View Full Version : Car tax cost destroying good cars
Tens of thousands of vehicles may be scrapped by their owners because road tax costs have become so high, it is reported.
The cost of taxing some cars that are just seven years old now equates to around a third of their total value, according to car running costs specialist CAP Automotive.
Changes to vehicle excise duty (VED) bands introduced in 2006, which were designed to penalise high-emission vehicles, are said to be the main cause of the problem.
Cars registered since March 23 2006 that have CO2 emissions of between 226 and 255g/km now cost £475 to tax, while cars that emit over 255g/km cost £490 a year.
CAP believes there is a danger that these types of vehicles could quickly become worthless, even though they emit relatively little pollution, because older and less economical cars are generally driven less.
At a time when motorists are keener than ever to bring down their running costs by finding cheap car insurance and low-tax vehicles, these cars could become increasingly less desirable.
CAP suggests that the VED rates for the top two CO2 brackets could be lowered after the car hits a certain age, as this could prevent perfectly roadworthy vehicles being sent to the scrapheap.
shaunyd
18-06-13, 09:43 AM
I wouldnt mind paying so much for road tax if they actually fixed the bloody holes in the roads they are shocking near me
peterzs
18-06-13, 09:46 AM
Sounds like we are getting like Japan.
The MOT or equivalent out there means it not worth keeping the cars after 7 years and they are scrapped or sent over here.
Maybe the VED bands are our governments way of getting rid of bigger cars and getting us into little Euro boxes.
Think our government are now getting worried about the fall in fuel tax revenue, where we are all driving less, because we cant afford the fuel with its 67% tax (or whatever). So I expect the tax will go up, we will buy less and so on.
Can never understand that when a barrel of crude oil goes up, 5 minutes later there is a 1p per litre increase at the pumps, when the barrel price goes down, does the pump price!!!!
Like Derv price, used to be lower than unleaded, now its 4 or 5p a litre dearer!!!
Agggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
:whip::whip::whip:
Road tax should be abolished.
Instead, fuel duty should be increased, by a considerable amount, to make it fair on people who drive older less efficient cars.
I drive like 4,000 miles per year yet pay a bloody fortune for tax, and fuel.
Compared to an economical and efficient Citroen C3 for example, paying £30 per year tax and covering 15,000 miles. This car will cause more pollution than mine, more wear and tear to the roads, etc; yet pays virtually nothing for the privilege.
Road tax should be abolished.
Instead, fuel duty should be increased, by a considerable amount, to make it fair on people who drive older less efficient cars.
I drive like 4,000 miles per year yet pay a bloody fortune for tax, and fuel.
Compared to an economical and efficient Citroen C3 for example, paying £30 per year tax and covering 15,000 miles. This car will cause more pollution than mine, more wear and tear to the roads, etc; yet pays virtually nothing for the privilege.
I guess the government would argue that you should get a Citroen C3 instead then.
Saying that i'm quite tempted by the Porsche Cayenne because people are trying to flog the big gas guzzling monsters for peanuts.
the boardroom status symbol built from 56/2006 onwards is what is in question here.
Big gas-guzzlers like the 760bmw, s500 merc etc etc driven by people who earn the yearly cost of road tax in a day.
Then mid sized units such as volvo c70 2.4, audi 1.8t - well they had ages to sort out the emissions, many of these types of engines were filthy polluting and dated.
The positive that came from this was smaller high output engines, such as the new gen 1.6T's that appear in many hot hatches such as clio cup, alfa's great 1750tbi, the vw tsfi turbo and supercharged.
I met a chap 10 years ago who was high up and consulted with many top name manufacturers, he said way back then that the future was smaller charged units and development of large nasp units was becoming very limited, those who overheard the conversation I had with him laughed and made comment after he had gone, but he was right in all that he said and the positives it would produce.
Cars now are far more economical than before, my heavyweight alfa does 46mpg as an average and is faster than a ZS, it also handles very well thanks to its double wishbone suspension (similar to MG) all round and crashes less over pot holes than an MG even with 19" rims! yet the engine is old hat and the newer versions are now more economical and more powerful.
We now have performance diesels such as the 335, 535 and alpina D3 which make great alternatives, these are economical and missiles that would outrun many old big engined gasguzzlers.
Yes, road tax can be an expensive evil, as can the forever rising cost of fuel, but out of the hell the government has created for us with these taxes have emerged some great engines that perhaps would not have been developed if road tax was still £95 per year regardless of emissions and fuel 33p a litre.
It is sad to see cars being scrapped just for road tax, but I am really struggling to think of a car built since 56/2006 that is so worthless that the owner would scrap it whilst at the same time something that one would mourn the loss of?
The only things I can think of are cr@p like kia sedona's and equivalent hyundai's or sangyong's - but these are cars that I would not miss and in 10 years time will be the butt of every top gear joke in the same way the old all'agro is today.
So which 'good' car(s) is this tax destroying?
I guess the government would argue that you should get a Citroen C3 instead then.
No they wouldn't.
Based on Diesel and Super being 144.9p per litre: 4,00 miles in a 60mpg car compared to 20mpg, over 12 months.
I'd be paying around £440 per year on fuel and £30 tax in the example C3. Compared to the £1300 fuel and £280 tax of the ZS 180.
Why would they want people to buy the C3 and pay them less in absurd tax?
Would they want me to do it for the environment? No, they are aware that global warming is a big con anyway...
No they wouldn't.
Based on Diesel and Super being 144.9p per litre: 4,00 miles in a 60mpg car compared to 20mpg, over 12 months.
I'd be paying around £440 per year on fuel and £30 tax in the example C3. Compared to the £1300 fuel and £280 tax of the ZS 180.
