Morris Minor Owners Club

If 01/07/1982 is the first registration date, when can you apply for historic vehicle status, free tax etc ?
Kind regards

It is really based on the BUILD date rather than the REGISTRATION date, so if you can find out the build date, it is sometimes earlier. The DVLA are probably the best people to ask though.

tax and mot exemption are different, MOT exemption starts the day it is 40 years usually taken as 40 years since the first registration date this is self declared when you come to re-tax it.

Free tax is the April after the year it becomes 40 years old , so if it's built anytime in 2021(or the first week of 2022) it's free on the 1st April 2022, this is defined as 40 years since it was built but is usually taken as the first registration date (the first 7 days of the following year are because it would have to have been built in the preceding year) anything else has to be argued on a case by case basis.

I did my TR7V8 a year ago and both processes were simple and straightforward.

ManyMinors wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 11:49 pm It is really based on the BUILD date rather than the REGISTRATION date, so if you can find out the build date, it is sometimes earlier. The DVLA are probably the best people to ask though.

The DVLA basically allow a 1 week window between Build and 1st Reg, which is quite pointless really.
Plenty of cars in the 80s were built in Japan or elsewhere in Europe, so longer than a week to get from Factory, to Dealer, then 1st Reg.
Might as well just go with 1st Reg Date, that's what's on the V5C.


The DVLA website hasn't been updated since last year yet, but you can read the dates across to this calendar year.

Historic vehicle tax exemption

You can apply to stop paying for vehicle tax from 1 April 2021 if your vehicle was built before 1 January 1981. You must tax your vehicle even if you do not have to pay.

If you do not know when your vehicle was built, but it was first registered before 8 January 1981, you can still apply to stop paying vehicle tax.

https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles/ve ... ehicle-tax


But regarding the OP Question, not until next Tax after 1 April '23.
Once that's done, the MOT exemption can follow.


But it's clearly not a Minor, so I wonder what it is .....

The first week part does catch a lot of vehicles, many dealers used to hold off registering vehicles until early January so they could say it was a year newer, my Range Rover is a oct 86 build but was registered on the 3rd January 87.

kevin s wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:04 am The first week part does catch a lot of vehicles, many dealers used to hold off registering vehicles until early January so they could say it was a year newer, my Range Rover is a oct 86 build but was registered on the 3rd January 87.

How do you tell?
I've brought 5 (perhaps 6) brand new cars over 45 years and never knowingly had paperwork from a dealer giving a build date.
Delivery date to Dealer, yes, but not the day it came off the production line.

kevin s wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:45 am so if it's built anytime in 2021(or the first week of 2022) it's free on the 1st April 2022, this is defined as 40 years since it was built

Either I'm more tired than I realise and keep misreading your sentence or...

As an aside my Minor was registered 1st Jan '64, so either it's really a '63 car or the happy workers returning on new years day made the car the same day it was registered

Chief wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 11:21 pm

kevin s wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:45 am so if it's built anytime in 2021(or the first week of 2022) it's free on the 1st April 2022, this is defined as 40 years since it was built

Either I'm more tired than I realise and keep misreading your sentence or...

As an aside my Minor was registered 1st Jan '64, so either it's really a '63 car or the happy workers returning on new years day made the car the same day it was registered

One of mine is registered 01/01/64 as well

It was a "big thing" then - to have a new car registered on the first day of the year. 1). Because it was classed as a 1964 car then, but also because you got the new "B" registration - in most areas anyway. I know that some areas still used the old format until 1965. It wasn't until 1967 that the "new registration letter" started in August.

Yes, the "E" suffix was used just from 1st January 1967 to 31st July 1967.

And is what one of my other minors is MMO801E