Luxury car tax

[fourstardan]

Is mostly anyone with a half decent car spending 600 odd quid a year on luxury car tax?

I really fancy another motor (Used) but really cannot stomach the money quoted on running it, at the moment I pay 30 quid a year on a 10 year old diesel.

[TTB]

Depends on the age of the car as it's only paid for the first 5 years.

[nickfrog]

I wouldn't pay it unless it's for a couple of years max and the used price reflects it.
I don't think it's ever officially be called a luxury tax but it certainly isn't restricted to "luxury" new cars, considering how much new cars have gone up in price.

[Wills2]

No depending on the co2 and age, just make sure it's over 5 years old.

[davek_964]

It won't drop to £30 after 5 years though!

My 2019 Alfa would have had it, but now it's £200 a year. One of my other (2016) cars is £750 which is a bit depressing each year it's due.

[Monkeylegend]

TTB said:

Depends on the age of the car as it's only paid for the first 5 years.

Year two to year six, the first years tax can be as high as £5k plus if you buy an expensive, high polluting car.

[Mr Tidy]

Even £600 is a bargain!

I have a 2006 car in Band M and it now costs £790 a year.

But post 2017 cars with much higher emissions cost the same £200 a year once they get out of the £40K+ list price penalty as my sisters' 2018 Fiat 500 Twinair. I told her she should have bought a slightly older model as it would have been free, but we have history for not agreeing.

[Blue_star]

Reading through this thread, Pre-2017 diesels sound like even a better idea.

[Aletank]

Totally puts me off upgrading my 2016 BMW 520d, £35 a year tax, owned from new.

[Abc321]

Yes. It was annoying come renewal time each year!

The alternative is to lease, becoming more of an option when theres an extra £50+ each month added on to tax each month. VED all more often than not included in lease cost.

[nickfrog]

Aletank said:

Totally puts me off upgrading my 2016 BMW 520d, £35 a year tax, owned from new.

Not surprised, that's a bargain. There is something special about running a car from new for 10 years + too. On the other hand loads of used cars that were in the higher tax thing have now reverted back to under £200, which is somewhat more palatable.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Aletank said:

Totally puts me off upgrading my 2016 BMW 520d, £35 a year tax, owned from new.

i am amazed they have not fixed this, easy money for a skint government

the LCT was one of the reasons i jumped on my car when it came up as it was registered mid march 2025 so it just missed the extra £425 a year, but only had 68 miles on the clock

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Wednesday 8th July 16:02

[MinchCS]

We are lucky.
In France new cars that produce more than 192g/km attract a one off tax of 80,000 euros! Around 150g/km is still 5,000 euros.
They also tax weight (in addition). 1600kg = 1000 euros. 2500kg = 2300 euros.

[_Rodders_]

No car should have ever been £20 or £30 or even free.

That's the issue as much as £700. There's probably a million or two diesels in the £20 bracket that will be kept on the road for years. If you do low mileage then it does make a big difference.

[snuffy]

_Rodders_ said:

No car should have ever been £20 or £30 or even free.

That's the issue as much as £700. There's probably a million or two diesels in the £20 bracket that will be kept on the road for years. If you do low mileage then it does make a big difference.

But that's how Government's think. They wanted to change behaviours. But they are incapable for thinking beyond the end of their noses.

So they wanted people to drive small engined cars with low CO2 emissions. Hence some cars where at £20 or £30. So people bought those cars. They wanted behaviours to change, and they got what they wanted.

But, the down side is a huge fall in the tax take. Oh st, we never thought of that.

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

snuffy said:

But that's how Government's think. They wanted to change behaviours. But they are incapable for thinking beyond the end of their noses.

So they wanted people to drive small engined cars with low CO2 emissions. Hence some cars where at £20 or £30. So people bought those cars. They wanted behaviours to change, and they got what they wanted.

But, the down side is a huge fall in the tax take. Oh st, we never thought of that.

Literally this. The government doesn't care about living standards or nice things; only raising money to buy votes.

[fourstardan]

Aletank said:

Totally puts me off upgrading my 2016 BMW 520d, £35 a year tax, owned from new.

Im in the same boat, 2016 Passat 35 quid a year and no sign of going majorly wrong.

I just like the idea of a refresh and something new. Shame really.

[andy43]

The luxury tax is up to a cars sixth birthday so something tasty up to early 2020 would have hit £200 by now.
As above it makes no sense taxing a Fiat 500 the same amount as a Bentley, but that’s politicians for you.

[fflump]

fourstardan said:

Aletank said:

Totally puts me off upgrading my 2016 BMW 520d, £35 a year tax, owned from new.

Im in the same boat, 2016 Passat 35 quid a year and no sign of going majorly wrong.

I just like the idea of a refresh and something new. Shame really.

I remember paying zero car tax for my Cayenne V6 PHEV which did about 15 miles on electric only which was quite ridiculous. Though I’m making up for it by paying £760 for the current family car.

[georgeyboy12345]

Car tax should be something simple like 1% of the purchase price when it was new.

If you want to encourage/dissuade people into/from certain cars, then have a multiplier, e.g, 0.25x multipler for EVs, 0.5x multiplier for hybrids, 2x multiplier for diesels. Or I dunno, 2x multipler for cars over 2000 kg.