Spending on tax or car…

[swanseaboydan]

I’ve always had a cheap run around for lugging tools about, going to the tip, putting sand and cement in etc etc and as I have plenty of parking it’s fine to have a spare car. Usually I buy a cheap 4 x 4 from the auctions or online for about 2 - 3 grand and run it for about 3 years then replace it.
My current car is a 2007 Volvo XC90 and it is amazing.
However, I taxed ( v e d - road tax ) it yesterday and it was £615 Quid !!! Wow !
Is there a way to get a similar car that is efficient and lower tax ? Or do I have to buy a newer xc 90 ? It’s an amazing car.
Big, comfy and as it is not a van - I can take it to the tip.
It seems to be a trade off between cheap car or high tax ?

Any other options I should be looking at ?

[757]

yeah big pill to swallow, but in terms of running a car, may work out cheaper than buying another 'unknown' car to replace it with, which most likely wont have significantly lower VED if your still keen on that size of car - only around £50 per month in all honestly, and a new to you car may throw a ££££ bill - better the devil you know, unless you are completely downsizing to a smaller car.

[Llew]

I run an old Discovery 3 (2007) for the exact same reason OP...

The tax is eye watering at over £600 and it's ste on fuel (actually it's not, and does around 30mpg, the current fuel prices make it expensive to run). However it's such a good tank I won't ever get rid of it until it goes bang basically. It has 7 seats, can be used as a small van, can go pretty much anywhere, is like a magic carpet ride on a long journey. Doubles up as a dog bus, camper, van - It's bloody good. And I paid £3k for it.

I think the real world cost difference between anything more tax/fuel efficient you'd change it for would be negligible and you'd be introducing risk by changing it. My Disco is not perfect but I've done 1000s of miles in it and I know every single one of it's nuanced quirks, none of which stop it from being suprememly reliable. Plus I've got some very good A/T tyres on it etc.

I have thought about what I'd change it for;

Nissan Pathfinder?
Early T5 Caravelle?
Possibly a Vito people carrier?

Nah, I'll stick with the Disco for now....

[768]

Ouch. I've got an '07 Focus ST which I've had since it was a year or so old for £12k. The tax passed the insurance cost some years ago now, I think it's pushing towards £400. I guess the next milestone is passing the value of the car.

But I keep looking at cars which cost £60k to replace it, so even though the government seems to think it's becoming an increasingly less environmentally friendly choice to keep it, car price inflation seems to be making the tax look palatable.

[talksthetorque]

Don't forget that one of the reasons your car was so cheap to buy initially was because of the running costs of a large thirstyish car.

[samoht]

With cars of that age, the simplest thing is often to seek out a similar model which was registered before 23rd March 2006, since these are capped at Band K tax which is about half (£3xx) the rate.


Once you get a few years after the cut-off, you start finding quite a few manufacturers introduced facelifts with revised engines which snuck under the top rates of tax, but typically cost a fair bit more to buy.

[anonymous-user]

samoht said:

With cars of that age, the simplest thing is often to seek out a similar model which was registered before 23rd March 2006, since these are capped at Band K tax which is about half (£3xx) the rate.

For 2001-2017 vehicles, the maximum 'Band M' 12-month cost is £630 and for the capped 'Band K' it is £360. That's about 74p a day difference - hardly seems worrying about for the average affluent Pistonheader!

[768]

280E said:

For 2001-2017 vehicles, the maximum 'Band M' 12-month cost is £630 and for the capped 'Band K' it is £360. That's about 74p a day difference - hardly seems worrying about for the average affluent Pistonheader!

Yeah, it’s only 1/20th of a penny per minute difference. That’s basically as close to free as it gets. Just work a bit harder for the government.

[fred bloggs]

I can take my van to the tip.

[swanseaboydan]

Cheers all,
Pretty much as I expected, better the devil you know - I’ll sell it when something major goes pop . .

[and31]

fred bloggs said:

I can take my van to the tip.

This-my local council issued a free permit ,I can take my company van 12 times a year.

[DaveH23]

Look at it a different way, it's an annual motoring cost as is insurance, fuel and maintenance.

The difference in price between what you're paying and the next band or 2 down is less than a couple of tanks of fuel, you could easily recoup that over the year with a lighter right foot.

Keep the car as you know it well and enjoy.

[talksthetorque]

swanseaboydan said:

Cheers all,
Pretty much as I expected, better the devil you know - I’ll sell it when something major goes pop . .

The idea is to sell it just before this happens.