Car Tax Changes From April 2017

[paul.h]

The VED (car tax) system changes from April 2017 to increase the amount of tax the government collects. It does not change for cars registered before then so if anyone is thinking of buying a new car it may pay to do this before April. The greatest increases are for cars that currently do not pay any tax. There will be an initial tax on purchase based on the CO2 emission and then a flat rate of £140 a year. Any cars with a list price over £40k also pay an extra £310 a year for the first 5 years. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/88361/tax-disc-changes-everything-you-need-to-know-about-uk-road-tax%20

 

 

13/2/2017 Edit - this link does not seem to work, see post 6 for the details of the tax changes.

[MikeLane]

Thanks for that Paul.

I reckon "not a lot of people know that!" I certainly didn't.

[paul.h]

It might also impact on used car sales up to one year old where I suspect a proportion of the initial tax charge will be paid. I suspect most family cars fall into the 151 to 165 CO2 area which now has an initial first year tax of £185 and will rise to £500. So the next 3 months will be good for new car sales and then maybe the following 6 months for nearly new car sales until the post April cars come on the market. 

 

Some of the fuss about diesel cars being bad for the environment may also be a move by the government to get people to go for petrol cars with the higher CO2 and higher tax rates and hence higher fuel consumption and extra fuel tax collected, but then is CO2 not bad for the ozone layer which seems to have gone quiet for now.

[MikeLane]

Hi Paul - this is from the Government's website and it shows that, after the first year, tax for most cars  will be £140.

 

https//www.ved-reform-briefing-for-motor-industry(1).pd

 

I find it strange that even most gas guzzlers will be charged this rate (although they'll be hammered for the first year).

Of course, CO2 is a "greenhouse gas" which helps cause Global Warming - oh sorry, now we must say "Climate Change"!

And most of the world has just signed up to reducing CO2 emmissions so I don't see the logic of this change.

It's CFCs which were used in aerosols and cooling systems (Fridges, A/C etc.) which punched the holes in the Ozone layer. Apparently that's started to close again now.

Edited December 29, 2016 by MikeLane

[seefive]

Diesel cars will quite rightly be hammered with large tax hikes as part of a global initiative to get the dirty things off the road.

 

Latest thoughts are cash incentives of 2 or 3 thousand  pounds for owners to scrap their diesels (not linked to a trade in) - maybe not allowed to register another diesel?

 

 

 

Bring it on.... DIE DIESEL

[paul.h]

There is nothing in this to penalise diesel cars over petrol cars, all cars are going to be taxed the same after the first year (unless costing £40k or more). The first year the amount is based on CO2 so the diesel cars will pay less for similar performance/size cars, being more efficient. I think the changes are nothing to do with protecting the environment, just trying to get more tax from car owners since the take has fallen in recent years since car CO2 emissions in the official tests have fallen. In the link below the changes are expected to increase tax income by nearly £1½b a year in 2020.

 

The original link to the tax changes does not seem to work any more so here is a government one with part of it copied below https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty

 

Who is likely to be affected

Purchasers of cars first registered from 1 April 2017 onwards.

General description of the measure

This measure reforms Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for cars first registered from 1 April 2017 onwards. First Year Rates (FYRs) of VED will vary according to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the vehicle. A flat Standard Rate (SR) of £140 will apply in all subsequent years, except for zero-emission cars for which the SR will be £0. Cars with a list price above £40,000 will attract a supplement of £310 on their SR for the first 5 years in which a SR is paid. All cars first registered before 1 April 2017 will remain in the current VED system, which will not change. The new rates and bands for the post-2017 VED system are set out in the table below:

 

New VED system - for cars registered from 2017 Emissions (g/CO2/km)

First year rate Standard rate*

CO2, 1st year, Subsequent years

0, £0, £0

1-50, £10, £140

51-75, £25, £140

76-90, £100, £140

91-100, £120, £140

101-110, £140, £140

111-130, £160, £140

131-150, £200, £140

151-170, £500, £140

171-190, £800, £140

191-225, £1200, £140

226-255, £1700, £140

over 255, £2000, £140

*cars over £40,000 pay £310 supplement for 5 years

[seefive]

Nothing against diesels this year, but there,s a lot of noise about big increases on the way.

 

No doubt diesel is in its death throws now,with Renault and Toyota already announcing they are phasing out diesel engines across their car ranges..

[Rookie2]

I cannot remember where I read it, but it was a discussion between a couple of the major motor manufacturers and a motoring organisation (I will keep looking for it).

The discussion was regarding 3 cylinder diesel engines and it was stated that by april 2018 there will be no more 3 cylinder diesel engines manufactured and VW will have a smallest engine size of 1600cc.

That being the case, a wise man would, in 12 months time, by as many of the 3 cylinder models as possible, hold onto them for a short while and then sell them at a premium. Assuming that road tax rates do not increase for the 3 cylinder diesels in the meantime.

 

I recently did a job on a 2012 Seat Ibiza 1.4 PDi. I have to say it is one of the fastest cars  I have ever driven in my life (and believe me I have driven a few), god knows what the true emissions figures are for those VW engines but they must be astronomical.