Secondhand car price crash? (Vol. 2)

[ChocolateFrog]

Aletank said:

The £40k Luxury Car Tax RFL is currently putting me off changing my car.
I have a 66 plate BMW 520d M-Sport with £35 a year RFL, I could of been enticed into a 22 Plate Mercedes C200 AMG Line estate for £25k but the £590 per year RFL for the next 4 years is a total put off.

And yet there's loads of people on these pages that state its not a factor because it's still a small part of the overall costs.

Which is clearly rubbish because you're not alone. My mum was moaning about it on her XC60 because it lasted a year longer than she thought it would as I belive its 5 years after the first year.

[nickfrog]

RayDonovan said:

nickfrog said:

RayDonovan said:

A colleague just picked up a 2 year old Audi A5 and is stuck with the luxury tax for the next 3 years. Absolute piss take really, since when is a £40k car 'luxury'?

Don't worry, it's not called the luxury tax.

Why didn't he check what the tax was?

I never said he didn't. I said it was an absolute piss take, which it is.

That's your opinion. Personally I would think it would be a piss take if it wasn't transparent or publicised. It's hardly a stealth tax. Your colleague knew about it before buying by the look of it.

[av185]

Agree a rip off price on a e.g. £40k Astra or Golf.

In contrast a relatively small price to pay imo for an enthusiast for the privilege of running an 'interesting' ice car in their twilight years bearing in mind these cars will not be around for ever.

Folks will happily pay £5+ a day i.e. c£2k a year for a crappy coffee so its all about choice.

[loskie]

Only a mentalist would pay £5 for a coffee.

[trumpton7291]

nickfrog said:

RayDonovan said:

nickfrog said:

RayDonovan said:

A colleague just picked up a 2 year old Audi A5 and is stuck with the luxury tax for the next 3 years. Absolute piss take really, since when is a £40k car 'luxury'?

Don't worry, it's not called the luxury tax.

Why didn't he check what the tax was?

I never said he didn't. I said it was an absolute piss take, which it is.

That's your opinion. Personally I would think it would be a piss take if it wasn't transparent or publicised. It's hardly a stealth tax. Your colleague knew about it before buying by the look of it.

The £40k cut off would be closer to 55k if it had moved in line with inflation. Ridiculous fiscal drag stealth tax no doubt fully intended.

[bennno]

RayDonovan said:

I never said he didn't. I said it was an absolute piss take, which it is.

In many ways it's not, the pre 2017/17 reg cars were subject to much higher tax every year ongoing.

The post 17/17 plate cars are all £180 year with a surcharge upon registration and for the first 5 years.

It depends on the car as to whether its better to buy pre or post change - diesel estate is £30 if older £180 if newer, range rover or mustang is £180 if newer and £695 if older.

[MuscleSedan]

bennno said:

RayDonovan said:

I never said he didn't. I said it was an absolute piss take, which it is.

In many ways it's not, the pre 2017/17 reg cars were subject to much higher tax every year ongoing.

The post 17/17 plate cars are all £180 year with a surcharge upon registration and for the first 5 years.

It depends on the car as to whether its better to buy pre or post change - diesel estate is £30 if older £180 if newer, range rover or mustang is £180 if newer and £695 if older.

£735 now for pre-April 2017 registered Mustang etc.

[e-honda]

MuscleSedan said:

£735 now for pre-April 2017 registered Mustang etc.

Yeah I can't understand why a pre 2017 tax year one isn't a hell of a lot cheaper.
Over 10 years it's going to cost an extra £5k+, that aught to be straight off the purchase price, plus an extra £2-3k to reflect being a year older.
But they are basically the same price.

[nickfrog]

Indeed in many cases the "luxury tax" cars are cheaper to tax after the initial period and can be cheaper to tax overall than pre 17 cars if you keep them long enough.

[MuscleSedan]

Mustang was one of those cars that could still be ordered new at under £40k list when the rules changed in April 2017. So tax was £170 a year I think it was at the time, with no surcharge to be added. Nuts really as the earlier £735 tax ones are exactly the same car.

[Chasing Potatoes]

That 'luxury' tax is woefully out of touch with car pricing today

[av185]

Chasing Potatoes said:

That 'luxury' tax is woefully out of touch with car pricing today

Most taxes are indeed woefully out of touch.

VED IHT and IT amongst others being perfect examples.

[bennno]

Chasing Potatoes said:

That 'luxury' tax is woefully out of touch with car pricing today

So would we rather go with £140 a year with an uplift of £310 for the first 5 years for cars over £40k, or a fixed annual charge as below:

[e-honda]

Most duties are a luxury tax or a vice tax, it's just ved and fuel duty have been around so long that no one can even remember a time when having a car was a luxury, so they are way more out of touch than the £40k car tax is.

[sixor8]

MuscleSedan said:

Mustang was one of those cars that could still be ordered new at under £40k list when the rules changed in April 2017. So tax was £170 a year I think it was at the time, with no surcharge to be added. Nuts really as the earlier £735 tax ones are exactly the same car.

Another car that strangely benefitted from the changes in 2017 was the Nissan 370Z. '66 reg, £735 VED, '17 reg - £190 (after April 1st that is) and if you didn't have the Nismo version, sub £40k new. Some may get caught out because the first month of '17 reg is under the previous charging structure.

You have to have a cut off date somewhere for a change in charging structure. Similarly, many '06, '07 cars are the same as '55 reg cars but pay over £700 instead of £415.

[Theoldguard]

£40k luxury tax is probably right, it's still more than a year's wage for most, after tax & NI £40k is more like gross of £53k..

To spend that much on one item is a luxury, just because we have finance deals that hide the actual cost just like stamp duty is paid even when buying a house with a mortgage.

It just highlights how the cost of a even a fairly normal car has increased in recent years where we now accept £40k is no longer luxury but normal.

[Fusion777]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-new...

"A UK car dealership is set to close 16 sites and cut 250 jobs after a takeover by a US firm. US firm Lithia confirmed four remaining CarStore sites will be kept open and refranchised, while seven CarStore pods will become Evans Halshaw Direct sites.

It will be closing nine CarStore sites and seven CarStore pods this quarter in order to focus on Evans Halshaw and Stratstone. Four CarStore sites will be retained and refranchised, expanding its retail operations with three existing OEMs, while seven remaining CarStore pods will become Evans Halshaw Direct sites."

[Theoldguard]

So how is it looking out there, 2 fairly local used dealerships who have a good name and do well were both quiet the weekend, not a great amount of stock.

Finance rates just under 10% and anything decent was at least £10k pushing closer to £15k.

Salesman trying to be positive that the last couple of months have been busy and now putting alot of blame on the weather and that buyers are gearing up for summer holidays and getting away as we go into May.

With the price of rent around this way and increase in mortgage costs that don't seem to be coming down anytime soon and with more and more coming off fixed rate deals and now having to pay these higher rates along with insurance increases Its difficult to see things getting easier for those in sales.

[RayDonovan]

AHH, the old weather one

Too wet
Too cold
Too hot

Still noticing a lot of '24 plate cars around..

[macron]

loskie said:

Only a mentalist would pay £5 for a coffee.

You obviously don't live in London...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/...