Vrt won’t tax Honda jazz hybrid as a hybrid

Doc Farrell

Perhaps someone has info that could help me.
I’m vrting a 2012 UK auto Jazz Hybrid. The Vrt says it’s not a real hybrid.

The UK v5 says that it’s a petrol electric hybrid. The owners manual explains how the hybrid works and not to mess with the batteries as it can be dangerous. The clocks show how the hybrid batteries charge. The car has a badge on it that says it’s a hybrid. It’s the same engine as the Jap Honda Fit which I’ve previously vrt’d as a hybrid.
Revenue, accoarding to an email that I received from them, say that Honda Ireland do not consider it to be a hybrid. I can’t find any Honda site, or any site, that says that.
Has anyone had any similar experience with the Revenue with Hybrids?

n97 mini

Honda CR-Z is the same.

The powertrain in the Civic IMA, CR-Z, Jazz and Insight are all just variations on a theme, but the Revenue in their wisdom only recognise the Civic and Insight as a hybrids. I phoned them about the CR-Z a number of years ago and got a "we'll look into it and call you back". Call never came.

I guess Honda Ireland are ok with this as they never sold anything other than the Civic IMA and Insight.

I think you'll have a lot of banging your head against the wall with the Revenue's VRT section.

colm_mcm

This bit is interesting

*A hybrid electric vehicle derives its power from a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine and is capable of being driven on electronic propulsion alone for a material part of its normal driving cycle. A flexible fuel vehicle has an engine capable of using a blend of ethanol (minimum 80%) and petrol

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/coming_to_live_in_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html

Civic doesn’t do that either.

Doc Farrell

Thanks very much for the two responses. I could accept a definition of a hybrid as a car that drives solely on its electric motor for a short period of time. But the thing is, I have vrt’d Jap versions of the same car, literally the same 1.3 IMA engine , as hybrids, the only difference being that they are called Honda Fit in Japan. I can find no other technical difference...
thanks again for taking the time to respond.

n97 mini

colm_mcm wrote: »

This bit is interesting



http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/coming_to_live_in_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html

Civic doesn’t do that either.

The first generation doesn't, which is a hybrid according to the Revenue!

The second generation can, as can the Insight and the Jazz (which share the same powertrain). It's more electrically powered coasting than anything, but there are times when the IMA system is providing propulsion and the ICE is not.

But like I said, I suspect this is politically motivated. I reckon the OP could pay the full VRT and then appeal, showing that the Jazz Hybrid is considered a hybrid in every other country it's sold in.

n97 mini

Doc Farrell wrote: »

But the thing is, I have vrt’d Jap versions of the same car, literally the same 1.3 IMA engine , as hybrids, the only difference being that they are called Honda Fit in Japan. I can find no other technical difference...

Jesus, that's worse again.

A buddy of mine imported a Nissan X-trail from the UK last week. He was initially looking at a 2016 until he saw that the exact same model (and mileage) but with a 2017 plate incurred less VRT. The mind boggles. But the VRT system is a mess.