Expensive road tax making it harder to sell older cars?
Discussion
I'm going to be buying another car soon to replace my X6, going cash instead of PCP so it'll be around the 10k range.
I like the Mercedes CLS and would be buying the 5.0 V8 as i don't do many miles (and want a V8).
This gives me a dilemma, in 2006 the road tax goes from £280 to £500. However this is the same time that the engine gets another half a litre and goes from 306bhp to 388bhp.
So I can buy a 2005 car for around £8-9k with the cheaper tax and less power, or a 2006-7 car for around £9-11k with more power and higher tax.
I'm not that concerned about the tax bill (if I was I'd be looking at something with a smaller engine) £220 over a year won't really effect anything and 80bhp is significant.
My main concern is getting rid of it at some point as I do change cars fairly regularly.
Any thoughts?
I like the Mercedes CLS and would be buying the 5.0 V8 as i don't do many miles (and want a V8).
This gives me a dilemma, in 2006 the road tax goes from £280 to £500. However this is the same time that the engine gets another half a litre and goes from 306bhp to 388bhp.
So I can buy a 2005 car for around £8-9k with the cheaper tax and less power, or a 2006-7 car for around £9-11k with more power and higher tax.
I'm not that concerned about the tax bill (if I was I'd be looking at something with a smaller engine) £220 over a year won't really effect anything and 80bhp is significant.
My main concern is getting rid of it at some point as I do change cars fairly regularly.
Any thoughts?
In the grand scheme of your yearly bills it'll not be a significant percentage of them, probably under 5%. I'm assuming you're buying a CLS500? Expect around 19-22mpg at best of mixed driving so if you do 10k miles in a year you'll be shelling out around £2-3k in fuel depending on driving style and oil prices. That means the extra £220 is already only 8%~ of your yearly costs. Add a decent service and maybe some remidial work like gearbox oil or tyres or brakes and your first few years costs are going to be £3.5-4.5k a year including RFL so now you're looking at less than 5%~ if your yearly costs. Man maths is fun, but it does show that if you want the more powerful engine it's easily justified in this case 
TheAllSeeingPie said:
In the grand scheme of your yearly bills it'll not be a significant percentage of them, probably under 5%. I'm assuming you're buying a CLS500? Expect around 19-22mpg at best of mixed driving so if you do 10k miles in a year you'll be shelling out around £2-3k in fuel depending on driving style and oil prices. That means the extra £220 is already only 8%~ of your yearly costs. Add a decent service and maybe some remidial work like gearbox oil or tyres or brakes and your first few years costs are going to be £3.5-4.5k a year including RFL so now you're looking at less than 5%~ if your yearly costs. Man maths is fun, but it does show that if you want the more powerful engine it's easily justified in this case
On here we can all do the man maths, as otherwise we wouldn't have the interesting engine options.The question is if the man on the street can do it. If you can only market your car to PHeads then it will be a harder prospect to move on.
I'm just resigned to keeping cars for ages.
madbadger said:
On here we can all do the man maths, as otherwise we wouldn't have the interesting engine options.
The question is if the man on the street can do it. If you can only market your car to PHeads then it will be a harder prospect to move on.
I'm just resigned to keeping cars for ages.
Well the OP is just worrying about getting rid of it, surely he can come on here and sell it to a PHer The question is if the man on the street can do it. If you can only market your car to PHeads then it will be a harder prospect to move on.
I'm just resigned to keeping cars for ages.
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All cars will sell, they just need to be at the right price for someone to take a punt on. The economist 1.6 TDCi market isnt going to be a target anyway, it's people who've got a couple of grand they dont mind throwing at something to see what it's like then selling it on when they've had enough or it's broken. The ones who're happy to compromise on going lower than their budget to get a saving on purchase price at the expense of running it with fuel, repairs and tax taken into account.
Your title confuses me, surely the tax changes make it easier to sell older cars.
