London congestion charge exemption renewal

[freekie]

I’m thinking there will be a lot of folk from last years big Sept delivery of M3s trying to do this just now!
Just received my tfl email reminding me that my ‘cleaner vehicle discount’ is ready for renewal and to go online to do it.
I have been online into my tfl account and it is driving me nuts! There is no obvious renewal’button’. I have been going round the site in circles. The only way I can see to do it, is to do it anew as if didn’t have it before. Surely this can’t be the case. Any tips please?

 

[NorfolkMustard]

I feel your pain. An extremely confusing and disjointed website. Form-over-function personified

 

[freekie]

To add to the pain, it’s 35p/min for me to call them!

 

[MikeeUK]

Yes, it was extremely frustrating to navigate to the correct page and it took me 15 minutes to actually find the option to renew.....unfortunately I can't walk anyone through the process now as I have already renewed :-(

Try logging in here TfL Online - Error and then this link from my web browsing history:

TfL Online - Error

Hopefully it'll work but I feel your pain!

 

[rotor2k]

The renew button is neither a button nor a link. Just look for the word “renew”, and hover your mouse over it, and you will see it is a hidden link. That website is maliciously badly designed. Something that bad cannot be accidental.

 

[KennethS]

The website is diabolical. I have the iOS app TfL Drive on my iPhone and think when I renewed I did it through the app and found it more straightforward.

 

[m-i-l]

The thing that annoyed me most about the website is that the information and menus on it made me think I also had to pay for the Auto Pay, so I paid £10 for the Cleaner Vehicle Discount and £10 for the Auto Pay. Which of course makes no sense because the Cleaner Vehicle Discount means there's nothing to pay and so no need for Auto Pay. After I realised this, I spent a good few weeks trying to jump through the hoops to get my Auto Pay cancelled and refunded, but gave up.

Just went to check now to confirm I had renewed the Cleaner Vehicle Discount rather than the Auto Pay, and it has taken me round in circles a few times without taking me to the information, so I'm still not entirely clear what it was I renewed.

 

[PDB33]

The thing that annoyed me most about the website is that the information and menus on it made me think I also had to pay for the Auto Pay, so I paid £10 for the Cleaner Vehicle Discount and £10 for the Auto Pay. Which of course makes no sense because the Cleaner Vehicle Discount means there's nothing to pay and so no need for Auto Pay. After I realised this, I spent a good few weeks trying to jump through the hoops to get my Auto Pay cancelled and refunded, but gave up.

Just went to check now to confirm I had renewed the Cleaner Vehicle Discount rather than the Auto Pay, and it has taken me round in circles a few times without taking me to the information, so I'm still not entirely clear what it was I renewed.

In response to an email reminder from TFL, I renewed just now (just in case needed in the next year). But it says CC should be paid. Is that correct? TFL changed the rules in June in response to Covid but I can't see anything in the TFL web pages to say that battery EVs now have to pay.

 

[Jerryjal]

In response to an email reminder from TFL, I renewed just now (just in case needed in the next year). But it says CC should be paid. Is that correct? TFL changed the rules in June in response to Covid but I can't see anything in the TFL web pages to say that battery EVs now have to pay.

View attachment 604989

Yes, in that section it says that it should be paid however if you look in the section that relates to the cleaner vehicle discount it should state that the car is getting a 100% discount. I had the same query and called them, they said that it is a "quirk" of the website and you will not be charged as long as you do receive the cleaner vehicle discount.

 

[Sean.]

The website is diabolical. I have the iOS app TfL Drive on my iPhone and think when I renewed I did it through the app and found it more straightforward.

Excellent tip! Their website is indeed utterly diabolical and I could find no simple way of renewing. Downloaded the app and did it in 15 seconds.

Well done again for the suggestion.

 

[Yachtsman]

This post is confusing me (obviously doesnt take much), as I didn't think it would be necessary to register a EV for any of the UK's lez. So after reading this post I looked at the website for london & entered my reg number. The site returned 'this vehicle is exempt from the london, birmingham and hull' lezs, so why should I need to register? The website doesn't state either way.
Am I missing something?

 

[Jeeves]

I think you still have to register and pay £10 to get what is called a low emission discount so that you don’t have to pay for the congestion charge. The ULEZ is just so you don’t get fined for taking the wrong vehicle in to the smaller bits of the overall congestion charge zone.

Edit: sorry, Cleaner Vehicle Discount

 

[Sean.]

This post is confusing me (obviously doesnt take much), as I didn't think it would be necessary to register a EV for any of the UK's lez. So after reading this post I looked at the website for london & entered my reg number. The site returned 'this vehicle is exempt from the london, birmingham and hull' lezs, so why should I need to register? The website doesn't state either way.
Am I missing something?

Unless you’re going to be driving in the central London Congestion Charging zone, there is nothing for you to do.

 

[bungle_78]

This post is confusing me (obviously doesnt take much), as I didn't think it would be necessary to register a EV for any of the UK's lez. So after reading this post I looked at the website for london & entered my reg number. The site returned 'this vehicle is exempt from the london, birmingham and hull' lezs, so why should I need to register? The website doesn't state either way.
Am I missing something?

There is no need to register for the LEZ if you have a zero emission vehicle.

If you want to avoid the congestion charge in London then you have to register and pay £10 annual to get a 100% discount on the congestion charge for a zero emission vehicle.

Why the Congestion Charge discount can't be automatically applied has always seemed odd given it works of reg numbers.

 

[Neilio]

Agreed on the website. It is garbage. And saying you have to pay the congestion charge yet get a 100% discount is just stupid.

Just one point: the LEZ is much bigger than cc area now. It stretches to the north and south circulars.

 

[KJWS]

I’m thinking there will be a lot of folk from last years big Sept delivery of M3s trying to do this just now!
Just received my tfl email reminding me that my ‘cleaner vehicle discount’ is ready for renewal and to go online to do it.
I have been online into my tfl account and it is driving me nuts! There is no obvious renewal’button’. I have been going round the site in circles. The only way I can see to do it, is to do it anew as if didn’t have it before. Surely this can’t be the case. Any tips please?

Thanks for this post - I spent forever trying to do then got the app - took 15 seconds!

 

[xylophone]

hi probably a silly question but do you need the V5 scan to prove the vehicle is exempt or does the website look that up?
my vehicle is going to be leased and I won't have the V5

Thanks
Tim

 

[Sean.]

hi probably a silly question but do you need the V5 scan to prove the vehicle is exempt or does the website look that up?
my vehicle is going to be leased and I won't have the V5

Thanks
Tim

I don’t believe you do now, as long as the car is registered as fuel type ‘electric’ (which it should be).

 

[Sean.]

And saying you have to pay the congestion charge yet get a 100% discount is just stupid.

It’s a money grab - we all know how desperate TfL are for cash, especially since Covid has utterly demolished their budget. Until you register you technically have to pay the CC, even though you automatically meet the criteria driving an EV. Crazy I know.

 

[Sean.]

Why the Congestion Charge discount can't be automatically applied has always seemed odd given it works of reg numbers.

It took more than a decade for them to get Autopay working on the CC. Prior to that you had to remember to pay it by midnight the next day or get a nice juicy fine in the post.