Those looking to renew or apply for a driving license in the UK will soon see the cost drop by a reasonably amount, the government has announced, as part of a review by the DVLA or all of its charges, which could see many more price reductions in the near future.
The cost for applying for a new license is being reduced from £50 at the moment, to a much lower £34. Similarly, those looking to renew will be able to do so for just £14, instead of the current £24. However, bigger savings can be made by applying online. Doing so through the traditional postal method doesn’t offer quite such a discount.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said of the news: “I have been working hard to drive savings across the whole public sector and it’s great to see the benefit of these efficiencies feed through to drivers and businesses’ pockets. What the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) have shown today is that you can do more for less.”
While you can’t go out and renew at these lower prices just yet, the fees are expected to tumble sometime in October this year, following on from the close of the government’s consultation, which should finish up on the 25th August.
It’s about to get even easier
Transport Minister Claire Perry said: “The cost of driving can be significant, especially for new drivers. I’m pleased to say that we are planning to save drivers £18 million a year by cutting licence fees, thanks to the DVLA making significant savings to their running costs.”
The government is expected to announce more changes to its pricing structure on DVLA advice later this year. However, one change that we already know about, is the abolition of the tax disc, which will become obsolete as of 1st October this year. Cutting back on administration costs, the government is moving to a paperless system, which is largely in effect already, with the legacy paper tax discs merely providing an optional way of checking a car’s paperwork is in order.
Already, most police forces uses electronic number plate checking tools in order to catch out those that don’t pay for their tax disc, rather than looking at the windshield of a car, so it makes total sense to abolish the outdated technology – which was first introduced way back in 1921!
On top of the tax disc itself being abolished, the government is also setting it up so that you can pay for your road tax via direct debit on a month to month basis, bi-annually, or annually. The interest rates are also being reduced, with the bi-annual and monthly options having five per cent interest, which is half of the current 10 per cent fee applied to six month tax disc purchases.
As well as individual consumers being expected to benefit from these changes, fleet operators and corporations that pay for the insurance and tax on many vehicles for their commercial drivers, should see substantial savings over the next few years.
Image Source: Henrique Pinto, Pete
