£490 road tax, does it put you off?
Discussion
I've always owned cars old enough to avoid the higher tax brackets, but if I was in a position to be able to afford something newer and interesting (I.e. New XK, Db9, etc), then I'd suck it up and pay.
It would definitely influence my decision if I was buying a general run about. When I had my Supra a bloke my other half worked with was paying (I think) the best part of 400 quid for a Mondeo and was a bit miffed I was paying under 300.
It would definitely influence my decision if I was buying a general run about. When I had my Supra a bloke my other half worked with was paying (I think) the best part of 400 quid for a Mondeo and was a bit miffed I was paying under 300.
ben5732 said:
Not really no. I'd rather have a car that's fun to drive than a 1L bland and boring pile of garbage. Smiles per gallon is much more important than miles per gallon in my eyes, perhaps as more of my hair falls out that will change but I highly doubt it will anytime soon.
There are plenty of very exciting cars out there which don't command the mega tax.LaurasOtherHalf said:
So PH, does (& if it does, why?) it matter that a £45k car costs £200 a year more?
I run 3 cars so tax make a big difference. I'll keep to pre-2006 cars are long as possible. I won't consider a post-2006 car in the £400+ bands, I'd rather buy an earlier model and spend the money on petrol.I managed to get my RX8-engined MX5 registered as a 1.3L so that helps. My RX7 (2000) pollutes a lot more than the later RX8 but is less than half the tax.
deltashad said:
ben5732 said:
Not really no. I'd rather have a car that's fun to drive than a 1L bland and boring pile of garbage. Smiles per gallon is much more important than miles per gallon in my eyes, perhaps as more of my hair falls out that will change but I highly doubt it will anytime soon.
There are plenty of very exciting cars out there which don't command the mega tax.xRIEx said:
Yawn. Can we just discuss the principle of the topic?
If you're that bothered, start a separate thread or PM the OP.
OK. But I mean I just don't get why we don't call it car tax, given that a) it's far more accurate, b) it's one letter less to type, c) it'd help prevent cyclists being mown down by psychopaths screaming about a tax that they don't pay either. d) It'd avoid pages and pages of wasted threads on the subject. If you're that bothered, start a separate thread or PM the OP.
Simply put, yes it does.
Its more than I pay a year for insurance.
I cant really see what I get for the tax, I'm not even sure where the money that is raised from this goes these days (other than some random goverment black hole to prop something else up).
I find it perversely amusing the short sightedness and utter stupidity of the government in putting the tax up, has resulted in newer vehicles been in a much lower tax bracket, hence less income for the government and also helped ruin the second hand car market for in my eyes un interesting cars that attract £490 a year tax. More annoying id that it goes up every year.
Richard
Its more than I pay a year for insurance.
I cant really see what I get for the tax, I'm not even sure where the money that is raised from this goes these days (other than some random goverment black hole to prop something else up).
I find it perversely amusing the short sightedness and utter stupidity of the government in putting the tax up, has resulted in newer vehicles been in a much lower tax bracket, hence less income for the government and also helped ruin the second hand car market for in my eyes un interesting cars that attract £490 a year tax. More annoying id that it goes up every year.
Richard
rotarymazda said:
I run 3 cars so tax make a big difference. I'll keep to pre-2006 cars are long as possible. I won't consider a post-2006 car in the £400+ bands, I'd rather buy an earlier model and spend the money on petrol.
I managed to get my RX8-engined MX5 registered as a 1.3L so that helps. My RX7 (2000) pollutes a lot more than the later RX8 but is less than half the tax.
That just goes to show just how fI managed to get my RX8-engined MX5 registered as a 1.3L so that helps. My RX7 (2000) pollutes a lot more than the later RX8 but is less than half the tax.
ked up the situation really is......the shake-up of VED was supposed to persuade us to ditch the more polluting engined vehicles..... but in reality it's just another way for a corrupt bunch of Cs to steal more money from us.... I'm tempted to live in The Netherlands and Germany again....and just choose to "visit" quite often in my Dutch or German registered hoonage-car.
I had a few Continentally registered cars back in the 90's when I was working abroad and used to be able to throw parking tickets away with impunity (added bonus) Hehehe!!!
I think it depends on the car and what you are spending.
When I bought our 330, R32's were on also on the list but were removed from it due to the tax. It just seemed to high for a car that wasn't mega fast and was going to cost sub-£10k.
However, if I had the means to buy an M3/RS4 etc, I'd whine about it but suck it up because the car would be quick enough to justify it etc.
When I bought our 330, R32's were on also on the list but were removed from it due to the tax. It just seemed to high for a car that wasn't mega fast and was going to cost sub-£10k.
However, if I had the means to buy an M3/RS4 etc, I'd whine about it but suck it up because the car would be quick enough to justify it etc.
Depends on the car, on my Aston Martin it was part and parcel of the package, same with the Z4M as you ggot the performance out of it. I recently just changed to a 645 convertible which I purchased a 2005 purely to avoid the tax as it isn't a sports car so couldn't justify the higher rate.
No, simply because my dad pays over €500 a year on a 1.9 TDi Passat just because he lives in RoI so we're relatively speaking rather lucky. It could be a lot worse. In the grand scheme of things, it's not the biggest bill annually in car ownership so I don't know what people get so wound up about it.
It's all just a balancing act from the government, they reduced the cost for low emissions cars, so had to increase them for the others - as someone said, fuel is the best way to going they want to be fairer - works both on usage and emissions (sort of) - however they do this already!
Taxation / 'road fund licences' etc etc all need to be simplified - too difficult to get a clear picture of what we pay which makes
It difficult for the government to justify...
Back on topic, it's annoying but it's not a big enough cost to really influence a decision. If there were 2 identical cars that straddled the 2006 change over point then fine, but otherwise I would (and did) buy the car I wanted. The difference is a rounding error in car ownership, nothing more.
Taxation / 'road fund licences' etc etc all need to be simplified - too difficult to get a clear picture of what we pay which makes
It difficult for the government to justify...
Back on topic, it's annoying but it's not a big enough cost to really influence a decision. If there were 2 identical cars that straddled the 2006 change over point then fine, but otherwise I would (and did) buy the car I wanted. The difference is a rounding error in car ownership, nothing more.
I'm not pleased about it but I went ahead and bought a £490 VED car anyway! It came with nearly a years tax included anyway so I'm a little tempted to keep it until that nearly runs out and trade it in so I don't have to pay for more, I'd probably do ok on the deal that way 
.
It bothers me more out of principle than the actual amount. Compared to the £4k-£5k I'll spend on petrol this year, an extra £200 on tax is a drop in the ocean. It still rankles though.
.It bothers me more out of principle than the actual amount. Compared to the £4k-£5k I'll spend on petrol this year, an extra £200 on tax is a drop in the ocean. It still rankles though.
to clarify my OP, i've had cars in the highest tex band in the past & no doubt will in the future but there is a certain smug pleasure in that i can tax & insure the GP for me & the mrs for less than it used to cost me to simply tax the ///M
i think in my personal example, doing the mileage that i do (very little week on week but lots in one go on trackdays/eurohoons) the act of buying a £490 (it's gone up!) tax disc is akin to taking £250 & throwing it on the fire.
can i afford to throw £250 on the fire? yes of course. but do i enjoy it? no i bloody well don't!
i think in my personal example, doing the mileage that i do (very little week on week but lots in one go on trackdays/eurohoons) the act of buying a £490 (it's gone up!) tax disc is akin to taking £250 & throwing it on the fire.
can i afford to throw £250 on the fire? yes of course. but do i enjoy it? no i bloody well don't!
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