Originally Posted by mustaphapint

I was bored this morning so I emailed the DVLA with the following question:-

Please can you advise how I could remain legal if taking my UK vehicle abroad for an extended period say 2 years on a multi country trip.
I know you say I should export the vehicle if it's to be out of the country for over a year. But that is only practical if the vehicle is to be re-registered in another country. If I am constantly travelling between countries that cannot be done.
I know I can renew my road tax via the internet, but I can only do this if I have a current MOT.
It is not possible to renew a UK MOT whilst abroad, so once the MOT expires I cannot retax the vehicle without returning to the UK and as soon as I drive off the ferry I am committing an offense.
Are there any concessions for this catch 22 situation?

And I received the following reply:-

Thank you for your email.
You are right when you say that it would not be practical to register your vehicle in another country if you are passing through a large number of them over a two year period.
You would not be able to tax your vehicle because of the lack of a valid MOT certificate and you would not be able to declare your vehicle off the road because this can only be done if the vehicle was being laid up within the confines of the UK.
In these circumstances you would need to write a letter into the Centre quoting the registration mark of the vehicle and explaining why it would not be taxed or declared off the road over the next 2 years or so. You can ask for this correspondence to be entered on to the vehicle record. This would ensure that you would not receive any fines or penalties with regard to the fact that your car will not be taxed.
The following contact information should be used with regard to this matter;
Vehicle Customer Services, DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA.
I hope that this matter has clarified matters for you.
Regards
David S Evans
Motoring : Directgov

Originally Posted by topcat

Hi travellers, I'd like to know if anyone has done anything similar more recently, and what was the response? Many thanks

Originally Posted by panhandle1300

Don't bother. Unless the rules have changed in the last couple of years, (which a quick Google suggests that they haven't) you have no option but to be illegal .. Many posts about it on this thread - My experience here - http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...2-8#post419000

Originally Posted by Tony LEE

The time that people start to care about whether a vehicle is legal or not is when you have a serious accident.

The Spanish police - see Facebook page for N322 - have been cracking down on British vehicles without tax, MOT, registration and insurance and they use a public database to check on the vehicle status and issue big fines as required.

No reason why other police forces can't do the same.

Those travelling with a Carnet will also need to have valid registration if they need to renew it

Originally Posted by Tony LEE

Then you are wrong again.

And if you SORN a vehicle that is outside the UK, you will be illegal in UK too because you have made a false declaration.

Originally Posted by Tony LEE

The Spanish police - ................................ - have been cracking down on British vehicles without tax, MOT, registration and insurance and they use a public database to check on the vehicle status and issue big fines as required.

No reason why other police forces can't do the same.

Originally Posted by panhandle1300

Increasingly, the UK is going paperless and putting a lot of information online, for anyone to view who happens to know a registration number.
https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla