Just renewing my Tax Disc online it occured to me that the poorer amongst us running older cars and without the readys are somewhat penalised.
eg a £205 renewal is over 10% more over the year if payed 6 monthly and you can add £5 more if needing to pay by credit card - Thats a lot of admin, which post aside is not much more than zero if paying online. Rip off on a rip off on a rip off!
I'm sure I heard that Cameron was going to stop such charges,.
Forgive me for saying, but in all transactions, smaller amounts (or for shorter periods) always costs more because of the additional costs of packaging, and/or in this case, transaction costs (whether talking to someone over the phone twice or internet/PC processing/accounting etc costs. They are trying to encourage people to pay for annual fees to save on costs at their end, which could be spent in more productive areas. They are also not going to add daft odd amounts onto fees to cover the exact amount. Quite often the road fund licence has not gone up from one year to the next, so the 'high' transaction fee for 6 month tax discs are (over time) subsumed into the headline cost.
As regards using a credit card - the credit car firms charge companies/organisations offering payment by such means a fee, often up to 4% of the transaction, for this service. You don't think people who pay in other ways should subsidise you because you want to effectively have free credit for over a month?
Be reasonable. If you are poor, why are you using a credit card? Ever heard of saving up? Road fund licence is cheap compared to most other costs people have to bare.
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Things are changing:
"From 1 October 2014, the paper tax disc will no longer be issued and required to be displayed on a vehicle windscreen. Vehicle tax will still need to be paid but with DVLA having a digital record of who has and has not paid, a paper tax disc is no longer necessary as proof that vehicle tax is paid.
From 1st November 2014, motorists will be able to pay vehicles tax by direct debit annually, biannually or monthly. There will be no additional handling fees for annual payments, but for biannual and monthly payments there will be a surcharge of 5% of the vehicle tax. This is half of the current 10% surcharge applied to six monthly tax discs."
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I assume the 10% loading is from the days when most people renewed at the post office, and tax disk rates were much lower than today (so the 10% would have covered the additional costs).
I these internet days, a 5% loading is much fairer.
I thnk the credit card surcharge should just be at cost.
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So,,, Should all those who pay for their insurance also ask for it to be spread over 12 months at zero cost.. or if the direct debit fails get charged twice.
Insurance paid monthly on some sites is up to 25% more expensive.
We all have a choice on a budget.. perhaps as an example, (a bit off topic)
we both have a £15 sim only deal, 2000 minutes and unlimited data. we don't need a home phone and don't need rapid internet access, so why pay for BT£16 a month and the about the same for landline internet???.
Plan and budget. cars, insurance home etc. (do without sky!) (my sister was paying £48 a month for her package, cancelled has free sky now and has £48 a month to help towards running the car.
I do sympathize with the op, but nothing is for free.
shoul someone not pay the credit card people off in full every month How much does that cost????
Edited by oldroverboy. on 31/05/2014 at 16:47
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Considering that road tax is an utter rip off in the same vein as the tv license, then charging extra to help spread the payments is a con pure and simple.
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Considering that road tax is an utter rip off in the same vein as the tv license, then charging extra to help spread the payments is a con pure and simple.
As OP that was my point, happily I can afford to pay it in full without resorting to a credit card. Some of the above posters need to realize that not all all are as well off as them and a car albeit an old one is a life line. Users of old cars will tend to be the less well off, not able to afford a newer car devoid of lower or zero VED duties and the 'hidden' charges add insult to injury, regardless of the low mileages they do.
One can spend as little as £1 in a supermarket without a rip off surcharge on a credit card, yet as already overtaxed individuals our government sees it fit to tax us on tax.
Edited by A3 A4 on 31/05/2014 at 21:48
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One can spend as little as £1 in a supermarket without a rip off surcharge on a credit card, yet as already overtaxed individuals our government sees it fit to tax us on tax.
Supermarkets have a markup tp pay for profits and shareholders dividends.
Pay for your gas and electric on pay as you go you pay more, and that is essential, but that is a REAL scandal in this day and age!
Yes I know it "costs" to run a car and pay "extra" to spread payments, just look at it then as a discount for paying up front.
I saw a car the other day, pulled, 2 kids in the back and young mother frantic because not allowed to drive on with a bald (and i mean bald) rear tyre. and what will the fine be?
How long is a piece of string and can we afford not to tax people. (and fine them?)
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Edited by oldroverboy. on 01/06/2014 at 07:45
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Credit card fees aside, this is our Government we're talking about not a private company having to appease shareholders as with motor insurance. One also has the opportunity to shop around for a cheaper deal on insurance.
The online application process involves zero human intervention, bar pence for postage, does that really warrant a £20 surcharge for someone who maybe already struggling with the high costs of utilities etc as mentioned?
Edited by A3 A4 on 01/06/2014 at 10:51
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The surcharge for renewing road tax at six months has been in place for decades. Given how long the surcharge has been in place, complaining about the level of surcharge five months before it is reduced from 10% to 5% seems rather pointless.
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Considering that road tax is an utter rip off in the same vein as the tv license, then charging extra to help spread the payments is a con pure and simple.
