You can use those one day insurance things like insureforaday to buy a uk tax disk.

I've used them to collect UK vehicles and have read that in the small print before on them.

Never heard of a country needing a foreign tax disk on a foreign registered vehicle though. But I know very little about Oz.

Be careful of driving without a current tax disc from the country in which the vehicle is registered. Even in 2010/11 our tax disc was checked more than once in South Africa. They are catching up with technology.

Margaret

I've also been checked before. Presumably once it's all electronic, this fact will filter across to those who check? Not sure my Czech is up to trying to explain the intricacies of the UK licensing system!

I concur with the above point. I think that the original poster will need to do a bit of digging to find out exactly what the purpose of the UK tax disk is. If the legislation in the UK states that the tax disk is required in order to have the right to use the roads in the UK, and the vehicle is not being used in the UK, then it doesn't make sense that a valid tax disk should be required if the vehicle is being used on the other side of the world.

I have experience with a similar situation: I have a Canadian registered motorcycle that I use exclusively in Europe. I maintain European insurance coverage when I ride it in Europe. I don't keep the Canadian equivalent of a tax disk current if the motorcycle is off the North American continent.

An argument could be made that the 'home registration practices' (tax disks, etc.) need to be kept up if the vehicle is in a neighboring country (e.g. a UK vehicle in France, a Canadian vehicle in the USA), but once the vehicle has been moved to another continent and cannot be 'driven' back to the home country, I think it is kind of pointless to continue to pay dues to the home country if the dues are levied for the purpose of using the home country roads.

Apropos of the comment above about South African cops checking tax disc validity - well, cops (anywhere) are going to look for ways of challenging a motorist, and if they see an expired tax disc, they will raise that issue and present a challenge. The fix for that is simple, just remove the expired tax disc from the vehicle. What cops need to see (and are entitled to see) is the registration document for the vehicle, proof of ownership of the vehicle, and proof of insurance of the vehicle. If those three items are in order, I can't see any other cause for concern.

Michael

Cops are cops the world over. Their job is mainly to extort money from you, either for the government or for their own pocket. They are revenue officials in a shinier uniform.

Non-display of a tax disk from a foreign country is a totally moot point. Driven for years in Europe without tax in the 'home country' of the vehicle. All they want is insurance, a basically road worthy looking vehicle (lights, tyres) and the registration papers in your name, id, driving license.

They couldn't actually charge you with anything, because they cannot determine if the vehicle is taxed or not in its home country. This may change within the EU in the near future (if it doesn't implode under the weight of its own bs soon, here's hoping), but as yet thats it.

As I said before, I know nothing about Oz, but its going to involve an awful lot of paperwork for any little piggy to try to make a prosecution stick for that. I can't imagine that its any different for that reason alone.