UK Dopers: How is a tax disc holder used?

[brad_d]

@postcards

[hijack]
I never understood why some states put the reg on the plate. Here in New York, it gets pasted to the inside of the windscreen, on the driver’s side, just close enough to the dashboard that scraping the old one off every two years becomes a twenty- to thirty-minute affair.
[/hijack]

Texas does it this way, as well. The last year for stickers on the license plate there was 1994, IIRC. Since then registration has been indicated by a sticker affixed to the inside of the windshield, on the driver’s lower corner.

Like Johnny L.A. said, the paper documentation accompanying the registration must be carried inside the vehicle in Texas, too. (This is true in every state I have knowledge of, no matter how said registration is indicated externally.)

[GorillaMan]

@Pushkin

A sticker for that and insurance would be a handy thing for the police.

I thought the DVLA now had a database of insured vehicles, the intention being that it can be checked by the police?

[Rayne_Man]

@GorillaMan

I thought the DVLA now had a database of insured vehicles, the intention being that it can be checked by the police?

That is true. They also have a database of MOT certificates. This why you can now renew your tax disk on-line. So no more trips to the post-office with all your documents.

[GorillaMan]

@Rayne Man

That is true. They also have a database of MOT certificates. This why you can now renew your tax disk on-line. So no more trips to the post-office with all your documents.

Assuming you don’t leave it until payday at the end of the month

[Rayne_Man]

@GorillaMan

Assuming you don’t leave it until payday at the end of the month

I renewed mine using this method last month and it only took three days to deliver the disk. so you can leave it fairly late in the month before doing it.

[Pushkin]

@GorillaMan

I thought the DVLA now had a database of insured vehicles, the intention being that it can be checked by the police?

I thought it was just untaxed vehicles.

[slaphead]

@Johnny L.A.

What? ‘It ain’t smokin’.’?

More like “it isn’t smoking more than one would expect from a British Leyland car”, i.e. if you can see the brake lights, it’s fine

I jest - if it’s producing visible smoke when warmed up, I think it fails.

[Rayne_Man]

@Pushkin

I thought it was just untaxed vehicles.

Don’t quite understand your question. Could you elaborate ?

[Pushkin]

@Rayne Man

Don’t quite understand your question. Could you elaborate ?

I didn’t know the UK government kept a list of vehicles (or individuals) without insurance, I thought it was untaxed vehicles. Hence the new ads with the big bad government computer tracking down a hapless driver.

[Rayne_Man]

@Pushkin

I didn’t know the UK government kept a list of vehicles (or individuals) without insurance, I thought it was untaxed vehicles. Hence the new ads with the big bad government computer tracking down a hapless driver.

I think the DVLA has three separate lists. One for those who have taxed their cars, another for those who have valid insurance and a third for those who should have an MOT certificate. These three lists can be accessed by the police to check that a car has the necessary documentation. Also, as I indicated above, the lists are used when you renew your car tax on-line.

[chowder]

@GorillaMan

A ‘tax disc holder’ in the old days was just that - an attachment either inside or outside the windscreen, which showed the tax disc to anyboy who cared to see.

You forgot to mention that the disc holder has to be affixed to the nearside of the windscreen.

[GorillaMan]

@jjimm

Surely it’s the same thing these days too? Anyway here’s a pic of a fancy one inside a windscreen.

No, what I meant was that pre-sticky plastic, they were a separately-mounted metal device. They screwed open & shut, hence the piece of paper being a disc. And I think they were sometimes mounted on the front bumper. (And I’m guessing that motorbikes still use them?)

[Lobelia_Overhill]

Here in Ireland you get a holder for you tax disc (same as UK) your NCT “ticket”, and your insurance “ticket”… You can be fined and/or jailed for driving a car without insurance here.