A document review obtained by the media outlet Ingenioren reveals that thousands of Danish drivers have been affected by repeated errors at the Danish Motor Vehicle Authority.
Errors at the Danish Motor Authority have repeatedly affected thousands of Danish car owners.
The problems in the Motor Registry have twice in less than six months led to incorrect charges, both for private drivers and companies.
According to a report from the IT supplier Netcompany to the Danish Motor Vehicle Authority, which Ingenioren has been given access to, the errors are due to a number of problems with the updates. There has been no control over the correct registration of ownership.
The first problem arose in June, when 2,669 citizens and businesses were told to pay for cars they did not own.
A subsequent update on October 1st affected an additional 450 car owners, with some being charged the double biannual fee, while others saw both current and former owners receive bills.
The Danish Motor Vehicle Authority has stated that all of the more than 3,000 affected individuals and companies have been informed of the errors by November at the latest. The authority also assures that those who have paid the erroneous bills will get their money back with interest.
– If a citizen or company has managed to pay an incorrect charge, the amount will of course be refunded and interest will be subsidized, informs the Danish Motor Authority's press department.
It has not been stated how large the erroneous charges have been in each case. For comparison, an average Danish family car in 2024 will cost 2,300 kroner in annual, periodic taxes.
The report from Netcompany shows that the errors occurred in connection with system updates, where incorrect debtors were added when the ownership of a vehicle was changed.
This has created problems when the Danish Tax Agency sent reminder letters to all registered co-signers due to non-payment of periodic taxes.
– It presents challenges when the Danish Tax Agency sends reminder letters for non-payment of periodic taxes, as these letters are sent to the full group of co-responsible persons for a given vehicle if the vehicle's taxes have not been paid after 3 months, the report states.
The specific bug is in an update labeled 'DMR-13007', where a change in owner-user relationship was based on where a charge is valid and not when it was created. According to the report, bugs in these types of system updates can be difficult to avoid.
