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MOT tax!
lampie
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Posted: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 09:09 PM UTC
I took my car for its MOT test today.
Our yearly battle with the ministry.
Ok,,so it failed on the front brakes,which isnt too bad in itself. Ive always looked on brakes,tyres and exhausts as being "consumables". I could do without paying out over 200 quid though,but thats not what this is about.
The garage cant fix the car until Monday,which is where my point lies.
If you take your car away from the testing station after a failure,you now have to pay for a full retest after its fixed!.
Yes,,you read it right!,,gone are the days when you had a week to get the necessary done without paying again.
So,,my MOT is now going to cost me £88.50. Its bad enough that the price of the test has doubled in the last few years, but making you pay twice for the test fee!!!!.
Apparently our glorious leaders snuck this one in about 5 months ago behind our backs.
And while Im on my box,,its just cost me £51 to renew my passport as well,,£9 more than it said on the leaflet I picked up at the Post Office just a few months ago,and thats going up again in October as well!
How did the song go?,,," Things Can Only Get Better"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
At least now I cant use the car for a few days I can do some serious modelling
I shall now get off my soapbox.
Teacher
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Posted: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 09:28 PM UTC
Nigel, A couple of months ago when I took mine for it's MOT, all the brakes needed doing, and I was then driving around for 3 days with the back ones hanging off. They'd forgotten to bolt them back on. Bloody things still squeaking!

Vinnie
Hawkeye
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Posted: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:00 PM UTC
Hey Nigel,

we had our car MoT'd a couple of months ago, and it only cost us £54. Are there no cheaper alternatives near you? Ours was done at a main dealers, the BMW garage in Angerming. So it was not like it was some back street place. Maybe you coudl shop around?

Regards from the Swamp

Hawkeye
BigJon
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Posted: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 10:54 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Nigel, A couple of months ago when I took mine for it's MOT, all the brakes needed doing, and I was then driving around for 3 days with the back ones hanging off. They'd forgotten to bolt them back on. Bloody things still squeaking!

Vinnie



Just out of interest, what type of car do you drive ?


Holdfast
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IPMS-UK KITMAKER BRANCH
#056
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 12:41 AM UTC
I change my car before the MOT's due, I'll be changing my current one next month
Your right though Nige, more back hand taxes from this Government, but you can't blame me, I didn't and never will, vote for Blair and the rest of his mob. Mind you there aint very much in the way of alternatives
Mal
Murdo
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:24 AM UTC
well, Golly Gosh! I'm SO looking forward to coming back to the UK!
bydand
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 02:09 PM UTC
Murdo, Don't bother, most of us are looking to leave.

Cheers

Craig
Vic
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 02:36 PM UTC
It's another way to hit the motorist, we're an easy target for filling the government coffers.


Also it's a way to get cars off the roads full stop but also a way to get rid of the old dirtier cars. It's all for our own good :-)

Raising money by making major routes toll roads is also for our own good, it eases congestion. :-)

What a load of all it does is cost us a fortune. I can remember my old Grandmother telling me when I was little that in her day most kids never saw the seaside, they couldn't afford to get there. Some had never seen cows in a field, they couldn't afford the trip.
If things go on as they are it'll be the same thing again. How much does it cost to fill your car up?

As for voting for any of the parties we've got these days. People say to me "you must use your vote, many people died to give you the right to vote". That may be but I think it's more of a dis-service to them to vote for any of the idiots these days.

If they're so hell bent on the good of the country why don't they cut their wages in half (or less), give up all their perks and save us all a lot of money. I mean they're not in it for the money are they. :-)

Ooops, fell off me soap box
lampie
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 02:59 PM UTC
Remember when diesel cars were all slow,smoke belching old dinosaurs,and diesel was cheaper than petrol?
Then everyone was encouraged to use diesel cars,and the manufacturers sorted themselves out and diesel cars became the excellent cars they are today.
Now diesel is 45p a gallon more expensive than petrol.
Hmmmm.
We all fell for that one didnt we!
Soapbox back in the shed and back to modelling :-)
Bigskip
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 03:07 PM UTC
True, diesel is more expensive than unleaded, but only by 4.54 pence per gallon, an i manage to average 50mpg, so i fill up less than i did with a petrol motor. Either way though it is a con, and until we get peace in the Middle East it is only going to get worse.

Vic
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 03:47 PM UTC

I had the misfortune to own my own 30 tonne truck as an owner driver. I got rid of it a few years back. When diesel became popular in cars and as said above, the manufacturers sorted them out. The government saw a great opportunity for MORE money and diesel is the price it is today.
Guess what was the major factor in putting me out of business.

I always wanted to know why farmers get red diesel with little tax and yet trucks have to pay full price just like joe public. Costs us all in the end because every thing we buy at some point has to go on a truck. Even cars!



