YOUR VIEWS
WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com
To pay or not to pay?
I’ve recently been faced with an interesting dilemma. My Tesla Model X failed an MOT test in December, which I decided to challenge.
First, I took it to Tesla Leeds, who basically disagreed with the failure regarding front-arm bushes. Therefore my only option was to ask the Department for Transport (Df T) for an independent evaluation.
In the meantime, I got a letter from the DVLA stating that I was late paying my VED. As we all know, you can’t pay your VED until your car has an MOT (£40 then, £80 if I delayed).
In January, a gentleman from the DfT informed me that a test had been booked. The car failed marginally on the basis of the front-arm bushes being worn. I accepted the outcome and immediately then went onto the government website to pay my VED with an MOT certificate in my hand.
I filled in my details, which were accepted, and to my surprise was told there was nothing to pay.
I’ve since tried to find out why a four-year-old Tesla doesn’t pay any VED, having paid £250 annually for the past four years, due to its original list price being more than £40,000.