Do mobility scooters need road tax in the UK?
Mobility scooters are often known as invalid carriages for the purposes of road tax.
Invalid carriages are seperated into 3 categories:
Class 1
These are manual wheelchairs. It doesn’t matter whether you wheel yourself or have someone helping you, if it is not electric, you don’t need road tax, and don’t need to register with the DVLA.
Class 2
These are electric wheelchairs and the smaller kind of mobility scooter. If your powered wheelchair or scooter is not intended to, and can’t go faster than 4mph, you are only allowed to drive on the footpath, not the road, and you do not need road tax or register with the DVLA. This kind of invalid carriage must not be heavier than 113.4kgs (the scooter or wheelchair, on it’s own without anything on it)
Class 3
- These are powered scooters or wheelchairs that can travel up to 8 mph.
- These are designed to be driven on the road. They can be driven on the footpath, if there is a way of limiting their speed to 4mph or less while you are using the footpath.
- This kind of invalid carriage must not be heavier than 150kgs (the scooter or wheelchair, on it’s own without anything on it)
- These scooters need to be registered with the DVLA.
- They need to display a road tax disc.
- Post offices that issue tax discs have the form you need to send to the DVLA. The form is V55/5 for used vehicles or V55/4 for new vehicle. You can also call them or use their website.
- The tax disc does NOT cost anything.
Other important information on road tax and mobility scooters
- If you don’t register your Class 3 scooter with the DVLA you could be liable for a fine, just like if you don’t tax your car, or inform the DLVA that it is unused and off the road.
- You don’t need registration plates for a Class 3 scooter
When buying a new mobility scooter from City Mobility we will let you know if a road tax disc is required. We will also provide you with all the necessary details you need to get your mobility scooter registered with the DVLA. The new tax disc usually only takes a few days to arrive in the post and once it does you can use your new scooter on the roads.
