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Taxing a car with temporary insurance
Taxing a car with temporary insurance

You need insurance to tax your car

Joey M avatar
Written by Joey M
Updated over a week ago

To buy vehicle tax, your car will need to be insured.

That's because UK law requires a vehicle to be insured all the time (with at least third-party cover), even when you're not driving it.

So when you tax your car, the tax authorities will check the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to see if you're insured.

You can tax your car with temporary insurance

The good news is that you can use our temporary insurance to tax your car - as long as your policy details show up on the MID.

The Motor Insurance Database and tax

When you buy a Cuvva policy, we send your details to the MID within 24 hours.

We update the MID more often than other insurers, so your policy will often appear within a few hours. But it can sometimes take a day, or longer.

Once the MID has updated, and your vehicle shows up as "insured", you'll be able to tax your car.

How to tax your car

There's a few ways to buy vehicle tax:

  • On your phone

  • At the post office

You won't need to show your policy documents.

If you buy a new car, you can't transfer the previous owner's tax

Vehicle tax can't be transferred to a new keeper anymore.

That means that when you buy a car, you'll need to buy vehicle tax straight away. You can't even drive the vehicle home without tax!

Not to worry, though. Temporary car insurance is a great way to get insured for the drive home - and get your tax at the same time.

Check your car tax

You can check your vehicle's tax status, MOT, and other vehicle data with our free car checker.

Happy driving! πŸš—

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