There is a bit of a hole in RX-8 values around 2006-7. Early cars are fine, ones post-06 with an extra £250 tax are harder to shift, and people only seem to be willing to pay that for a nice late R3 or similar. Normally, cars from early in a production run suffer, but if there's a drastic tax step halfway through it helps the older cars hold their value.
There is a bit of a hole in RX-8 values around 2006-7. Early cars are fine, ones post-06 with an extra £250 tax are harder to shift, and people only seem to be willing to pay that for a nice late R3 or similar. Normally, cars from early in a production run suffer, but if there's a drastic tax step halfway through it helps the older cars hold their value.
Tattooboy said:
It won't be long before the Government changes the cheaper tax band rate for pre 1st April 2006 big enigined cars!!
Yes it will, insofar as "never" is a long time away.BGarside said:
'Road tax' still exists on PH!
It's the 'polluter pays' principle, which seems fair enough when you consider the impacts and potential future impacts of climate change emissions.
If you think it's bad here, try living in the Republic of Ireland....
No, it's the 'pick on a soft target' principle. No-one's going to protest if you squeeze toffs for a bit more tax on their fat cat cars.It's the 'polluter pays' principle, which seems fair enough when you consider the impacts and potential future impacts of climate change emissions.
If you think it's bad here, try living in the Republic of Ireland....
Or are you suggesting that a 2007 car returning 30mpg is polluting more than a 2006 car returning 30 mpg?
You're right about Ireland, though.
Jim AK said:
Just a thought. Can the earlier version be chipped to attain nearer the output of the later car, best of both worlds?
Not same I know but my dad has an E320 CDi that was chipped from new & it's quite startling how much difference it makes.
If it's a petrol e.g. CLS500 which I think it's what they are looking at then not much from a remap.Not same I know but my dad has an E320 CDi that was chipped from new & it's quite startling how much difference it makes.
Claudia Skies said:
I think that's very true. Just because a car is cheap to buy doesn't mean it will be cheap to run. I wonder what the cost of a set of tyres is for one of those?
About £500-800 from Camskill or £800-1000 from a main dealer for a full set. Surprisingly cheap compared to other marques, but definitely not a bargain! They are a quite common 19" fitment and there are a lot of Merc models that they fit to, so tend to be cheaper than more specialised sizes e.g. Minis.I've looked at remapping, it gets another 30 or so BHP. 10% is not bad for a petrol remap but still 50bhp down on the later model.
I only do around 5k a year in the car. Working on oil rigs means no commuting and having motorbikes as well as a tip run car helps.
Running costs don't really bother me. Fuel consumption is around 10mpg less than I get now so around £500 a year more. The tyres are expensive but not £400 each like my current X6. Budget around 2k a year for servicing and unexpected bills
I'll probably keep it for a couple of years (or until something else comes up that I must have) so its mainly the pain of trying to sell this to a fairly limited market that's the issue. I know that an extra £220 a year is a drop in the ocean of running costs for something like this, its convincing others...
Using more man maths, the current car costs £6k a year for the PCP, so assuming the CLS costs around 2k for maintenance and bills each year as long as I get more than £2k for it I'm still better off!
Sod it. Life is short and fast cars save time!
I only do around 5k a year in the car. Working on oil rigs means no commuting and having motorbikes as well as a tip run car helps.
Running costs don't really bother me. Fuel consumption is around 10mpg less than I get now so around £500 a year more. The tyres are expensive but not £400 each like my current X6. Budget around 2k a year for servicing and unexpected bills
I'll probably keep it for a couple of years (or until something else comes up that I must have) so its mainly the pain of trying to sell this to a fairly limited market that's the issue. I know that an extra £220 a year is a drop in the ocean of running costs for something like this, its convincing others...
Using more man maths, the current car costs £6k a year for the PCP, so assuming the CLS costs around 2k for maintenance and bills each year as long as I get more than £2k for it I'm still better off!
Sod it. Life is short and fast cars save time!
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