Car tax check
Vehicle tax does not transfer with the car. The moment it changes hands the seller's tax is cancelled and refunded, and the buyer has to tax it before driving it away — so what matters before you buy is not whether it is taxed today but what it will cost you from the day it is yours.
No account and no card. What the Pro check adds.
What the tax check shows
Live from the DVLA's own record, including the figures that decide which band the car falls into.
- Taxed, untaxed or SORN
- The current status, with the date the present period runs out.
- The CO₂ figure
- The number the band is calculated from, shown against the band scale.
- First registration date
- Which VED regime the car sits under — the rules changed in 2001 and again in 2017, and the date decides which one applies.
- Fuel type and engine size
- Both feed the rate on older cars, where engine capacity rather than emissions sets the band.
- MOT status alongside it
- You cannot tax a car without a valid MOT, so the two questions are really one.
- Euro status
- What decides whether the car is charged in a clean-air zone or the London ULEZ.
Worth knowing before you rely on it
A SORN is not a warning sign on its own — a car laid up over winter or kept off the road during a rebuild is properly declared SORN, and that is the law working as intended. A SORN on a car being advertised as a daily driver is a different matter.
The DVLA record shows status, not history: it will tell you the car is taxed today, not whether it spent last year untaxed. And the expensive-car supplement, which adds a surcharge for five years to cars that listed above £40,000 when new, is not part of the registration record at all.
Where this comes from
The DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service — the same live record behind the government's own 'check if a vehicle is taxed' service.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Does car tax transfer when I buy a car?
- No. It is cancelled when the car changes keeper and the seller is refunded for the remaining full months. You must tax it yourself before driving it.
- Can I tax a car without the V5C?
- You can tax it using the green new-keeper slip (V5C/2) the seller gives you. If you have no paperwork at all, you will need to apply for a replacement V5C first.
- What does SORN mean?
- Statutory Off Road Notification — a declaration that the car is kept off public roads. It cannot be driven except to a pre-booked MOT, and it is not taxed or insured for road use.
- Is an untaxed car a red flag when buying?
- Not by itself. A car sitting on a forecourt or a driveway between owners is often untaxed quite legitimately. It matters when the story you are being told does not fit — a car described as in daily use that has been untaxed for months.