Will Zehring asked a UK Soler to confirm what he says about UK cars having a
plate for life. They do (although you can swap it for a personal plate for a
fee - my Jensen was first registered on a personal plate then after two
years was given a normal plate of the appropriate age - you know we have
different prefixes or suffixes which refer to the "model year" of first
registration, the year running from August 1 to July 31; hence the
expression in the used car trade "It's a 1992 XR3 on a 'K', squire").
Cars are registered at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre in Cardiff
(although its name has probably just been changed to Agency, prior to
privatisation). This is similar to 'titling" I expect, although it is not
the owners of cars which are recorded here, but the "registered keeper".
When you sell a car, the seller sends back the licence documents (old "log
book") to Cardiff, with details of the new owner, to make sure he/she
doesn't get clobbered with the new owner's parking tickets/bank
robberies/speeding offences etc.
The annual offering to the government for the privilege of using the
highways is the Road Tax (about #120 a year), payment proven by the display
of a disc on the windscreen.
Many people avoid paying this, so HMG would like to sting all those
registered at Cardiff with the full amount, which would be easy to
administer. Some legitimately claim (like yours truly) that the car is off
the road just at the minute.
Paul.
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