How much is your old tax disc worth?

The world has seemingly gone mad this week as old tax discs are going for as much as £1,000 on eBay. Those involved are fanatical collectors known as velologists and many of them have some perturbing collecting habits.

As you may know, paper tax discs were abolished on October 1st in the UK. Now hundreds of them are appearing online at hugely inflated prices, causing long-term velologists to despair.

 

Earlier in the week the record for most expensive tax disc was smashed by a quarterly issue released in September 1921, which started at £230 and ended up going for an astonishing £1,087.80. The previous record was £810 and was also from 1921.

An enthusiastic collector named Tony Hill – whose company Trade and Collect Tax Discs UK was a pioneer in velology starting as a hobby – told the Telegraph: “It could be classed as getting a little out of hand. I’m cussing, I really am, because I’ve been selling so many rare discs – and they really have been rare discs – at what are now bargain prices.”

This recent surge in the price of tax discs has prompted chancers to really take the biscuit on eBay. One disc issued in August 2014 had a ridiculous starting price of £180,000 and a probable value of about £1. 

Tax Discs of the British Isles author Chris Tennant said: “It gave us a bit of a laugh, at least. These prices are nonsense, absolutely barmy. They’re just trying it on – asking for all these wonderful prices but not actually getting them.” 

Both men have warned motorists not to get their hopes up if they have a slightly rare tax disc as the real money is in the seriously old ones. However, one erroneously printed disc was released in 2013 for March 30 instead of March 31, which could net you £300. But that is only if you paid no mind to the DVLA, which instructed people to destroy it and await a replacement. 

When asked if he believed astronomical pricing would become common place for velologists, Tennant replied: “For that you’ll need a crystal ball. Is it just a flash in the pan, or a long-term market change? I can’t answer that one.”

Following that, he was unfortunately outbid by a mere £1 when trying to add another disc to his extensive collection.

Have you hung onto any old tax discs?