Road Tax is killing 12-year old small Automatics

[M4cruiser]

I went to look at a cheap Automatic for someone yesterday, and all was fine until she checked the road tax : £175 per year, on a car worth about £1,000.

So, pay more for something newer (with £30 road tax per year) and you recover the difference pretty quickly at £145 per year.

Some examples:-
Car.......................Engine cc...Year....CO2....Road Tax
Daihatsu Cuore auto......1.0....."Y".....155g....£175
Hyundai Amica auto.......1.0....."Y".....161g....£175
Suzuki Wagon R auto.....1.3....."02"....178g....£220
Hyundai Accent auto.....1.3....."52"....176g....£220
VW Polo auto...............1.4....."02"....182g....£220
Kia Cerato auto............1.6....."05"....187g....£260

Newer:
Car........................Engine cc...Year....CO2...Road Tax
Corsa 1.3 D auto..........1.3....."54".....115g....£30
Toyota Yaris 1.4 D auto.1.4....."56".....119g....£30

Yes they are mostly Diesel at the moment. I know the manufacturers have been reducing the emissions as time has gone on, but it will be some years before something Petrol like this gets down to the bargain price bracket (if ever):

Car........................Engine cc....Year....CO2....Road Tax
Audi A1 1.4 Petrol auto..1.4......."11"....119g.....£30

[Chris Roberts]

Looking at that list I'd say "Good bloody riddance"

[J4CKO]

If you cant afford £175 a year, you cant afford to run a car.

[DUMBO100]

I suppose that's the idea, to get old cars off the road but we will be scrapping some capable and low mileage cars

[Axionknight]

J4CKO said:

If you cant afford £175 a year, you cant afford to run a car.

This.

[Jonny_]

J4CKO said:

If you cant afford £175 a year, you cant afford to run a car.

What if you have better ways to spend it than throwing it to the govt for no actual benefit to yourself...?

Just another instance of the idiocy of emissions-based VED.

[Toaster Pilot]

So it'll take 10 years to "get" £1450 back - I'm assuming an 11 plate Audi A1 is more than £1450 more...

[Leptons]

I think the £6k purchase price difference might need to be taken into account.

[Leptons]

I think the £6k purchase price difference might need to be taken into account.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Same cost as my 1.1 Seicento.
I just pay it. I like my car and tbh it's not a massive amount of money is it?
If it's too much to pay in one lump you'll be able to pay monthly soon.

[oldcynic]

We have a Prius as a pool car at work. Perfectly nice car as long as it's not in 'eco' mode but over a 150 mile round trip I got pretty much the same economy as my diesel Mondeo or Diesel Volvo would have achieved - and have achieved on previous trips.

The difference is that the Prius has "lower" emissions and therefore qualifies for much cheaper road tax. As stated in the original post, we are going to be scrapping perfectly serviceable and economical vehicles in favour of newer vehicles which have been optimised to pass an emissions test - especially as the older 'optimised' vehicles come down in price and the £200 per year saving is a significant element of the running costs.

[Northernchimp]

Good. Slow miserable things. Surely there are diesels if you absolutely must?

[GoneAnon]

Europe are launching legalaction against the UK for missing air quality targets.

The focus on CO2 has missed the fact that diesels emit other harmful things like Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2).

[carinaman]

Every year I've had my shed, the tax and insurance has been more than I what I paid for the car.

That Citroen C6 thread. >£500 a year in road tax? I think even if I could afford it, I'd resent paying that much. Comments were made about XMs and the availability of spares and expertise to fix them. I'd rather have taken my chances with an XM and spent the road tax saving on maintaining the XM.

Road tax is a con. Nevermind ditching the paper disc in our windscreens. Ditch the road tax and put it on fuel. Job done. Even more jobs would go at Swansea though.

And there would be an IT and energy bill and planet saving pollution benefit in pulling the plug on the computer infrastructure for the computers running the road tax databases.

Edited by carinaman on Thursday 20th February 22:20

[DaveH23]

Leptons said:

I think the £6k purchase price difference might need to be taken into account.

Also the depreciation

[Leins]

I'd kill for tax of only £175 Try the equivalent of £1500 for a 1993 motor

[StuntmanMike]

OP try a Honda Jazz, 135 pound per year and more fun to drive than that lot, alot more practical as well.

[M4cruiser]

Toaster Pilot said:

So it'll take 10 years to "get" £1450 back - I'm assuming an 11 plate Audi A1 is more than £1450 more...

I think you may have misunderstood my post - I didn't say an Audi is a viable alternative yet!!! They are still about 10K.

The point is that you can have a newer car for the same total cost over say 5 years. Less repairs as well. Total of road tax reduction and repairs reduction offsetting the additional depreciation.

Yes, they are not exciting cars, but some people are actually quite happy with an old runabout like that, perhaps for leaving at the train station each day.

[northwest monkey]

M4cruiser said:

Yes, they are not exciting cars, but some people are actually quite happy with an old runabout like that, perhaps for leaving at the train station each day.

Or perhaps it's what they can afford & it does the job perfectly well.

fk me there are some snobs on here.

[conkerman]

Once again, If you can't afford £15 a month/£3.75 week you can't afford to run a car.

It's only because cars are so cheap in the UK we really give a toss.

Non-issue.