How do I get a refund for my unused road tax?

The DVLA will refund you the tax if you return your car or van road tax disc to your local post office. You won’t be able to get a cash refund as banks don’t deal with coins but you will receive a cheque for £11.50, which is the price of the old tax disc. Please note that if you have registered as a company, you can no longer return the tax disc – so this only applies to personal car scrapers.

When you scrap your vehicle, you will get a road tax refund

The car/road tax refund only needs to be claimed a few days after the vehicle has been scrapped. The process is easy.

After your car is collected, you’ll be sent a vehicle/VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) refund notice, which explains how much tax has been repaid to the DVLA. This depends on whether you’ve completed the tax disc return section on the back of your V5C logbook or not.

What am I entitled to?

How much you’ll receive depends on a number of factors: the age of your car, how many months remain on your tax and whether or not you’ve had any previous refunds. Use our handy calculator to find out how much money you’re entitled to – just enter the year of your car and the number of full months left on your tax.

The correct amount will be refunded to you via the bank account or credit card you have on your tax account. You may be asked to provide your payment details, your car’s registration number and the date it was sold/scrapped to any DVLA agent.

How to reclaim road tax

If your vehicle has been stolen or declared SORN, you can request your vehicle tax back, without having to send your V5C to the DVLA. The procedure is very simple – just visit the DVLA’s dedicated vehicle tax refund page and select the relevant option. The cheque will be made payable to the person whose name and address is on the V5C log book.

The DVLA will issue you with a refund for the full months left on your tax. This refund will be made as a cheque, which is made out to the person whose name and address are on the V5C log book.

What happens if I've already submitted my V5C?

If you’ve already sent the relevant section of your V5C back to the DVLA, you won’t miss out on a refund. Since the new style road tax applies to the registered keeper of the car, instead of the car itself, the DVLA will see that you’ve sold your car/vehicle and issue a tax refund automatically.