The Budget - Road Tax

daro911 · Mar 24, 2006

ORIGINAL: thboxster

I've not yet seen any details of the cars that fall into the 'Free' category. Is it listed somewhere?

I believe its anyone who will make New Labour substantial unsecured loans

or

From today, new vehicle excise duty rates will range from zero for electric hybrid cars, then £40, £100, £125, £150, £190 and a new band of £210 for the four wheel drive cars that are the most polluting.

thboxster · Mar 24, 2006

Electric Hybrids, does a Lexus RX400h count?

burrow01 · Mar 24, 2006

ORIGINAL: thboxster

Electric Hybrids, does a Lexus RX400h count?

It gets you out of the Congestion Charge in London - Ken is not best pleased about that apparently [

]

Pete

daro911 · Mar 24, 2006

ORIGINAL: thboxster

Electric Hybrids, does a Lexus RX400h count?

Can't see why not it's a Hybrid for sure [

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Taverner · Mar 24, 2006

Try this link for the details it seems to be quite comprehensive a clarifies a number of questions I had.I suppose its just a case of pay up and shut up. Mine doesn't but for newer cars I believe the V5 gives the emmision level somewhere on it..

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/Changes_to_cost_of_vehicle_tax.htm

Michael

Mark_Bennett · Mar 24, 2006

From The Independant:

Despite being trumpeted by the Chancellor as proof of his green credentials, the move to introduce a zero rate of vehicle excise duty for the least polluting vehicles will not affect any new car on sale, it emerged yesterday.
To qualify for the new lower rate of tax, a new car must achieve a pollution rating of below 100g of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled on average. The two models most often cited as benefiting from the change are the Honda Insight and the Smart ForTwo Diesel. However, the Honda Insight was removed from sale last year and the diesel-engined Smart has never been officially imported into the UK.
All other conventional "green" vehicles, such as petrol-engined Smarts, the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic IMA hybrid models and various small CitroÃ«ns and Daihatsus, just miss the 100g/CO2 threshold. Some electric cars with zero emissions have been zero rated for some time, so there is no change in their treatment. The move to cut tax on smaller cars generally will see savings for many drivers and be balanced by the rise in tax for the most polluting cars.

mbrands · Mar 25, 2006

CO2 output is directly proportional to the amount of fuel consumed. And given that fuel is taxed at roughly 200%, I'd say, in fairness, that cars with higher CO2 output are already taxed at a higher rate.

No need therefore to charge more for the RFL. Under the new system, someone who drives 2000 mi per year in a 400g/km car ends up paying more for their RFL than someone in a 100g/km car who does 20,000 mi per year, even tho the latter person emits 2.5x the amount of CO2.

chrisbradley · Mar 25, 2006

Hey guys - I'm getting confused by all this techie stuff - I looked at my V5C document and there is a figure on there for CO 2 of 255 G/KM . Is this the relevant number, and does it therefore mean that we 986 S ownners are all in the top (£210) bracket ?

Chris
04 986 Boxster S Atlas Grey

Mark_Bennett · Mar 25, 2006

As I understand it (I might be wrong! It's so confusing...) the new £210 rate is only applied to cars registere after March 23rd.

Yours is 255? I'm sure mine is 248... Looks like the newer models generate more CO2 for the same engine size.

Laurence Gibbs · Mar 25, 2006

the idea that an electric car has zero emisions is also of course completely misleading.

harry · Mar 25, 2006

So I assume my 993 escapes the new tax rules [

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ORIGINAL: Mark Bennett

As I understand it (I might be wrong! It's so confusing...) the new £210 rate is only applied to cars registere after March 23rd.

Yours is 255? I'm sure mine is 248... Looks like the newer models generate more CO2 for the same engine size.

Geoff_Fields · Mar 29, 2006

Just re-taxed my 997S, cost £190[

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Rotorhead · Mar 29, 2006

Pre-73 cars are free

Sadly mine is June '73[8|]

Guest · Mar 29, 2006

Dont know if this has been covered, but there never seems to be a discussion on the C02 emission in burning fossil fuels to develop a car... Cheap car + cheap products = More fossils fuels burnt.

Expensive car + expensve products = less weight, ergo sportscar - less fossils fuels in production.

Everything could be equal!

Am i being daft!

Guest · Mar 29, 2006

ORIGINAL: oliver

Pre-73 cars are free

Sadly mine is June '73[8|]

I would check that if I were you. I believe the 25 year exemption should be for those cars manufactured before 31 Dec 73. The word manufactured being the key.

Rotorhead · Mar 29, 2006

You're right about the date of manufacture, but unfortunately it's prior to 1st January 1973.

At least my farm vehicles are tax exempt, and so is the fuel[

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JCB.. · Mar 30, 2006

ORIGINAL: boxsterboy

Dont know if this has been covered, but there never seems to be a discussion on the C02 emission in burning fossil fuels to develop a car... Cheap car + cheap products = More fossils fuels burnt.

Expensive car + expensve products = less weight, ergo sportscar - less fossils fuels in production.

Everything could be equal!

Am i being daft!

I'm not sure as I'm having difficulty getting my head around what you mean? [8|]

JCB..

JCB.. · Mar 30, 2006

ORIGINAL: Laurence Gibbs

the idea that an electric car has zero emisions is also of course completely misleading.

Do they facilitate flatulence? [

]

jw2015 · Mar 30, 2006

ORIGINAL: boxsterboy

Dont know if this has been covered, but there never seems to be a discussion on the C02 emission in burning fossil fuels to develop a car... Cheap car + cheap products = More fossils fuels burnt.

Expensive car + expensve products = less weight, ergo sportscar - less fossils fuels in production.

Everything could be equal!

Am i being daft!

I think there's something in that. Another aspect of the CO2, etc produced during the manufacturing process, which is significant AFAIK, is there is an environmental argument for continuing to run your gas guzzler instead of trading it it in and causing a more environmentally friendly car to be produced. With regards cars, probably the worst thing you can do from an environmental point of view, is order a new one. Better to pick up a 2nd hand model, probably no matter how much C02 it produces.

sawood12 · Mar 30, 2006

Glad to see Diesels are getting taxed more. The recent resurgance of Diesels as being more environmentally friendly is just wrong. They are and always will be filthy things. CO2 emmisions are just about the only aspect where they are better than petrol engines but they don't half chuck out a load of other rubbish which is far more damaging to the environment.

Also these hybrid cars only work if you live, work and do 100% of your driving within a busy and congested city. As soon as you get onto a decent road and the speed increases the good old internal combustion engine fires up and you are no better off.

The only way to cut emissions from cars is to upgrade existing roads and build more of them so they allow traffic to flow freely at a reasonable speed where engines are working at their most efficient. Even my 18yr old 944 can do 44mpg at 56 mph, but stuck in a traffic jam it's doing nothing but needlessly burning petrol.

Anyway I guess i'll be stung with the full £210 in my pre-cat car!!