemption rolls forward automatically every April.
The cut-off until April 2023 is cars built before 1 January 1982,but in many cases the DVLA records have conflated build date with registration date, even though many cars were registered months, and sometimes even years, after they were built.
The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club has said that it is helping owners who find themselves in this situation to achieve historic status a year or two earlier by using their records to prove actual vehicle build dates to the DVLA.
Club historian, Graeme Lawton, told Classic Car Weekly: ‘The closure of the Talbot factory in May 1981 saw the end of production of the iconic Sunbeam Lotus. Due to slow sales, however, many were not delivered until 1982, 1983 or even 1984 in one case, totalling 35 per cent of all Sunbeam Lotus models sold in the UK. Their year of manufacture is recorded according to when they were registered, which hinders the process to change tax class. The good news is that the Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club can provide the necessary dating evidence for these cars to be recognised by DVLA as being 1981 builds.’
The club is encouraging any Sunbeam Lotus owner with a 1982-, 1983- or 1984-registered car to get in touch. Many other classics from the same period may also be able to achieve historic status earlier through similar means.
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