Good news for UK petrolheads (well, from 2017)

Leonard Hofstadter

As some of you may know, the new British Government had a budget today.

One of the very interesting things in it is the changes that are coming to VED (or 'road tax' as we call it in Ireland) for any car registered after April 2017.

At the moment there are special VED rates for the first year, and then there are lower (or in some cases, higher) rates for every other year. Naturally the VED rates are dependent on the CO2 emissions.

When the new system is introduced in just under two years' time, this will change.

The first year will continue to be based on CO2 emissions, but this is where it gets interesting, and this is why it's good news for petrolheads, there will be three rates of VED thereafter - which will have (almost) nothing to do with CO2 at all:D:D:D!

Pure electric cars will be charged £0, a car that is less than £40,000 new will be charged £140 a year, while cars that are over £40k new will be charged a 'premium' rate of over £400 - but this only applies when the car is between two and six years old, once it gets to seven years old this will cease and all cars once they're over seven years old will only have to pay £140 a year.

So, British motorists will be able to buy proper large capacity petrol engined cars and not pay a single penny extra in motor tax for the privilege of doing so (unless the car costs more than £40k when new, but there's lots of nice stuff available for less than this - such as the M135i and best of all, a real Mustang with the correct engine not the horrible four cylinder thing).

This will have the advantage of making petrol engines, especially larger capacity ones, more desirable new and of course second hand as the lower VED a diesel typically gives will no longer be an advantage. Hurrah for allowing people to buy the cars they want and not being obsessed with CO2 (especially the difference between the real and claimed mpg/CO2 figures is just completely taking the p*** these days thanks to all this downsized crap we're forced to buy)!

Mister Jingles

Could never see that happening over here unfortunately. Between the tax on petrol and the redicious rates on anything over 2.0 it's quite hard to justify owning anything decent unless you have a generous income in my opinion.

CiniO

Indeed it looks like Irish goverment wants people to drive a tiny, dangerous, uncomfortable, sh1tboxes with tiny engines.
Before CO2 era, anythine above 1.5 was taxed crazy both on VRT and road tax, and now during CO2 era everything with a bit of power and petrol is taxed ridiculously high.
And sadly society seem to be happy with it.

dingus12

No doubt we will see a freeze on road tax increases here in the next budget, never a decrease though, so a person in the north pays 256stg for a years tax on a 3.2 m3, and we pay 1809 euro, or 2044 euro if you pay it in quarterly instalments, so fair, especially when the car may only be driven once a month.

jimgoose

Motor tax is arse! In this jurisdiction, at any rate. :mad:

ironclaw

jimgoose wrote: »

Motor tax is arse! In this jurisdiction, at any rate. :mad:

I actually don't mind motor tax if it was ring fenced for motoring, so roads and development of them. If there was proper forums for raising issues and actual enforcement of traffic law. If tolls were State controlled and fair, and not for profit i.e. €1 to cross the M50, €1 as a congestion charge into Dublin. The car is such a crucial part of modern society I'd have absolutely no issue with a huge chunk of change from motor tax going to the Traffic Corp.

I would however prefer to pay a marginal, across the board rate for my car and pay the remainder in my petrol bill. I believe that is far, and that's coming from someone who does a huge amount of annual mileage.

The issue in my mind isn't the motor tax, its the realization of its value i.e. We don't see any tangible value from it.

marathonic

Been running some numbers on the Mustang:

2.3 EcoBoost (Ireland v' UK)
Purchase Cost: €46,000 v' £29,995 (€41,993)
6 years Motor Tax: €4,500 v' £1,500 (€2,100)

5.0 V8 GT
Purchase Cost: €62,000 v' £33,995 (€47,593)
6 years Motor Tax: €14,100 v' £2,700 (€3,780)


€50,500 will buy a 2.3 Ecoboost in the Republic and tax it for 6 years
€51,373 will buy a 5.0 V8 in Northern Ireland and tax it for 6 years

A V8 in Northern Ireland will hold it's value better than a 2.3 Ecoboost in the Republic - as either will be sold in Northern Ireland as a car costing £140 to tax.

Overall, the cost to buy and tax a 5.0 V8 GT and sell after 6 years will be lower in Northern Ireland than the same cost for a 2.3 Ecoboost in the Republic.

The cost of fuel will be an entirely different matter - I work out the difference to be €110 per month for someone that drives 10,000 miles p/a at a fuel cost of €1.49 per litre :eek: