Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards are in place to avoid mistakenly withdrawing motor tax following erroneous or malicious notification of cars being exported or going off road.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) requires specific information or documentation before it will process a notification that a vehicle has been exported or taken off the road.

In order to be able to make such notifications electronically (where such a service is available) a unique reference number from the vehicle registration certificate and/or vehicle excise duty renewal letter must be used. This helps to ensure that it is the registered keeper of the vehicle making the notification.

If the notification cannot be made electronically, the registered keeper must use the appropriate section of the vehicle registration certificate or write to the DVLA.

When the off road or export notification has updated the DVLA’s records, a refund of any remaining vehicle excise duty will be issued to the registered keeper. Unexpectedly receiving this payment should prompt the keeper to contact the DVLA if they did not make the notification themselves.