Practically Classics Forum

My car will reach its' 40th birthday in March 2016. Do I have to wait until then for it to be classed as a historic vehicle for tax purposes?
Secondly at what point will I get a refund if it is classed as historic on Jan 1st 2016, if at all?
Finally, when any car changes ownership, the new keeper has to tax it from the day of purchase. If that date is not the 1st of a month, is the tax backdated to the beginning of the month of purchase? On the flip side of that question, does the seller get a refund from the beginning of the month, or the start of the following month following sale?

The free duty entitlement comes during the car's 41st year, not the 40th in spite of what some eBay sellers might try to tell us! Just as the old "25 year exempt" class came at the start of the 26th year so a car built in 1976 will be entitled to the current historic class duty from April, 2017. Your refund will come within a few weeks of your notifying the change to DVLA.

I've done a couple now and it's straightforward enough as long as you realise that just as your birthday comes at the end of the ordinal year, so does this concession.