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Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) applies to motorcycles as well as cars. Find out how to pay and how much it’ll cost for your bike.
Vehicle tax, or Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), is a tax levied by the government on every vehicle on the road, including motorbikes.
It needs to be renewed every year and the money raised goes towards the building and repair of the UK’s road system.
Motorcycle tax – often called road tax – is calculated depending on the engine size of your bike.
You’ll be fined if you’re caught riding without tax.
Yes. As well as being insured and registered with the DVLA, all motorcycles used, or kept, on public roads must be taxed. It’s illegal to ride an untaxed motorbike.
Even if you’re exempt from paying VED, for instance if you have a disability, you still need to apply to the DVLA to tax your motorbike every year.
If you’re taking your bike off the road and out of use, you can stop taxing it. But you need to make a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) to the DVLA. You’ll need to tax your motorcycle again before it can go back on the road.
Cars are taxed according to how much CO2 they produce, when they were registered and the engine size. Motorcycle tax is a bit simpler and only depends on the size of your bike’s engine (CC).
The larger the engine size, the more you pay. You can check your bike’s engine size on its vehicle registration certificate (V5C) and you’ll find the latest motorbike tax rates here.
The cheapest way to pay motorbike insurance is as a single yearly payment.
If you pay by Direct Debit in monthly instalments, or every six months, there’s a 5% surcharge.
If you don’t pay annually, or by Direct Debit, that surcharge is 10%:
Engine size (cc) | Single 12 month payment | Single 12 month payment by Direct Debit | Total of 12 monthly instalments by Direct Debit | Single six-month payment | Six-months by Direct Debit |
Not over 150 | £21 | £21 | £22.05 | N/A | N/A |
151-400 | £45 | £45 | £47.25 | N/A | N/A |
401-600 | £69 | £69 | £72.45 | £37.95 | £36.23 |
Over 600 | £96 | £96 | £100.80 | £52.80 | £50.40 |
When your bike tax is due, DVLA will send you a reminder letter (V11) with a 16 digit reference number from the DVLA). If you can’t find your reminder, you’ll need your V5C Vehicle Registration Certificate (logbook).
If you’ve just bought the bike and don’t yet have the V5C logbook in your name, you’ll need to quote the 12-digit reference on the green new keeper slip (V5C/2).
If you don’t have any of these documents you’ll need to apply for a new logbook before you tax your motorbike
As well as having these documents to buy your tax, you’ll only be able to tax a motorbike that has:
Some people are exempt from paying vehicle tax. You’ll still need to apply for vehicle tax every year when you get your reminder from the DVLA. But you will not have to pay for it.
You can apply to be exempt from vehicle tax if you have a disability. Check here to see if you qualify.
Even if you’re not personally exempt, your motorbike might be if:
You can check your bike’s tax – as well as its MOT and SORN – status via the Gov.uk website.
All you need is the vehicle’s registration number (its number plate).
If it’s taxed, the website page will show you when your tax is next due.
If you need to renew your bike’s tax, key in the 11-digit reference number from your V5C log book to view the tax rates for the vehicle.
If you have just bought a bike, the tax paid on it is not transferred to you. You’ll need to tax it yourself before riding it.
Yes. In some circumstances you’ll be able to cancel your motorbike tax and get a refund. These include:
You should inform the DVLA of any of these changes and they will send you a cheque for any full months that are left on your tax.
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