Does VED tax rate affect your decision on buying a car?
Discussion
Depends what you're planning on using the car for, and the estimated mileage. Low mileage makes less sense than high mileage.
In my case the VED is a minor cost compared to my fuel, trackdays, servicing and consumables, which will cost significantly more than the VED.
The VED on my Z4MC (which did up to 30,000 miles a year in the past) will be £790 when I next pay it.
To put that into context:
In my case the VED is a minor cost compared to my fuel, trackdays, servicing and consumables, which will cost significantly more than the VED.
The VED on my Z4MC (which did up to 30,000 miles a year in the past) will be £790 when I next pay it.
To put that into context:
- a single day (say 10-15 laps) at the Nurburgring will cost over £1000 (6 tanks of fuel = £600; 10-15 laps = £250-£325; 1-2 hotel nights = £100-£150; LeShuttle/LeFerry = £150-£400) - I don't tend to go for a single day though, so whilst the fuel/laps increase, the average daily costs reduce as the fuel / travel costs getting there and back are split across more days...and on only some of those days would the track be open.
- a single day ay a UK track = £300-£500
- for my 25,000 mile commute the fuel would cost about £7000 (at 2026 average price for 98+RON).
- maintenance on it would also be c.£3k (1 set of tyres; 1-2 sets of pads; 1 set of discs; at least 4 oil services; 1 major service).
Edited by mmm-five on Monday 30th March 12:52
Yes, >£700 is beyond the pale.
It also correlates (but not exactly) to high fuel costs.
You have to really want that kind of car to justify the extra, or find that the big engine variants are silly cheap to buy.
It starts to make sense to SORN if you don't really need the car one month.
I have a shed in the £300+ tax band and a couple of motorbikes.
It also correlates (but not exactly) to high fuel costs.
You have to really want that kind of car to justify the extra, or find that the big engine variants are silly cheap to buy.
It starts to make sense to SORN if you don't really need the car one month.
I have a shed in the £300+ tax band and a couple of motorbikes.
mmm-five said:
Depends what you're planning on using the car for, and the estimated mileage. Low mileage makes less sense than high mileage.
I sold my 20 year old Alfa GT recently, and one of the reasons was that with the low mileage I was putting on the car, VED had become ~ £1 per mile. 
I've bought 2 £40k+ rrp cars since summer 2023, a DS9 and a C5X both under a yr old with very low miles.
In both cases I've thought the extra VED.....£2k over 5 years or whatever it is has been more than discounted from the price I paid for the cars.
It's like if one version of a car costs £39k new and sells for £X almost new, and another version costs £43k new it also seems to sell around £X almost new, because the market has adjusted the price.
Whilst I object slightly to forking out the extra money I do think the cars I got would have cost circa £3k-£5k more if they didn't suffer from higher VED.
In both cases I've thought the extra VED.....£2k over 5 years or whatever it is has been more than discounted from the price I paid for the cars.
It's like if one version of a car costs £39k new and sells for £X almost new, and another version costs £43k new it also seems to sell around £X almost new, because the market has adjusted the price.
Whilst I object slightly to forking out the extra money I do think the cars I got would have cost circa £3k-£5k more if they didn't suffer from higher VED.
No.
In the overall scheme of cost of ownership road tax is small beer for anything I'd be interested in.
Anyone who wouldn't buy a Range Rover because its in the higher tax band is being completely unserious about the actual cost of running these cars.
I feel really sorry for the fans of some very good and cost effective cars like Mondeo's and Rover 75s that will be killed off by this.
So no for myself, but can absolutely see why it would affect some.
In the overall scheme of cost of ownership road tax is small beer for anything I'd be interested in.
Anyone who wouldn't buy a Range Rover because its in the higher tax band is being completely unserious about the actual cost of running these cars.
I feel really sorry for the fans of some very good and cost effective cars like Mondeo's and Rover 75s that will be killed off by this.
So no for myself, but can absolutely see why it would affect some.
Funnily enough for me not so much buying the cars but it influences the selling decision. It s a bit like a dripping tap that eventually annoys you enough to do something about it. Most of my fleet are over £500/year and my average is pretty high (I dare not work it out 
). I tend to have little holidays for a month or so at renewal time, useful time to get things done, big services, paintwork etc. That way I feel like I get better value for money.
The second hand market for high VED vehicles is almost non existent now, which is a shame as there are lots of lovely old barges about.
). I tend to have little holidays for a month or so at renewal time, useful time to get things done, big services, paintwork etc. That way I feel like I get better value for money.The second hand market for high VED vehicles is almost non existent now, which is a shame as there are lots of lovely old barges about.
Edited by bigmowley on Monday 30th March 14:26
Just looked at my 2.0 tdi Golf derv Alltrack. 10/2016. 125 co2s. I think it's dropping from £195 to £165 per year. 6m newer and it would have been much more. I was thinking about changing it. But TBH there's nothing else I can think that would be better for my needs. Plus I quite like it and the freedom of no debt or stress about dinging it.
loskie said:
Just looked at my 2.0 tdi Golf derv Alltrack. 10/2016. 125 co2s. I think it's dropping from £195 to £165 per year. 6m newer and it would have been much more. I was thinking about changing it. But TBH there's nothing else I can think that would be better for my needs. Plus I quite like it and the freedom of no debt or stress about dinging it.
Car tax rates now: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-f...Car tax rates from April 2026: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69a...
None of the rates are going down, so I don't know why you think yours is. 125g/km CO2 (at that age of car) would put it in Band D, which is going up from £165 to £170.
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