Why would they want people to buy the C3 and pay them less in absurd tax?
Would they want me to do it for the environment? No, they are aware that global warming is a big con anyway...
I meant, if you're going to moan to the government that they are taxing your 7+ year old car too much. They'd only suggest purchasing an expensive new car which is more fuel efficient.
They're already looking at new ways to claw back the lost income from fuel tax anyway thanks to all the planet saving eco-friendly cars.
Captain Peanut
18-06-13, 01:31 PM
I wouldnt mind paying so much for road tax if they actually fixed the bloody holes in the roads they are shocking near me
Road tax (or Vehicle Excise Duty as it is now) does not get used to maintain the roads, this comes out of the local council budget funded by your council tax. VED, along with fuel tax, goes into the government coffers (to get wasted on anything but motorists).
Environment my arse.
As long as America's still driving to work, we are pissing in the wind. Our public transport vehicle produce more reek than anything else on the road! Just another tax for us fools to pay.
There ain't no replacement, for displacement.
pheelay
18-06-13, 01:50 PM
There is surely a greater overall impact on the environment in scrapping and manufacturing new "eco" cars than continuing to run older cars. Especially for those doing low yearly mileage. If the goal is penalising pollution, then the only fair way to do that is replace motor/road tax with more tax on fuel.
No motor-tax here in France which is great for me for now :) Looking forward to moving back to Ireland in a couple months...not. Motor tax on the KV6 would be a whopping 1080€ (2497cc). Madness.
The way I look at it, it's the last chance now to run old-school nasp, gas guzzling, fun cars before we're all taxed to the scrap yard and into euro-minis :cry:
peterzs
18-06-13, 02:40 PM
If you are on French plates, cant you run on them for a year.
Sure I remember someone going back to France and re-registering there, so they avoided paying the Road Tax as it was then.
The OP talks of cars up to 7 years old (as in 56/2006 and newer).
The title is 'Car Tax destroying GOOD Cars'
Can anyone name a 'Good' car in this age bracket that is only worth 1500 or less?
I can't...
The whole VED banding based on CO2 is a joke.
M17TT180
18-06-13, 05:10 PM
The whole VED banding based on CO2 is a joke.
TBH I wouldn't mind spending 400 odd quid on road tax IF the money went on the roads.
They resurfaced the road outside my flat a few years ago and already its breaking apart. Not only that they didn't rip up the old surface and relay the tarmac they just tarmaced over the lot. Now the kerbstones are only about an inch or so high and where the surface is breaking up you can see the white lines underneath, plus they didn't bother to put down any road markings.
Don't get me started on Hertsmere council tho, they have buggered up my road big time, when I moved in it looked like this:
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n209/inda_loft/home_zpse1149f42.png (http://s113.photobucket.com/user/inda_loft/media/home_zpse1149f42.png.html)
Now they have cut those big trees on the right down and the field at the top has had blue hordings around it for the last 3 years where they started to build some flats but ran out of money so its just been left like that. This was after much opposition from the local residents!
tcb 180
18-06-13, 05:22 PM
Talking of fuel. Went into my local Shell two weeks ago. Pump 10 delivered 37p then stopped. After about 5secs it started to pump again up to £2.62p but still no fuel had come out the nozzle? Told dopey staff and reported it twice to Shell online who have not had decency to even reply to me.
To top it all, went back in this week. Used pump 1 now. Guess what??? Yes 57p of fuel without a single drop coming out the spout and it stopped on me too.
Went in told them and refused to pay the 57p and drove off.
OK for trillion pound companies like Shell, but we can't afford to get ripped off.
daytona365
18-06-13, 05:38 PM
While it can still buy petrol, i will still drive my ZS cos it makes me so happy. Pound for pound its cheaper than a prostitute, better for you than drugs............
The OP talks of cars up to 7 years old (as in 56/2006 and newer).
The title is 'Car Tax destroying GOOD Cars'
Can anyone name a 'Good' car in this age bracket that is only worth 1500 or less?
I can't...
I just posted the article from a news site :)
As for "Good car", surely that is Personal opinion? You can pick up a fairly "Good" condition Ford Focus or Mondeo on an 06\07 plate for around £1500 these days... Then there are vectra's of similar age and price as well as many other's.... When you look at the Dacia's which were only £5k or so NEW, they won't be far off £1500
andys1981
18-06-13, 11:20 PM
Environment my arse.
As long as America's still driving to work, we are pissing in the wind. Our public transport vehicle produce more reek than anything else on the road! Just another tax for us fools to pay.
There ain't no replacement, for displacement.
i agree with goldie on this one,its a joke
I just posted the article from a news site :)
As for "Good car", surely that is Personal opinion? You can pick up a fairly "Good" condition Ford Focus or Mondeo on an 06\07 plate for around £1500 these days... Then there are vectra's of similar age and price as well as many other's.... When you look at the Dacia's which were only £5k or so NEW, they won't be far off £1500
I used to work in the trade and still have access to cap & glasses etc.
it would need to be a V6 mondeo to hit the higher tax, they are still trading (not retail) for 2-2500.
The 1.8 & 2.0 are pretty cheap to tax, as are the Dacia's!
The only thing I could find was a PT cruiser 2.4 auto that Cap's at 1500 - retail was 2500 tho.
This was an awful car new.
Obviously if the car had been to the moon and back half a dozen times it would be worth peanuts, but then you would need to question the reason for scrapping - tax or mega miles, worthless and worn out!
This is just another typical example of low level journalism using shock tactics.
I doubt the writer could find even a few cars this applies to.
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