Off topic I know but PLEASE don't join the "TV Licence fee is a rip off" brigade. The BBC, whilst not perfect, is the evny of almost any other county in the world. I for one HATE adverts and if the BBC did away with the licence fee then you would have yet another subscription (like SKY, BT etc) to fork out for. I suspect this would work out more than the current licence fee costs so who will be the winner in that scenario?
You'll miss it once it's gone and there will be no way back if it does go.
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There's only a couple of programmes I watch on the bbc and I wouldn't miss them if they didn't show them any more. I don't listen to bbc radio. I brows there website but could find a alternative.
So im in favour of scrapping the licence fee.
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£145 a year for left of center bias is a rip off, even if I dont want to watch the BBC and prefer Sky, I still have to pay it. We're not forced to pay for the Guardian if we want to read the Telegraph.
Any sensible person, will record a program on a commercial channel and skip the ads.
It may have once been the envy of the world, but that was a long time ago, the BBC is now well past its sell by date.
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£145 a year for left of center bias is a rip off, even if I dont want to watch the BBC and prefer Sky, I still have to pay it. We're not forced to pay for the Guardian if we want to read the Telegraph.
Any sensible person, will record a program on a commercial channel and skip the ads.
It may have once been the envy of the world, but that was a long time ago, the BBC is now well past its sell by date.
Well, each to their own.
I won't pay Murdoch's empire any money whatsoever so I chose not to watch any of the absolute rubbish that get's spouted on Sky.
Money has ruined most sport these days - premiership football is one example. F1 was once free to air but money grabbers have ruined that now and many other sports are going the same way. But whilst there are gullible people who continue to shell out £50+ per month for their TV of choice I guess they will keep taking the money.
£145 for a TV licence versus £600+ per year for adverts - well, you can probably guess which option I'll be taking.
Like I said, once it's gone it's gone and you might just one day regret it.
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£145 a year for left of center bias is a rip off, even if I dont want to watch the BBC and prefer Sky, I still have to pay it. We're not forced to pay for the Guardian if we want to read the Telegraph.
Any sensible person, will record a program on a commercial channel and skip the ads.
It may have once been the envy of the world, but that was a long time ago, the BBC is now well past its sell by date.
Well, each to their own.
I won't pay Murdoch's empire any money whatsoever so I chose not to watch any of the absolute rubbish that get's spouted on Sky.
Money has ruined most sport these days - premiership football is one example. F1 was once free to air but money grabbers have ruined that now and many other sports are going the same way. But whilst there are gullible people who continue to shell out £50+ per month for their TV of choice I guess they will keep taking the money.
£145 for a TV licence versus £600+ per year for adverts - well, you can probably guess which option I'll be taking.
Like I said, once it's gone it's gone and you might just one day regret it.
I agree with most of what you say re money in sport, but you are somewhat blinkered to the BBC and its horrendous bias. I was playing devils advocate as far as Sky goes, I won't contribute either but my point stands you can't have one without also paying for the other.
It is possible to watch a full season of live F1 without paying for Sky.....
I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but things like the Savile affair and the biased reporting of global warming and the loaded audiences on Question Time demonstrate where the BBC is really coming from and I for one dont want to contribute to that and won't miss it in the slightest.
Edited by A3 A4 on 01/06/2014 at 21:09
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Money has ruined most sport these days
SImple answer: don't watch it.
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I agree with most of what you say re money in sport, but you are somewhat blinkered to the BBC and its horrendous bias. I was playing devils advocate as far as Sky goes, I won't contribute either but my point stands you can't have one without also paying for the other.
It is possible to watch a full season of live F1 without paying for Sky.....
I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but things like the Savile affair and the biased reporting of global warming and the loaded audiences on Question Time demonstrate where the BBC is really coming from and I for one dont want to contribute to that and won't miss it in the slightest.
I am absolutely not saying the BBC are perfect - far from it. But my main point is that the BBC is the only service where you don't get stupid adverts and at least they have a degree of intelligence in their programming. Most of what get's put out on ITV, Sky and the rest of the channels is simply dumbed down for a dumb audience. Have you ever watch Daybreak of whatever it's called these days?
The presenters can hardly talk about any topic unless it's an inane one and all they really care about is how good they look. Not at all what the real world is like (at least not mine).
Most commercial channels (e.g. ones paid for by adverts) are only interested in promoting so called celebrities who have done nothing in their short little inconsequential lives but for some reason viewers of these channels all crave to be like these people.
Obviously this is my view and I fully accept that not eveyone shares my tastes - that's fine - I dont expect them too and as long as I don't have to watch this type of trash then I'm happy for them to carry on.
So, to sum up - the BBC is flawed, very flawed and I accept that. But, I still would hate to be without it and unless someone stands up for them I really fear for it's future.
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Off topic I know but PLEASE don't join the "TV Licence fee is a rip off" brigade. The BBC, whilst not perfect, is the evny of almost any other county in the world. I for one HATE adverts and if the BBC did away with the licence fee then you would have yet another subscription (like SKY, BT etc) to fork out for.
I hate adverts too but I hate even more all the b****y trailers which run 5 minutes prior to most BBC programmes. The sooner all the overpaid lefties in charge of the BBC are out of a job the better.
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