Quoted Text

Soapbox back in the shed and back to modelling


Huh, I'm at work
mikeli125
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Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:18 PM UTC
Unlucky mate,
Just had my Bedford Cf camper in for it's MOT needed new indicators and Track rod joint and brake pipe bracket welding back on,
Cost me the MOT money and £12 for new track rod joint £9 for new indi's had a bit of messing around for the indis to works(long sotry dont ask) garage also fixed over the other track rod joint and totla bill for all the work was £40 I gave them £50 as it was a good price for the work they done. Some garages are just rip off's however the new MOT testing system is computerised and they have to spend a set time on the vechicle depending on the type so were in the past it might have took 30mins to do a car they must now spend 1hr on it this means that the garage can only do say 8 per day instead of the 10/11 they could do in the past

airraid
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Posted: Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 04:25 PM UTC
I bought a nice diesel engined car for the fuel economy and cheaper fuel.Then this lot got in and suddenly I`m paying more for diesel than I did for petrol.I know they want us to use public transport more,but as public transport also uses diesel,every time they put the price up fares go up.Has anybody noticed that the prices don`t go down when the price of fuel does.Another stealth tax that has been brought in quietly by this lot is the need to pay for the change over of registration docs,every time a car passes to a new owner it costs £25.
Ross
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Posted: Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 05:09 PM UTC
They are complete ********s I recently got given a car which was off the road for a while. I couldn't tax it as the MOT was lost. Thinking I could drive home and get the tax in a few days when the reissued MOT came through I got stopped by the police and fined £60 for not displaying duty. They used to not do this as long as you purchased the tax to cover the period when you had it on the road. I was fuming. Though not as fuming as when the tax people fined me a further £75 for not having tax. The B******s get you for not displaying the tax as well as not having it! This is purely a snidey revenue raising tactic and part of the plot against drivers. If I was a chavvy little car thief who'd nicked the car and then written it off, I'd have been fined five shillings to be paid off at 1/2d a month and given 7 minutes community service.
DaveCox
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Posted: Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 05:20 PM UTC

Quoted Text

.Another stealth tax that has been brought in quietly by this lot is the need to pay for the change over of registration docs,every time a car passes to a new owner it costs £25.



WOT!!!! since when? I'm looking at changing cars at the moment and didn't know about this ! Good job I'll be buying from a trader - they can pay the charge if they want to sell the car!!

the taxman!
lampie
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Posted: Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 06:38 PM UTC

Quoted Text

.Another stealth tax that has been brought in quietly by this lot is the need to pay for the change over of registration docs,every time a car passes to a new owner it costs £25.



Blimey,,theyve changed that one as well!!.
Its the total underhand way they do it that gets my back up,and the constant patronising.
The only one theyve bought in that I actually agree with,(in principle),is the fine for not taxing your car,but how many drivers has it actually stopped?
I would happily use public transport, if there was a public transport infrastructure in place that was more use than the present chocolate teapot system.
Picked up the car today after getting the new brakes fitted so Im back on the road,and the best thing is the garage didnt charge me for the MOT retest. Whether this was out of kindness or an oversight on their part I dont know,cause once the MOT and keys were in my hand I legged it asap :-)
They'll be taxing us for building models next
Soapbox back in the shed
Nige
Ross
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Posted: Monday, July 24, 2006 - 03:08 PM UTC

[/quote]

The only one theyve bought in that I actually agree with,(in principle),is the fine for not taxing your car,but how many drivers has it actually stopped? [/quote]

In principle I agree with this too, however as happened to me I got fined £134 for not having the tax because I wasn't able to. What really p****s me off is that there is no allowance for those times when the tax is ungettable. The car was insured and MOT'd but I didn't have the MOT certificate so THEY WHO WANT YOUR MONEY wouldn't let me get the tax. Rather than giving some grace they just treat you like a criminal and fleece you. The truth is they rely on generally law abiding citizens to pay up ridiculous sums, plus due to the exorbitant costs involved they encourage those on very low incomes to either, not drive or break the law by not paying large sums to keep cars on the road.

As with everything they try and discourage road use by whacking massive costs everywhere. All this does is hit those with the lowest incomes and make life difficult for them, wheras everyone else just pays up. It's a win win situation for HMG.
Teacher
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 03:00 AM UTC
Jon, A Leganza

Vinnie
Vic
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 01:35 PM UTC

I had an old car that I declared SORN. So far so good.
A year later I got fined because I didn't declair it SORN again. How many times do they need to be told. (every year in case you didn't know)

I said that I hadn't had a reminder but was told they send them out as a favour, they are not obligated to so the fault was still mine.

Talk about money for old rope.

Oh reah, they would only accept postal order payment so that cost me an extra £10 for the postal orders.
lampie
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 03:45 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I had an old car that I declared SORN. So far so good.
A year later I got fined because I didn't declair it SORN again. How many times do they need to be told. (every year in case you didn't know)

I said that I hadn't had a reminder but was told they send them out as a favour, they are not obligated to so the fault was still mine.

Talk about money for old rope.


