Preventing the theft of road tax discs

Running a car is an expensive business. The list of outgoings seems to be neverending: fuel, parking, congestion charges, services, MOTs.the list goes on. Whilst you might get a bit of respite if you come across a remarkably cheap car insurance quote, a couple of hundred pounds in motor insurance savings is unlikely to cover all your other car-related outgoings.

After purchasing your insurance and paying for an MOT, the last thing you want is another expense. However, road tax is a necessary evil, as a car isn't allowed to be on the roads until it displays that little tax disc. So keep that cheap car insurance documentation and MOT pass slip to hand and either go online or pop down the Post Office to get your car covered by road tax.

Other than normal motoring expenses and perhaps the odd repair or maintenance on your car, you might think that pretty much all your costs are covered for another year. However, millions of British motorists do not find that to be the case after becoming victims of car crime.

Vehicle crime accounts for 40% of all reported crime in the UK and many instances of this kind of crime are theft. Both the cars themselves and the property contained within them are very attractive to thieves, as they can often represent thousands of pounds on the stolen goods market.

The advice from police is to remove all valuables from a car before leaving it or, at the very least, leaving them out of sight. This will reduce the appeal of breaking into a car for thieves who are looking to steal property. However, there is one valuable that you cannot hide, as you would be committing an offence and would leave yourself open to prosecution by the police.

This valuable is your road tax disc. It is likely that you will have paid over £100 for it, with the exact amount being defined by your engine size, fuel type and CO2 emissions. If it is stolen and you do not realise, you leave yourself liable for a fine which could be as much as £1,000 for failing to display a tax disc. On top of this, you have to pay for a duplicate tax disc before you can legally drive on the road again.

More than 142,000 replacement tax discs were issued by the DVLA in one year. Whilst some of these discs were lost, it is believed that the majority were taken by thieves.

On first glance, it is not obvious why a little paper disc which is marked with your car's details would be of such value that it would be worth stealing. However, there is actually a very good reason why they are such an attractive prospect for thieves.

It is very difficult for criminals to get a legitimate tax disc for a stolen car, as they would need to provide the motor insurance documentation and MOT certificate. Thus, in order to prevent a car looking suspicious because it lacks a tax disc, they will use a real tax disc stolen from an innocent motorist's car windscreen. The details on the disc will then be altered to make it appropriate for the new car.

Stolen tax discs may also be used if a car has been cloned. Car cloning is where the VIN, number plate and other identification details on a stolen car are altered to make it look as if it is the vehicle from which the road tax has been stolen. It is a growing problem in the UK which leaves motorists bewildered when they start receiving speeding tickets and fines for other motoring offences which they did not commit.

While you can do your best to prevent the theft of your road tax disc by ensuring the car is always secured when you leave it, this will not stop thieves who are prepared to break a window to get at it. The most effective way to avoid your tax disc being stolen (and the expensive car insurance claim which often follows a vehicle break in) is to purchase a special disc holder.

Secure tax disc holders are available for as little as £1 from most police forces and these are designed to be totally tamper proof. They often also feature a message to potential thieves explaining that the details on the disc cannot be amended and it simply isn't worth stealing. If you wish to purchase one, contact your local police force for further details.

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