James On Twitter

[dit]

Ah, that explains some semi-incoherent tweets (from men, I hasten to add) who appear to be delighted that they've had a pint with James tonight.

[mightybabs]

Feb 29, 2012 21:13:52 GMT devil-may-care said:

This just in from our favorite gent:

I'm in the pub if anybody wants to join me.

Damn you, James! You know I'm in California and can't get there in time! Why do you toy with my emotions? Cruel man! <*shakes fist*>

[trustme]

I wonder if he'd be willing to spin out his pint (& pie?) for awhile while I arranged my 8-hour flight plus travel time to Hammersmith?

[slfriend79]

Tweeted by James today.

This morning, I saw the first broken-down British sports car of spring.

twitter.com/#!/MrJamesMay/status/175137240610127872

;D

[ljcteehee]

I really wish he would tweet at least once a day. They always brighten me up.

[ElerVim]

This morning, I saw the first broken-down British sports car of spring.

twitter.com/#!/MrJamesMay/status/175137240610127872

I giggled when I read that. He can be really charming and romantic when he tries his darndest not to be. It is so endearing. I wish he would tweet regularly.

[fallatyourfeet]

Tonight's tweet:

James May ‏ @mrjamesmay
"Why do the DVLA put perforations round a new tax disc? Why don't they just cut it out entirely?"

Love the way his mind works.

[cockney]

Mar 2, 2012 21:44:41 GMT fallatyourfeet said:

Tonight's tweet:

James May ‏ @mrjamesmay
"Why do the DVLA put perforations round a new tax disc? Why don't they just cut it out entirely?"

Love the way his mind works.

I have no idea what any of this means. Would someone be kind enough to explain?

[amie8]

DVLA = Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, from whence you get your driving licence and also your Tax disc for your car in exchange for an exorbitant amount of money. UK tax disc is a circular paper thing about three and a half inches across which is presented to you embedded within a square. You have to tear around perforations in the paper to free the disc, which is very fiddly and, if you're not concentrating, can result in you tearing the disc in half which they DO NOT LIKE at all.

I can see his point - they cut the perforations by machine, so why not just cut out the disc instead. Or just make the damned thing rectangular in the first place.

The most interesting thing about them is that they change the colour every year (so the police can easily spot someone with an expired one). This year, they're blue. Can't believe I've spent ten minutes thinking and typing about tax discs - thanks James!

[dit]

In the UK you have to pay Vehicle Excise Duty once a year, which is a tax to use your car. The rate varies - I pay nothing for my GT6 as it's a 1969 car and classed as an historic vehicle, but the tax on my Mini Cooper S is well into treble figures.

The evidence that you've paid this comes in the form of a paper tax disc, which you put in a plastic folder and place on your windscreen facing outwards so it can be checked. The tax disc is circular and about 5+cm across, but rather than be issued with it like that it's actually perforated and set inside a square or rectangular piece of paper, so before you can use it you have to very gently tear into the piece of paper then carefully round the disc itself.

Of course, what actually happens is that you start to tear, then realise it's going wrong and you stand the chance of tearing the disc itself. At that point you get cross and go and look for a pair of scissors. Even then it's not easy, as the way the perforations are presented is a bit odd, rather like morse code. So receiving your tax disc and sorting it out tends to leave you rather frustrated and tense!

Hope that helps.


Edit: Great minds, amie8!

[amie8]

Can't believe I've spent ten minutes thinking and typing about tax discs - thanks James!

And so has Dit.... ;D

[adrianmay]

A tax sticker saying he paid for its registration. Like this



Or in the US a DMV sticker. Like this


EDIT: Sorry, you ladies were faster.

[dit]

But you provided the illustrations (!)


I think our UK ones are more attractive than the US ones, I have to say.

[adrianmay]

At least we don't have to play DIY and punch it out. It's a sticker clearly marked peel here. That's all.

[Vivienne]

Sounds like you guys pay more in the UK. For my 2005 Focus I pay $40 a year and in NM we had emissions tests every other year. Don't know what Maryland rules are but I'm sure they're more.

[FizzyLogician]

Here in the US, we get annual stickers, like AM's second illustration, that we apply on our vehicle's "license plates" (which are really vehicle registration plates and have nothing to do with a person's driver's license at all). The procedure and fees are regulated by individual states and not the federal govt here, but it can be very expensive depending on your state of residence. I just paid well into the four figures to my town today for town/state fees and taxes. (ETA: that was for 3 vehicles.)

[amie8]

It ain't cheap, but nothing to do with motoring is cheap in the UK these days

[adrianmay]

Mar 3, 2012 0:49:36 GMT Vivienne said:

Sounds like you guys pay more in the UK. For my 2005 Focus I pay $40 a year and in NM we had emissions tests every other year. Don't know what Maryland rules are but I'm sure they're more.

$40 a year! I can pay that if I have mine registered as a planned non-operation (PNO). I pay about 3 times that for my car. I guess it does very greatly by state.

