Another DVLA Scam

[Rob S]

I was taxing my wifes' scooter at the weekend and decided to try the online facility they now have available. All was going smoothly until I got to the payment bit. I entered her credit card details and a message flashed up that there would be a £2.50 charge for paying by credit card!!! Given that the yearly road tax for her scooter was only £15 this charge seemed very steep!! Luckily there was an option to cancel the credit card payment and pay by debit card.

At least you can rely on good old DVLA come up with more ways to extract more money from us

[express]

This is a highly contentious statement to make. It is obviosuly not a scam, and many companies/organisations make a charge for paying by credit card. Therefore I believe the posting ought to be removed.

[dave]

I believe this is probably their bank making this charge, and thus it will be passed on to the 'customer'.

I have little time for the inefficient DVLA, but in this instance, it's not entirely their fault.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by express

This is a highly contentious statement to make. It is obviosuly not a scam, and many companies/organisations make a charge for paying by credit card. Therefore I believe the posting ought to be removed.

So you think charging a fee of £2.50 on a road fund licence that only costs £15 is not a scam? I do. Given that most credit card providers charge a fee of 2-3% on every transaction, that should mean DVLA charging a maximum of 45 pence, based on the 3% figure, but they are charging over 5 times that amount.

I stand by my opinion that it is a scam.

[borisbeaver]

Whether your tax is £15 or £150, this is a set fee.

Normally, profit making companies absorb this cost, but some pass it on.

Travel agents and ticket agencies do this all the time.

[Rob S]

It's not a set fee, it should be charged as a percentage, which is how the credit card companies bill those the businesses that take payment by credit card. It's no different in principle to the fees that some debt collection companies charge when payments are made using credit cards. They usually charge well above what they are actually being charged by the credit card companies, and this is exactly what DVLA are doing here in charging a fee of £2.50 for a road fund licence that only costs £15.

As for what travel agents charge, when I booked some flights to New Zealand last year they charged me the percentage that they would have to pay to the credit card company, without trying to make extra money out of it, unlike DCA's, bailiffs and DVLA.

[buzby]

I'm with the DVLA on this - sure there's a fee and for the convenience - if they are paid less then that's not on, so the £2.50 seems a reasonable way to do it. Different rates may well apply for different cards, so a set fee seems reasonable. As you noted, debit cards are free. Now, Ryanair charge me for using my debit card, is THAT fair? I don't thinks so, and as I can ONLY pay them with plastic there is no way I can avoid paying more than the basic flight+tax price.

[Rob S]

It's ironic that on a site for protecting consumers interests that you are siding with a government agency who is charging a fee of £2.50 for a road fund licence that only costs £15. That equates to 16.67% of the cost of the product being sold. Would you be saying the same if a bailiff or a DCA were charging a fee of almost 17% for a payment by credit card? I doubt it.

[buzby]

It's all about choice. The cost of the tax disc is £15. If you pay this by credit card, they don't get the full amount - so you're paying short. If you pay by cheque or debit card, you pay no extra. There's no point in quoting %'s - the issue has got nothing to do with the actual cost, I've already explained different cards charge different amounts. If you expect fees to be calculated based on 17 different price levels, across 4 different card types, nobody's ever going to understand it.

As for protecting consumers interests - we live in the real world. They could turn round and say forget it - no credit cards. That would hit folk that need to defer the cost of their licence. For £15 for a scooter, a trip to the PO with a cheque will save you money. Why not use the choice they offer and pay that way?

[Rob S]

Buzby, the different card providers no doubt have differerent charging structures, but do you know any of them that would charge a fee of £2.50 on a £15 transaction? This has everything to do with the actual cost and the percentages here do matter. If someone started a thread in the bailiff section about being charged almost 17% by a bailiff for processing a credit card payment, when the usual percentage most businesses have to pay is in the order of 2-3% you would no doubt be appalled. So why are you so indifferent to what DVLA are doing?

Yes, there is a choice in terms of making a payment, but its the fact that DVLA are adding on such an inflated fee which is well in excess of their costs that is ridiculous here. You obviously can't see that.

[PKea]

Walk to the Post Office and Tax it there for Free
You dont have to use online or your credit card.
YOU HAVE THE CHOICE
How much would it cost you to drive, and park, to go to the post office?

[dave]

I do see the point - they ARE profiting from this transaction, and that's not really on.

PKea, true, the OP does have the choice of going to a post office - assuming one still exists near him - I know my nearest is now 13 miles from my house and the queues are so long I simply cannot get there at lunchtimes. If I want to buy road tax, I have to take the day off to do it. Which, again, is not on.

[PKea]

Originally Posted by dave

PKea, true, the OP does have the choice of going to a post office - assuming one still exists near him - I know my nearest is now 13 miles from my house and the queues are so long I simply cannot get there at lunchtimes. If I want to buy road tax, I have to take the day off to do it. Which, again, is not on.

