Car tax cost destroying good cars

[ZS]

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]

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]

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!!

[Ricwin]

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.

[shycho]

Originally Posted by Ricwin

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.

[Mark S]

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?

[Ricwin]

Originally Posted by shycho

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...

[shycho]

Originally Posted by Ricwin

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]

Originally Posted by shaunyd

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).

[ZRed]

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.