[Vivienne]

My insurance is with State Farm and in NM I paid 55 a month. I got a quote here for 1 month and it is $123. I almost fell over. I'm only getting liability and uninsured motorists. I've been told that DC has a plate exclusively for uninsured motorists. Usually you get insurance, register the car and then drop the insurance until you're caught or seen on the web site, well that's very common in NM.

[FizzyLogician]

Get some quotes from different insurance companies. I switched companies last year and cut my insurance bill in half.

[rx7]

I use Progressive and I get for 6 months insurance on my Civic it's about 250 bucks which is really good.

We get the usual stickers on the plates and then the local government charges excise tax whenever you register your car. What's very irritating to me is a car over 13 or 14 years old doesn't need a vehicle title in your name and yet the county clerk will still automatically charge you for the transfer of title application fee. It's nice to have it in writing but it's really unnecessary. It's not like the people at the state house work really hard to get it to you by the next few days or anything.

Now I'm just blowing off steam, pardon me a moment.
My Civic came with an inspection sticker (in the US we have to have regular car services and inspections once a year, IDk how it is in the UK), the sticker was from a Vermont service center and right off the bat, once you bring an out of state vehicle into wherever, the sticker is null and void and needs to be serviced in the state the car will be residing in.
Would have been a lot easier if the car was serviced before we got it=new fuel lines are a pain in the butt!

[adrianmay]

OMG You're in every year for inspection? Sounds like New Jersey. All California has is smog check every two. No inspection except at registration. You need to move.

[FizzyLogician]

I think annual inspections are the norm here in the northeast, but most states here only require an emissions test at the first inspection after you buy the car.

[ljcteehee]

South Carolina doesn't have a vehicle inspection program anymore. I've owned my car for 3 years now, and have had tune-ups and such, but we're not required by law to have it inspected.

[amie8]

Sounds like the laws are really different in the US and UK. Over here, insurance is compulsory and so is an annual vehicle inspection (known as the MOT, which stands for Ministry of Transport even though that government department changed its name years ago). It's a pretty tough test too, checking all aspects of safety as well as emissions. Without certificates for those two things, you can't buy a tax disc, so your car instantly becomes illegal.

Back in the olden days - before even my time, it was said that a Guinness bottle label could be used as a tax disc. It didn't stand up to close scrutiny, of course, but it could fool the police at a distance. I also remember people using beer mats, adapted with a bit of artistic talent and a felt-tip pen. That, of course, was before the days of computers and databases.

[liverbird]

I am more for cutting out paying the tax entirely. The roads would still be in disrepair regardless. I'm only grumpy as I have just paid out for insurance and road tax! Bah humbug!

[pie]

Here's our state's version:



Ours change colour every year as well, and we also get to enjoy a different example of native wildlife to remind us of where we come from and what we're to look out for on the road that particular year. ;D We get to have a bit of fun peeling the sticker off the bill as well. The white bits (i.e. what's blanked out above) are printed on the bill, but are perforated and are meant to come off with the whole sticker when you peel it. Good in theory, but they can get left behind if you're not careful.

The cost of vehicle registration here is ridiculous and it goes up every year. You pay all the different taxes/fees in one lump sum - the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) levy is the highest of these, from memory. Last year's rego cost me nearly $650 in total. It's worth more than many cars out there!

I wondered what MOT stood for. I always got the impression it was an annual test, but didn't think it could be true because we have nothing of the sort here. You have to have a "roadworthy" test done on a car before you can sell it, but apart from that, there aren't any compulsory checks that have to be done on a regular basis.

I'm pretty sure you could get away with driving here without insurance (no compulsory checks to my knowledge) but you'd have to be pretty stupid to do that. However, insurance costs are crazy as well. The thing that gets me is that I'm a Rating 1 driver (i.e. no claims for 5 years...I think that's how it works, can't remember exactly...I've never made one anyway) yet the cost of my insurance keeps going up every year.

I do like the Guinness label idea, I must say. That'll fool them. ;D

[mayb]

Interesting to read how it all works abroad... Thanks James

Over here in Germany, we do not have a tax disc, we just have to pay tax once a year and that's it. You don't get any "proof" that you've paid it, but the police can check if you did .
It depends on what car you drive on how much you have to pay. For instance, I have to pay around 350 euros for my VW Golf IV Variant a year.
Insurance for the same car is 51 euros per month.

[cockney]

Thank you for the info. It is interesting to see all the different ways governments come up with getting our money. We used to have a system similar to that in the US long ago. The sticker was placed on our windshield and was a different color for each month, I believe. The sticker was tied to vehicle safety and an inspection was required to meet the basics. Where I live, all we have to do now is send in our money (based on a percentage of the value of the car) and wait for our stickers and affix them to our rear plates. There are many unsafe vehicles on the road, and like James, I await the first sign of Spring out here - a rear-end collision outside my place of business.

[eolise]

Interesting indeed, even tho Im not sure at all how it is in the Netherlands, since we don't have a car, but I believe it's pretty much the same as in Germany.