Yeah Fair point, They seem to closing them down for fun round here as well, local one is now in WHSmith.

The plus side of online is they can check your MOT and Insurance, without you having to hunt round the house for the docs (or is that just my bad filing?)

[buzby]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Yes, there is a choice in terms of making a payment, but its the fact that DVLA are adding on such an inflated fee which is well in excess of their costs that is ridiculous here. You obviously can't see that.

You cannot accept that choice is available, then moan at the cost of one of the options? I've already explained the impracticality of basing a CC charge on the actual cost, the number of tax discs retailed at under £100 will most certainly be in the minority. To pick through these to find the ones that don;t and modify the charge would be impractical - you just find a different way to pay. Faced with the prospect of trudging down to the PO, online by debit card or posting it in, you don't seriously expect that anyone will claim lack of alternatives? Just wait until they say it's Direct Debit only - THEN there will be a genuine cause for complaint.

As to Dave's assertion he has to take a day off work - oh puleeze... an envelope and a stamp is that onerous, you'd have to take a day off work to travel to a PO? Fine if they still pay you - if they don't send a cheque in the mail.

As for the rest of us who use the online service with debit cards and pay NOTHING extra, do you think we'd be happy a CC users effectively getting their tax disc at a lower rate because they use one, with the card company making a profit on the transaction? No way!

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by buzby

You cannot accept that choice is available, then moan at the cost of one of the options?

Of course you can complain about the cost of one of the options, that's what this site is all about! The banks are being challenged over their charges so why not challenge DVLA?

Originally Posted by buzby

I've already explained the impracticality of basing a CC charge on the actual cost, the number of tax discs retailed at under £100 will most certainly be in the minority. To pick through these to find the ones that don;t and modify the charge would be impractical - you just find a different way to pay.

Impracticality? What nonsense! it would be very easy for DVLA to set up an appropriate charge for each level of tax disc when someone pays by credit card, but they have chosen to apply a set fee across the board. As for tax discs under £100 being in a minority, there are many thousands issued under that figure. All motorcycles are well below £100 and all cars in the 101-120 g/km emissions band only pay £35 per year.

Originally Posted by buzby

As to Dave's assertion he has to take a day off work - oh puleeze... an envelope and a stamp is that onerous, you'd have to take a day off work to travel to a PO? Fine if they still pay you - if they don't send a cheque in the mail.

Would you honestly be prepared to entrust DVLA with your insurance certificate and MOT certificate by posting in your application? I wouldn't

Originally Posted by buzby

As for the rest of us who use the online service with debit cards and pay NOTHING extra, do you think we'd be happy a CC users effectively getting their tax disc at a lower rate because they use one, with the card company making a profit on the transaction? No way!

What an absurd point! If I paid for my road tax online and there was no extra charge, I would still be paying the same amount as your paying by debit card. It would be DVLA who would not get as much..............and I don't see a problem with that

And to finish, do you think it fair that DVLA charge the same fee of £2.50 to someone taxing their 4 x 4 at a rate of £300 a year (which it will be next year) as they charge someone taxing their moped for £15 a year?

[buzby]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Impracticality? What nonsense! it would be very easy for DVLA to set up an appropriate charge for each level of tax disc when someone pays by credit card, but they have chosen to apply a set fee across the board.

Why not read what I said. There's no single 'credit card' - each type levies a different % fee to process, hence you need to multiply the number of tax rates, by the number of card processors dealt with. THAT'S what is impractical. Shame you can't appreciate this.

Originally Posted by Rob S

As for tax discs under £100 being in a minority, there are many thousands issued under that figure. All motorcycles are well below £100 and all cars in the 101-120 g/km emissions band only pay £35 per year.

And you think any of these would even approach 50% of the tax discs issued? I doubt it, but if you want to find out the actual figures, feel free.

Originally Posted by Rob S

Would you honestly be prepared to entrust DVLA with your insurance certificate and MOT certificate by posting in your application? I wouldn't

Neither would I, but that's not the point. As DVLA can cheque directly anyway, I doubt they even look at the paper documentation supplied, they'd take their database as the first point of reference.

Originally Posted by Rob S

What an absurd point! If I paid for my road tax online and there was no extra charge, I would still be paying the same amount as your paying by debit card. It would be DVLA who would not get as much..............and I don't see a problem with that

It's only absurd if you don't understand or cannot comprehend. WHY should your credit card company receive revenue (discount) for taxing your vehicle, when I cannot when I pay by another method? The current system means the person choosing to pay by CC pays a contribution to the additional cost. Nowt wrong with that.

Originally Posted by Rob S

And to finish, do you think it fair that DVLA charge the same fee of £2.50 to someone taxing their 4 x 4 at a rate of £300 a year (which it will be next year) as they charge someone taxing their moped for £15 a year?

Already discussed - as the cost for each card type is different, it is unreasonable for the DVLA to have a price list of 100+ items depending on whether you use Visa, Mastercard, Diners, Amex, Nectar Points or whatever.