Car Taxation is Death

Car Taxation is Death And Bangernomics is on life support

This increased taxation is nothing less than imminent death for a lot of very decent used cars. It also presents me with an opportunity to mention the fact that I have updated one Bangerpedia 2000 to 2010 and written another 2010 to 2020. I’d be grateful if you would consider those for your or another’s automotive library.

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Rather more usefully you should also go and sign this https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/756814

They don’t ever seem to change anything but at least this allows us to moan at someone who might get the message that we’re not very happy.

Effectively Rachel Reeves has killed off a particular kind of very popular Bangernomics. The one where you bought an old used car with a big engine and not worried to much because the mpg wasn’t important. That’s because it was a comfy sofa of a motor, or a stealthy family saloon, or even a bargain sports car. Now that option is being taken away for many because the road tax is now utterly outrageous. Always has been and it has just got much worser.

Car tax, road fund licence, driving jizya, whatever you want to call it is more complicated than ever. I feel as though I have to explain this every few months. Worth doing because the more I talk to people who are not us, the more I find that helping them to understand what it all means is vital. Difficult, because it does not make any sense. It is complicated and this is done deliberately. I will say it now, the Government, the NGOs, the pressure Groups and the media, don’t want you to drive. They are happy if the rich do it. They can afford brand new, or new cars. It suits their paymasters. Car makers who have cars to shift, legislators who work with them to make motoring more miserable and magazines/newspapers with advertising and promotional space to fill

Let’s firstly cover how the new system affects us. So for cars registered before 1 March 2001 which don’t tip the scales at more than 3,500kg is for those which have an engine up to 1549cc and those over.

In real terms then a Suzuki Baleno is £360, yes really. A 1.3 Skoda Felicia is ‘only’ £220 Please see my Modern Classic Bangerpedia 1990 – 2000 for loads more examples,

Then when we get to cars first registered after March 2001 and before April 2017 well these are split across 13 bands depending on the CO2 emissions of the vehicle. Since 2025 VED rule changes, cars with CO2 emissions below 100g/km no longer qualify for free road tax that’s 900cc Fiat Panda of course. This means you now have to pay £20 a year for VED. 

Road tax for petrol and diesel cars registered after March 2001 and before April 2017 are broadly the same.  One of the best/worst examples of where it leaves us fans of older fun cars is that a Golf in drag, aka the Audi TT which has been a remarkably excellent reliable high miler that can be bought for a grand and at the very least you’ll be shelling out £735. The TT is also on the new cover of the revised Contemporary 2000 – 2010 Bangerpedia. Referring to the cover well most of the early Minis are £165 to £195. Meanwhile a Tourer MG Rover is mainly £430 or so unless you have the funky V8, then it’s £760.

So the obvious knock on affect is that buyers are going to be less inclined to buy and run a car that costs a bunch of cash to run. The thing is once these taxes go up, they seldom, well never go down again. Sticking them in barns, lock ups and drives may happen by accident but this is going to be the same sort of national disaster as the government backed 2009 scrappage scheme. Whole generations of Banger are simply going to to disappear. That either keeps you up at night or you just get on with driving your car and working hard enough to pay the VED.

Here are the 2001 to 2017 rates.

Anything after 2017, well you are on your own, although the brand new Bangerpedia, this time the thoroughly Modern 2010-2020 will come in handy. One small problem is that it does not cover electricity cars in any way shape or form. I’ve made the executive decision that they will never be bangers. Electric cars no longer qualify for free road tax, and in April 2026 EV drivers will start paying the £200-a-year flat rate. There is a concession to the hybrid breed, however misguided and expensive that might be in the long run.

In addition to road tax, the government is introducing a pay-per-mile road charge for electrics from April 2028. EV drivers will pay 3p per mile. Plug-in hybrid drivers will pay 1.5p per mile. At the moment no one knows how it will actually operate. You would think that simply using the ANPR cameras that are everywhere. They have to work it all out by Spring 2028.

Otherwise Fully electric cars now pay £10 in their first year. They are no longer fully exempt. Cars emitting 1-50g/km CO2 (mostly plug-in hybrids) pay £110 in year one. Cars emitting 51-75g/km CO2 pay £130. Cars emitting more than 75g/km CO2 (typically petrol or diesel models) face higher first‑year charges, ranging up to £5,490 for what they regard as the most polluting cars.

From the second year onward, most cars, including petrol, diesel, hybrid, and electric vehicles, pay a standard annual VED of £195.

Oh yes and here comes the full on envy tax in the shape of the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS). Cars with a list price over £40,000 pay an extra £425 per year for years two to six. Fully electric cars above this threshold are also subject to this charge. From 1 April 2026, the threshold for zero‑emission cars will increase to £50,000.

Please consider buying my books here https://www.bangernomics.com/

Take a look at classic car history charts here https://www.thecarzine.com/