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I took too much Viagra and couldn’t leave the house – what’s your excuse for not getting your road tax?

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24 August 2013

I took too much Viagra and couldn’t leave the house I HAD to chuckle at this excuse for not paying road tax on time.

I’m not sure how many of the blue pills he had popped but it had certainly fired up his library-of-excuses imagination.

And clearly other parts of his anatomy too.

This was just one of 10 best excuses given to the DVLA for not buying a road tax disc.

‘My accountant told me I’m due a tax rebate so I didn’t think I needed to pay again this year’ was another in the DVLA’s top 10.

But the way tax discs are delivered with new company cars is changing. And you need to know about it.

Previously, the supplying dealer – whether your company car was purchased or supplied on a business car lease – would tax the company car at a Post Office before delivery.

To allow for the delay the time you are allowed to drive without a valid road tax disc is now 14 days.

Under the new system introduced on 22 July, designed to streamline government departments and reduce cost, tax discs will now be issued centrally by the DVLA in Swansea.

It’s called the Automated First Registration and Licensing (AFRL) system.

Which is fine, except that it can take 14 days to process.

To allow for the delay the time you are allowed to drive without a valid road tax disc is now 14 days.

However, I was talking to one of our partners here at Business Car Manager, Martin Brown from Fleet Alliance, and he says that it has caused a degree of havoc with dealers, meaning some cars are delayed until the tax disc arrives, or company cars are sent out without a tax disc.

While there remains a 14 day period of grace, this can’t be helpful. And must be confusing for company car drivers who have a new company car delivered without a tax disc.

What to do?

Well if you get stopped and the DVLA wants to know where your tax disc is – you’ll know not to use the Viagra excuse: just tell them it’s on its way from Swansea.

For more on road tax (vehicle excise duty)

Click the link: Tax and Vehicle Excise Duty

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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