Vehicle Tax Exemption Research Highlights Areas for Improvement

In September we asked members about their experience of applying or renewing their disabled persons vehicle tax exemption or reduction. Under current rules if someone receives the enhanced mobility component of Adult Disability Payment or Personal Independence Payment then they can apply for free vehicle tax. Where someone gets the standard mobility component there is a 50% reduction. If someone has a Motability car this is typically applied automatically.

The key findings from our poll were:

• 75% of our members had heard of the Vehicle Tax Exemption scheme for disabled people, whereas 25% had not.
• 37% of respondents said they have applied for vehicle tax exemption and reduction. 23% said their vehicle was already part of the Motability scheme. 40% said they hadn’t applied.
• 56% said that they went to the post office and 44% said they renewed online.
• The main challenge for people when renewing at the post office was having the appropriate documentation to make their application.
• The main challenge when applying online was again the amount of documentation and providing the correct information. Respondents also mentioned the time taken to do this was considerable.