Untaxed Car impounded

[Chris123]

My car was recently impounded due to being untaxed. The car being untaxed was not to my knowledge (although i know the onus is on my to check). I have not received letters, emails, calls or any contact whatsoever.

The car was parked on the road around 2km away from my home, where parking is free. The car (bought for £990 earlier this year) is also not working with a suspected blown head gasket.

It was taken on the 11/12/21. The events leading up to this point was that I was isolating following scary news of Omicron and then later flew out to see my wife’s family (who’s mother is terminally Ill) in the USA from the 16-24/12/21. Coming home I went to pick the car up and bring it closer to my home. I searched for hours thinking maybe I parked somewhere else or maybe it had been stolen so I checked the TRACE website and there was no information of it being towed. I reported this online to the police who later called me to say it had in fact been towed but they were unable to provide any information on why.

The days following this new information were Xmas day- Boxing Day and then 2 bank holidays. Meaning the earliest I can pick it up is the 29/12/21 (despite me being charged for all of these days).

I truly understand that I should have been taxed but I also believe that this is a list of things that should fight my corner should it go to court as the costs to remove the car from the impound is £578. This is 58% of the value of the car at the point of purchase.

I am writing this to see what my chances are of succeeding in court as I would like to take this that way depending on the advice of anyone that can help on here but also to see if anyone has had success in doing a similar thing.

Thank you!

[R0b]

Hello,

I think that your chances are pretty much slim to none. The law requires you to tax and insure the vehicle or have the car registered as a SORN. Given that you already accept the onus is on yourself to ensure it is taxed, short of you being physically unable to tax the car (for example, if you were in a coma in hospital) there wouldn't be any room for argument.

I believe it's a strict liability, which means there is no defence and they only need to prove that the car was not taxed. Perhaps you might argue the storage costs are excessive but then that is up to you to prove.

Tagging des8 for any other thoughts

[islandgirl]

I agree with Rob. You have nothing to argue.

[jggiant]

My car was recently impounded due to being untaxed. The car being untaxed was not to my knowledge (although i know the onus is on my to check). I have not received letters, emails, calls or any contact whatsoever.

The car was parked on the road around 2km away from my home, where parking is free. The car (bought for £990 earlier this year) is also not working with a suspected blown head gasket.

It was taken on the 11/12/21. The events leading up to this point was that I was isolating following scary news of Omicron and then later flew out to see my wife’s family (who’s mother is terminally Ill) in the USA from the 16-24/12/21. Coming home I went to pick the car up and bring it closer to my home. I searched for hours thinking maybe I parked somewhere else or maybe it had been stolen so I checked the TRACE website and there was no information of it being towed. I reported this online to the police who later called me to say it had in fact been towed but they were unable to provide any information on why.

The days following this new information were Xmas day- Boxing Day and then 2 bank holidays. Meaning the earliest I can pick it up is the 29/12/21 (despite me being charged for all of these days).

I truly understand that I should have been taxed but I also believe that this is a list of things that should fight my corner should it go to court as the costs to remove the car from the impound is £578. This is 58% of the value of the car at the point of purchase.

I am writing this to see what my chances are of succeeding in court as I would like to take this that way depending on the advice of anyone that can help on here but also to see if anyone has had success in doing a similar thing.

Thank you!

The DVLA does send out reminder notices( mine came today!) but it is totally your responsibility to check etc, they have a massive backlog of work due to "c" and strikes etc.
Storage charges are usually regulated by police authority, they tell the tow company what the daily rate is. Used to work in the industry a good few years ago. We charged a tow fee, then daily storage, you have to tax vehicle before you can take it away, they check on line now, back in the day it was £25 a day but probably a hell of a lot more now. Sorry.

[des8]

As R0b the various regulations issued by the Secretary of State under power of the Vehicle Excise &Registration Act 1994 require the keeper to tax the vehicle.
The charges for uplifting and storing the vehicle are also mandated under the Road Traffic Act 1988( Retention of seized Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (altho there maty be a later amendment regarding charges which I haven't located!)

The cost of uplifting depends on size, condition and starts at £150 for cars up to 3.5 tonnes
Storage charges for cars up to 3.5 tonnes start at £20 per day

Court will only cost you more!