Im genuinely shocked by this one!,,How much did this scam cost you?
You declare a vehicle SORN, and every year after Mr Computer sends you a fine!,,,Urine extraction is what that amounts to.
Surely theres some way to appeal against this one?
Its bad enough for the motorist everytime we actually use the vehicle, petrol prices,traffic wardens with "targets",multitudes of speed cameras etc,,,but to be penalised for a vehicle which has been declared SORN once already is a bit much I think.
Nige
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 05:21 PM UTC
Talk about stealth tax! How about Parking Fines?

Ever got a parking fine, while there’s still time on the meter?

In the Lake District (Windermere) we got shopped twice!

First time, I had to use a friend’s car, when I got back to the car I still had a few minutes on the meter, but also a ticket. The excuse was the ticket was not DISPLAYED CORRECTLY!

Second time, we had put in money for the meter, but as it goes we were short (about 10 minutes worth) to cover the meter till the end of the ‘parking’ day. As we had about 2 hours worth, I thought we’d make it back in time! WRONG! I got fined £60 or £30 with admission of guilt. All this ± 5 minutes before the parking meters close of day!

Net result we now go elsewhere on vacation! :-)
Vic
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 06:28 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I had an old car that I declared SORN. So far so good.
A year later I got fined because I didn't declair it SORN again. How many times do they need to be told. (every year in case you didn't know)

I said that I hadn't had a reminder but was told they send them out as a favour, they are not obligated to so the fault was still mine.

Talk about money for old rope.


Im genuinely shocked by this one!,,How much did this scam cost you?
You declare a vehicle SORN, and every year after Mr Computer sends you a fine!,,,Urine extraction is what that amounts to.
Surely theres some way to appeal against this one?
Its bad enough for the motorist everytime we actually use the vehicle, petrol prices,traffic wardens with "targets",multitudes of speed cameras etc,,,but to be penalised for a vehicle which has been declared SORN once already is a bit much I think.
Nige



Ah well, there's a bit more to add.
I declared the vehicle SORN before I moved house . I duly sent away my log book for change of address. This evidently never got processed and with the vehicle off the road I never thought of it again. When the SORN "ran out" I was fined without knowing about it and then fined again for not paying. Eventually they found my new address ( strange how they only managed this after I was fined ). It cost £100 fines and £10 for postal orders. I sent them a nice letter with it
You have the option to go to court but you'll never win and end up with all the court cost etc. You don't take that chance and that's what they bank on.
Hohenstaufen
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Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 12:18 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I had an old car that I declared SORN. So far so good.
A year later I got fined because I didn't declair it SORN again. How many times do they need to be told. (every year in case you didn't know)

I said that I hadn't had a reminder but was told they send them out as a favour, they are not obligated to so the fault was still mine.

Talk about money for old rope.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Im genuinely shocked by this one!,,How much did this scam cost you?
You declare a vehicle SORN, and every year after Mr Computer sends you a fine!,,,Urine extraction is what that amounts to.
Surely theres some way to appeal against this one?
Its bad enough for the motorist everytime we actually use the vehicle, petrol prices,traffic wardens with "targets",multitudes of speed cameras etc,,,but to be penalised for a vehicle which has been declared SORN once already is a bit much I think.
Nige

There is actually a (slim I admit) logic in this. This is because many people who restore old vehicles SORN them while they are off the road, then DVLA have to be notified when it goes back on. The really great thing about old vehicles (+25 years), is the Road Tax is free, but if it's not displayed you can be fined!!! How cool is that? So if, like me, you run old bikes, & some little toe-rag knicks your tax disc, you lose! But then, it could be argued that any of us daft enough to still live in Blair's Britain gets what we deserve!
Hohenstaufen
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Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 12:24 PM UTC
Oh yes, I forgot. The MOT is just a government stealth tax anyway, since the document is meaningless. If you were involved in an accident 5 mins after leaving the testing station, it doesn't prove the roadworthyness of the car in any legal sense! Good eh?! Personally I just regard the MOT as a test of my own vehicle maintainence.
There is another option. My mate has a 1940 US Army GMC 21/2 tonner, he doesn't pay any road tax & doesn't have to MOT it either. The only drawback is it seemingly requires 2 hours maintenance for every hour of road use, & an engine rebuild every 5000 miles! :-)
airraid
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 01:23 PM UTC
Whilst we are on the subject of hammering the motorist. I was driving along when four kids ran into the road, I braked and avoided an accident .I then started to accelerate again when another of the little darlings ran infront of me .This time I couldn`t stop.Result ,one kid on the bonnet.One smashed headlight and damage to the front trim of my car.The kid was more shocked than injured as a first aider and the fact that he banged his head I made sure he went to hospital.Guess who got the bill for the ambulance, even though I was not at fault .You are supposed to cliam it back off your insurance,I finished up with £175 worth of damage to my car and no one to claim the costs off.The motorist is automatically deemed to be at fault when involved in an accident where pedestrians and cyclists are concernd
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