Will expensive VED curb used car sales in the future?

[pingu393]

I've got a weekend fun car that costs £220 to tax for 12 months. I was thinking of getting a Cayman until I found out the tax would be around £400. Over a pound a day for a car that is hardly used .

Is anyone else put off getting a weekend car that is in the £400 tax bracket?

Who is going to buy a 10 yr old Cayman when the time comes?

[The Moose]

Surely if you're worried on spending an extra £180 a year on keeping a car on the road, perhaps, erm, a cayman isn't for sir?

[Studio117]

If you can't afford a measly 400 quid for a years tax, how would you expect to pay for the expensive consumables like tyres, brakes and servicing on something like a cayman?

[Tophatron]

I think the £460 tax bracket will kill off cars like the RX8. Why bother having a car where the road tax is such a large percentage of what it's worth?

[GC8]

The Moose said:

Surely if you're worried on spending an extra £180 a year on keeping a car on the road, perhaps, erm, a cayman isn't for sir?

Studio117 said:

If you can't afford a measly 400 quid for a years tax, how would you expect to pay for the expensive consumables like tyres, brakes and servicing on something like a cayman?

Maybe after paying for all of those things the extra £200 would be too much?

A foolish argument, I think.

Edited by GC8 on Friday 8th February 19:42

[clarkey540i]

There's nothing stopping them changing it further either. Personally I will put off buying a car made after 2001 for as long as possible.

[pingu393]

My point is not that £400 is too expensive now. As you have, quite rightly, said £400 isn't a large amount on a 5yr old £20,000 car, but it will be on a 10yr old £10,000 one.

[clarkey540i]

pingu393 said:

My point is not that £400 is too expensive now. As you have, quite rightly, said £400 isn't a large amount on a 5yr old £20,000 car, but it will be on a 10yr old £10,000 one.

My car is 15 years old and cost 2000 quid. If it were built today it would cost 475 quid a year to tax, so in 15 years, the equivalent car will cost 1/4 the value of the car every year to tax. I doubt many people are going to go for that, if I'm honest.

[Studio117]

The costs of owning a performance car don't really change when it becomes cheap to buy. Your still paying the same costs for tyres, ved, servicing etc.

[RDR 838]

My ideal car would be an E36 328i, but as I live in Ireland the yearly tax would be €1391 so I won't be buying a 328i anytime soon.

I know that's not relevent to the UK but as already said when it gets to the point where the VED is a large percentage of the car value then people will avoid them.

Edited by RDR 838 on Friday 8th February 01:57

[Motorrad]

I drive a 500quid 306 diesel that costs me half its purchase price each year..... free fuel makes up,for that but even so.....

[R60EST]

The high VED of some cars has already put me off buying them. It's not that I can't afford it , I just can't accept that the VED is more than the insurance on a lot of the cars I'm interested in .

The cars in the higher rate VED category inevitably use more fuel so already pay more duty anyway , the higher VED is nothing other than extortion.

[simon1987]

Tying the amount of duty to charge on emissions was absolutely retarded.

It needs to be 10 or 15 years rolling for a reduced rate, exempt after 25 years.


Absolutely ridiculous that no government has reintroduced the rolling tax exemption since like 1998, I mean seriously how much income do cars <1988 generate? I would bet its less then 5% of income from all ved!



We need new regulations to make it worth while preserving old cars.

[ging84]

simon1987 said:

Tying the amount of duty to charge on emissions was absolutely retarded.

It needs to be 10 or 15 years rolling for a reduced rate, exempt after 25 years.


Absolutely ridiculous that no government has reintroduced the rolling tax exemption since like 1998, I mean seriously how much income do cars <1988 generate? I would bet its less then 5% of income from all ved!



We need new regulations to make it worth while preserving old cars.

What interest does the government have in preserving old cars in any significant numbers?

[forzaminardi]

Studio117 said:

If you can't afford a measly 400 quid for a years tax, how would you expect to pay for the expensive consumables like tyres, brakes and servicing on something like a cayman?

As he said, the car will be used rarely and so the actual costs of driving and maintaining the car will be relatively low.

I am in a similar quandary, I have no real need for a car beyond my fiancee's Yaris, but being a car fan I want one for the occasional blast and road trip here or there. I've looked at Caymans too, and on a like for like basis, a used, well-maintained Cayman S is a bit of a bargain, even if its a bit pricier than other cars that fit the bill. Given the limited mileage I'd be doing, the biggest expense will be insurance and VED for me. Which, you're right in terms of outright cost perhaps isn't breaking the bank and I can budget for it, but it is frustrating that one of the most significant on-going costs of owning such a car has nothing to do with the cost of actually driving it.

I don't subscribe to the "£400 a year makes sense for a 5-year old £20,000 car but not for a 10-year old £7000 car". To me it makes sense or not on basis of how good the car itself is, which has nothing to do with its age.

[Arbathnot]

It's already started. Barges that are a few hundred don't attract bids at auction becasue it costs aa much again to tax. For a few years now I have only looked @ cars with free/low RFL. Not because I can't afford it but I resent it.

[TITWONK]

Studio117 said:

If you can't afford a measly 400 quid for a years tax, how would you expect to pay for the expensive consumables like tyres, brakes and servicing on something like a cayman?

So paying a fk load of tax is perfectly acceptable as long as you can afford it?

[crostonian]

We are already noticing that people will buy a 2006/55 over a 2006/06 car that falls in the highest tax band, the gap is currently £200 and will most probably get wider each year. To most car buyers ie non PHers, their seems to be an unrealistic obsession with VED. I think the effect will be less for big 4x4s or performance cars because people either need such a car or are buying with the heart not the head, it's the run of the mill stuff that just creeps into the highest band that will be hardest hit.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

I think it's an issue of second hand car economics & the ever popular "what you can afford" generation.

£475 isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, & if people started a little DD every week of £10 to cover it I'm pretty sure they wouldn't miss it, but how many people live like that?

The fact is most people these days buy things on credit, which is absolutely fine when they work out their monthly disposable income. Unfortunately if you don't set up a DD for something like a VED purchase the month when it's due becomes a month were their "monthly disposable income" gets wiped out by "that thing in the garage you hardly drive".

Not a lot of people like having no spare cash for a month.....so more cars go on the market, more cars mean more competition for price......more competition means a lower selling price.....lower selling price brings in a newer market that can even less afford the operating costs of such cars.

& the depreciation circle merrily continues :rotate;

[delmatt]

There have been a few sarky comments...if you cant afford the tax etc but for me it is a signifiacnt issue. I have four cars and will make sure for as long as possible that I avoid any of the 460 quid jobbies! The cost is stupid and the real issue for me is the Principle attached to this amount for a car that is most likely a plaything and used very little.

I like to think the more cars a person owns the more environmentally sound they are....I can only drive one thus keeping three others off the road.