Press release 15: DVLA Beats Biggest Online Retailers

DVLA has emerged as one of the UK’s biggest online transactors, generating more online sales than retail giant Tesco, according to new research released today.

 

It seems more UK shoppers than ever have clicked onto the benefits of buying their car tax on-line, with an average of £4.2 million per day currently generated by customers using the electronic tax facility – that’s 25% more than Tesco’s £3.36 million per day.

 

Andrew Rhodes, Head of Electronic Customer Services comments: "Online transactions in general are growing 10 times faster than high street transactions, and it’s convenience that’s driving this growth.

What we’ve done really is very simple, we’ve made buying your tax disc easy. While people like to browse on many shopping retail sites, our customers want to be in and out as quickly as possible. We pride ourselves on the fact that our customers can make their purchase in minutes and at a time to suit them".

 

It’s not just revenue that puts DVLA in poll position, with an average of 273,500 UK motorists buying their tax discs electronically every week exceeding Tesco’s 250,000 weekly online orders.

Indeed, since its launch, the service has collected over £1 billion in tax revenue, collecting up to £9.9 million on its busiest days, and completing over seven million transactions in the last financial year – nearly double that of Argos’s quoted four million electronic transactions per year.

 

DVLA credits convenience as the reason for this success as an online or telephone application and payment can be made in an average of just 4 minutes. At peak times, hits can reach up to 86,000 transactions per day. - Online or telephone customers no longer need to have paper copies of MOT and insurance documentation to hand when relicensing as all these details are simply checked electronically.

 

The usage figures support this – with roughly 40% of all transactions taking place outside working hours and the most popular time for purchases taking place between 9.30 and 11.30 on a Monday morning. DVLA research compiled at the time of the service’s launch revealed that nearly 70% of UK motorists had avoided or delayed paying their car tax on time because they’d lost the relevant paperwork or just couldn’t find the time to do it in the busy working week.

 

As well as being one of the biggest online transactors here in the UK, the fact that relicensing can be done 24/7 from anywhere in the world also now means that DVLA's customer base is far wider than many of the UK's biggest retailers, with motorists as far away as China relicensing electronically when abroad.

 

Andrew Rhodes continues: "This new service runs alongside the Post Office® relicensing facility, meaning motorists who prefer to use a face to face interaction can still do so. However, for many, the ease of an electronic service, coupled with the fact that you don’t need to find paper copies of your MOT and insurance certifications in order to buy your tax, makes the new service a popular choice. With the ability to tax your vehicle 24 hours a day, there can be no excuse for not complying with the law. Since July 2006, use of this service has increased to one-third of our customer base.

 

Motorists using this service will be sent a reminder letter from DVLA when their tax is due to expire containing a reference number, which motorists simply quote on the internet or telephone service. DVLA then checks insurance and MOT validity electronically (via its external links to the MOT and insurance databases) and a tax disc will be dispatched within 3-5 working days.

 

For further information on this service, or to use the facility, simply log on to

 http:// www.direct.gov.uk/taxdisc  or use the phone line: 0870 850 4444.

 

 - ends -  

 

Sources

 

1 Tesco PLC preliminary results 2006/2007, 52 weeks ended 24 February 2007

2 Home Retail Group Web Site

3 CBI

4 YouGov survey of 2,281 UK drivers, December 2005

 

 

Notes to editors:

 

Facts about online and telephone car tax

• One third customers are currently using the online or telephone relicensing service.
• Use of the service has increased eight-fold since the service launched in January 2006.
• 2199 motorists used the service on Christmas Day 2006. The busiest time for transactions on the day was lunchtime, with a dip during The Queen’s Speech.
• To date, over 9 million vehicles have been taxed or declared ‘Off Road’ electronically. On the busiest day of the service to date, during March 2007, £9.9 million was collected in tax via the online and telephone facility.
• 9.30am to 11.30am is traditionally the busiest time of day for the service, but on weekends the usage peaks just after lunchtime.
• There are 33 million active vehicle records in the UK, and there are 44 million car tax reminders sent out per year.
• 75% of transactions to date have been completed online, with the remaining 25% via the telephone.
• 30% of online and telephone customers buy their car tax for 6 months.

In May 2007, The Electronic Vehicle Licensing service won the inaugural Chief Information Officer Council Award for Best Example of Transformational Government in Action. The service was also runner-up in the category of Best Project – Government to Citizen at the GC Awards for Innovation 2007 and is short-listed for the Orange Award for Best Use of Technology in Business, at the National Business Awards (Wales and West Country Region).