Checking how much I now pay for Road Tax (2023 Update)

Its down to Co2 emission

A 2L Jaguar 2001 to 2010 has tax rates between £180 and £220 depending on engine

A 2002 Corolla 1.6 has tax rates between £265 and £330

Obviously you have a more polluting car. The 2L diesel version of your car has a tax rate of £220.

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So what doesn't make much sense to me to me is that the neighbour's Diesel Jaguar emission is 152g/km and my petrol corolla is 168g/km so his emission is *lower* than mine. Yet i am allowed in the Ultra Low Emission Zone on the inside of the north circular while he is not allowed in without paying a charge.

Different exhaust products - particulates and not just Co2? Heavy black smoke from diesels that have not been maintained.

Quote The ULEZ is enforced based on the declared emissions of the vehicle rather than the age. However:

Petrol cars that meet the ULEZ standards are generally those first registered with the DVLA after 2005, although cars that meet the standards have been available since 2001

Diesel cars that meet the standards are generally those first registered with the DVLA after September 2015 /Quote

Your car has probably just squeezed into the first category whereas your neighbour is 10 years too early.

I had a 2002 Mazda 323F GXi automatic, petrol 1.6L, 205 g/km. The road tax for that would be £360.

I now have a 2016 Infiniti Q30 1.5 DCi city black, Diesel, 103 g/km. Road tax £20.

If I had made the mistake of buying a March 2017 onwards model the road tax would be £165. It is also just new enough to have ULEZ. The Mazda and Infiniti have very similar performance, same insurance bands, but CO2 emissions of the Diesel are half of the petrol car.

I also have a 1994 Nissan 200SX 1809cc road tax £295. In 12 more years it will be tax free. I have a 1988 project called "Donor", it will be worth swapping all the bits back in 6 years time, I'll save £1770.

There is an anomaly of very low tax rates for emissions less than 120 g/km, starting from March 2001, ending at April 2017. The lower C02 emission tax bands covers a lot of Diesels. The treasury was going broke from loss of car tax revenue.

Taxation bands are based on CO2 emissions, Diesels produce less CO2 green house gas which is why there was a huge drive to move people to using Diesels and the low tax for older Diesels. Since then the increased emissions of Oxides of Nitrogen have been killing people. So now we have ULEZ emission charging zones and higher tax on Diesels. The push to get Diesels into those low tax bands led to Dieselgate.

A friend has a 2016 with a very low road tax. I think maybe at the time a car with a stop/start engine (at traffic lights etc.) was mistakenly believed, by politicians, to be less populating. By 2017 the chancellor had changed his mind.

Spell chuckers and not looking at what they suggest

... to be less polluting

Maybe stop /start systems have been with us a bit longer than you think.

Some VW Passat and Polo Formel E models were fitted with them starting in the early 80s, and I dont suppose they were the first.

Different criteria. VED is based only on CO2 emissions. ULEZ on emissions other than CO2. If the ULEZ was based on CO2, all large vehicles would fail.

The Chancellor (Mr Osborne) changed his mind that VED would be a flat tax irrespective of CO2, which took effect from 2017. You get a £10 discount for having a hybrid and that's it. From 2025 even electric cars will pay the same rate of VED. (There is an additional £355 VED cost for the first 5 years if the purchase price was >£50k)

It seems like older cars won't be on that scheme, so you can have a new electric car and be paying £165pa, or an old diesel and be paying £20pa.

Theo

But something happened in 2016 where car tax was very low (for some new cars?) for that year, and ongoing for those car. For the same make/model of car registered a year later the tax rate was lot higher.

It wasn't anything new, it was just that more cars were released into the lowest CO2 brackets. Up to 120g/km and the tax is £30 or less, then for the 10g it jumps to £135.

On 1 April 2017 the CO2 banding was completely done away with and everyone pays a flat tax regardless of CO2, with a £10 discount for hybrid (and currently a 100% discount for electric). The only difference CO2 made was in the first year's tax payment (£0 to £2365). There was an additional £355pa for the first 5 years if the car was more than £40k at time of purchase.

For example, on a Golf the tax is £0 to £30 before the change and £165 after:

of the diesels qualified for the lowest £0 bracket because they came in just under 100g/km.

Theo

We had a Smart Car.

As it’s CO2 emissions (98g) were under some limit, it was “tax free”.

Our 4x4 hybrid emits just under half as much CO2 (47g) ( ignoring the electricity power station emissions). It is taxed.

The ULEZ is even more of a joke. We had a Mazda MX5, even though it was a

1999 one, it’s emissions were very low when tested. BUT the model isn’t on the approved list. There must be countless similar cases. ( ULEZ isn’t CO2 based.)

Was in central London the other day. Have to say, the air seemed much cleaner than when I lived there (to 2005), and seemingly better than Sheffield.

I'd hope so. Pretty well all buses are now electric or hybrid. Taxis too. And new EU regs on vehicle emissions since then.

ULEZ was introduced 2015. No car before that date will have ULEZ rating.

AFAIK London's ULEZ still defines the standards for low emission vehicles in much the same way as in the original Order in 2006. That's by reference to limits on emissions certified under EC Standards - Euro

3, 4, 6 and VI. And TfL's check on who pays is against those figures

Not so. Most petrol cars with catalytic converters are OK - and many from the 90s. Diesels have to meet a much later Euro standard.

My daily driver (petrol) is OK, and 2011. My brothers newer Audi diesel, not.

I know an acquaintance who uses an old Ford Galaxy to enter ULEZones, who would normally use a much newer van. From a CO2 POV the van is much cleaner but doesn't have the right credentials for ULEZones!