Vehicle tax band confusion

[TonyRPH]

My 2002 BMW 325Ci has CO₂ emissions of 229 g/km

According to the chart on Car Tax explained (Which website) cars registered before April 1 2017 puts my car in Band L.

Band K 201-225g/km £430
Band L 226-255g/km £735

But the data below is directly from the DVLA, and I'm clearly being charged according to band K

Are the DVLA charging the lower band because the vehicle is only 3 g/km into band L? Do they allow for some overlap? Or is this a clerical error I wonder?

Has anybody else with a car registered prior to April 2017 checked their tax band?

DVLA said:

Vehicle make BMW
Date of first registration 19 March 2002
Year of manufacture 2002
Cylinder capacity 2494 cc
CO? emissions 229 g/km
Fuel type PETROL
Euro status Not available
Real Driving Emissions (RDE) Not available
Export marker No
Vehicle status Taxed
Vehicle colour SILVER
Vehicle type approval M1
Wheelplan 2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight Not available
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued 17 October 2022
12 months rate (Band K): (non direct debit) £430.00
6 months rate (Band K): (non direct debit) £236.50
12 monthly direct debit totalling £430.00
6 monthly direct debit totalling £225.75
Monthly direct debit totalling £451.50

[M138]

Because it was registered before March 2006.

[Skodillac]

2006 (March 23rd I think?) is the cut off for the higher VED rate, so if your car's a 2002 job's a good 'un. So everything registered 55 plate or earlier, plus a handful of lucky 06 plate cars, gets let off the hyper VED bands.

[mmm-five]

Band L (£430) includes cars with a CO2 figure over 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006.

The VED for an identical car to mine (a 2006 Z4MC) registered before 23 March 2006 is almost half of my September 2006 registered car...yet it belches out exactly the same g/km. It didn't make a huge difference to running costs when I was doing 25k+ miles per year (started at £385 VED and £7k on fuel), but now that I'm doing less than 5k miles a year it becomes a bigger part of the annual costs.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 1st July 16:23

[J4CKO]

They have done everything they can to make VED simple, logical and fair.....

Oh, hang on, no they havent its an utter confusing and often unfair mess !

[TonyRPH]

Wow that's so confusing.

Thanks for clarifying - I didn't think the DVLA would be so generous as to give a few grams of C02 away lol.

[andy43]

This is why many 2007-on Subarus and V6 Renaults are now worth 27 pence.
Planet, carbon something something, children, planet.
Lunacy.

[soad]

andy43 said:

This is why many 2007-on Subarus and V6 Renaults are now worth 27 pence.
Planet, carbon something something, children, planet.
Lunacy.

Can include most Saabs and (manual) Lexus IS250 also.

[M138]

andy43 said:

This is why many 2007-on Subarus and V6 Renaults are now worth 27 pence.
Planet, carbon something something, children, planet.
Lunacy.

Not sure if it’s the same on other brands but a Maserati 4200 registered in 2006(?) meets the ULEZ requirements but my 2003 car doesn’t. So if you was someone in London regularly or live there it probably work out more cost effective to have the one that cost more on road tax if a Maserati 4200 is what you wanted.

[MrBen.911]

Over the last year or so there seems to have been a continual questioning of this very issue. I don't recall it being an issue before then, but have seen this questioned on all sorts of car groups, and at car meets. I think it goes back to some poorly worded advice on gov.uk when the last update on RFL rates was published, which 'hid' in tiny letters the clarification that Band L only became a thing after 23/03/2006.

To be fair to Which?, the page linked to by the OP does have the following clarification just below the rates for pre-2017 cars:
Band K includes cars that have a CO2 figure of more than 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006. Annual rate after the first year assumes single payment for the whole year. You can choose to set up a direct debit to pay monthly, or pay a single payment every six months. If you choose either of these options, you will pay more compared with a single payment for 12 months.

[lufbramatt]

The all important asterisk and footnote that often gets missed:

[sixor8]

The dare appears random but I believe it was budget day in 2006, so bands L and M (which already existed) had the big jump in VED applied. It'll kill off cars for sure, when road tax for a sub £1k car is over £700!

[Mr Tidy]

M138 said:

andy43 said:

This is why many 2007-on Subarus and V6 Renaults are now worth 27 pence.
Planet, carbon something something, children, planet.
Lunacy.

Not sure if it s the same on other brands but a Maserati 4200 registered in 2006(?) meets the ULEZ requirements but my 2003 car doesn t. So if you was someone in London regularly or live there it probably work out more cost effective to have the one that cost more on road tax if a Maserati 4200 is what you wanted.

ULEZ is a totally different thing to Road Tax Bands.

ULEZ compliance is based on NOx (particulate) emissions, which is why Euro 4 Petrols comply but Diesels need to be Euro 6.

Road Tax is based on CO2 emissions, which may contribute to global warming but are not nearly as harmful to health as NOx emissions.

Like mmm-five I have a 2006 BMW Z4MC which is Band K for Road Tax, but is Euro 4 so ULEZ compliant.

If it had been registered before 23 March 2006 it would have qualified for the Band K rate, but it looks like only one Z4M Coupe was built prior to that date in South Carolina so it may still have been registered too late to qualify. A few M Roadsters were registered early enough though.