Car lease return - Question on Tax/MOT

[Seventyseven7]

Hi All,

I have the opportunity to extend a leased Audi for 6 months at a very cheap price.

Agreement is with VWFS, I've tried to contact them to ask the question but they never pick up the phone and have not replied to my 2 emails, so was hopful someone would know here.

If we extend the lease 6 months, it means the contract end date is the 2nd of September. The current Tax ends on the 1st of September and MOT on the 12th of September.

Would I need to tax the car for 6 months on the 1st to return it? I assume I would just be out of pocket here and not much I can do?
Would I need to MOT it, I assume that because it will have 10 days left, it should be fine?

[samoht]

On the car tax, you'd be able to claim a refund for unused whole months, so you'd only end up paying for September at the most.

[meb90]

Thought - is there a requirement that the car is taxed at all times? Otherwise, don't tax it from the 1st September and don't use it for a day or two!

[samoht]

meb90 said:

Thought - is there a requirement that the car is taxed at all times? Otherwise, don't tax it from the 1st September and don't use it for a day or two!

If you have somewhere to keep the car off the public road (eg your driveway or a garage)
Then you could declare it SORN on the evening of 31st August
And not drive it on 1st/2nd September
and then legally you're fine.

If the lease company come and collect the car with a truck, then that wouldn't be an issue legally for them.
I have no idea what the situation would be if they sent someone out to drive the car back.

The lease company might have a condition that you must keep the car taxed throughout the lease period, I have no idea, check the docs on that one.

[md_ph]

Return the car a few days early, book collection for end of august and you won’t have an issue.

Typically a lease car will have all inclusive which will include vehicle tax, have you had to pay for tax on the car for the past number of years?

[imdeman87]

Seventyseven7 said:

Hi All,

I have the opportunity to extend a leased Audi for 6 months at a very cheap price.

Agreement is with VWFS, I've tried to contact them to ask the question but they never pick up the phone and have not replied to my 2 emails, so was hopful someone would know here.

If we extend the lease 6 months, it means the contract end date is the 2nd of September. The current Tax ends on the 1st of September and MOT on the 12th of September.

Would I need to tax the car for 6 months on the 1st to return it? I assume I would just be out of pocket here and not much I can do?
Would I need to MOT it, I assume that because it will have 10 days left, it should be fine?

If VWFS authorises the extension then they will pay the VED.

If you hand the car back on/before 2nd Sept then you won't need to do an MOT.

[PistonBroker]

As others have said, just hand it back a few days early.

We had a 3-year contract on our 18/18 Disco Sport. I handed it back last week of Feb '21 so that we weren't on for the MOT.

I wasn't worried about the £40-odd for an MOT. But what happens if it fails?!

As it happens, I've just checked, and it didn't get MOT'd till 29/05/21. I guess BCA had to punt it on and a trader didn't bother MOT-ing it until it was sold.

[Seventyseven7]

Thanks all for the great replies, all very helpful. Appreciate it

[AliMc99]

The various VWFS leases we’ve had have included VED- including when extended.