Your opinions on car tax

[Trav]

I was surprised and shocked looking at the tax bands for cars registered after 2017. I was looking as I am thinking of changing my old 2008 X5. What are peoples opinions on whether our lovely z4 weekenders could be taxed out of existence? I think this would be a sad situation if it happened.

[inkey$]

When I owned my Z4Ms, the car tax was high £500’s. Add that to M Inspection prices and [in my instance] ULEZ costs, and the £s soon rack up and with a growing family, reduced usage etc it became a precious bauble I could no longer convince myself or Mrs Inkey$ as an essential, hence moving back to a 3.0….eventually!

My opinion though is that if you want it enough you’ll pay whats required, and I guess over your ownership and broken down into a monthly average it still beats a lot of performance cars of that era. The M is a special thing.

[AndyBeech]

Not sure what you mean, it’s a lot of course but I guess you either pay it or….sell it to someone who will pay it!

Think be worrying more about general running costs going up in the future rather than tax to be honest. Tax is barely anything in the scheme of things when you take into account petrol, parts etc.

[pvr]

I don't drink, I don't smoke - so I blow those funds on car tax and petrol.

[DevonPaul]

Think be worrying more about general running costs going up in the future rather than tax to be honest. Tax is barely anything in the scheme of things when you take into account petrol, parts etc.

Depends on the mileage you do, if it is a second or third car then it tends to get SORN'd and used irregularly. This month I was going to unSORN the MC, also need to tax one of the bikes, and the 30+ year old Toyota. That's over a grand in VED.

The old Toyota does about 1500-2000 miles a year since mum died and we're driving less, the MC probably similar since we got the dog last year. So at 40 mpg in the old one, thats 50 gallons or £315, about the same as the tax. Assuming the MC does 25 mpg average and similar mileage then the VED is more than the fuel. Service wise the MC gets oil and filter every year, brake fluid every 2 years, and Ins1/2 every 4 years, or sooner if the miles clock up. So on average, the highest element of the running cost for 2 of our cars is the VED, however I do SORN the MC Nov - March which brings it down a chunk.

But as Trav has noticed, the real kicker for me is that something like a 2017 V8 Range Rover with all the emissions and poor fuel economy is now about 1/5 of the cost to tax, the 2006-2017 system was crackers and really penalises the cars.

The diesel Avensis does about 8k a year, and costs £20 to tax.

[plenty]

When I owned my Z4Ms, the car tax was high £500’s. Add that to M Inspection prices and [in my instance] ULEZ costs, and the £s soon rack up and with a growing family, reduced usage etc it became a precious bauble I could no longer convince myself or Mrs Inkey$ as an essential, hence moving back to a 3.0….eventually!

The Z4M is ULEZ compliant.

[inkey$]

When I owned my Z4Ms, the car tax was high £500’s. Add that to M Inspection prices and [in my instance] ULEZ costs, and the £s soon rack up and with a growing family, reduced usage etc it became a precious bauble I could no longer convince myself or Mrs Inkey$ as an essential, hence moving back to a 3.0….eventually!

The Z4M is ULEZ compliant.

Indeed. Was referring to my old Z3M Coupe which wasnt

[Johnbmwz4]

I own 2 motorbikes, and 2 cars. A Range Rover sport and my Z4. Just got my tax through for both cars. V6 Diesel RRS was £290 and Z4 £360. You would have thought the RRS would be the more expensive one to tax. Both cars will do around 3K miles each if they are lucky as I use a van for work. Car Tax should be calculated on miles driven on UK roads or added to the cost of fuel then the more you drive the more you pay. Just my personal view obviously

[AndyBeech]

Think be worrying more about general running costs going up in the future rather than tax to be honest. Tax is barely anything in the scheme of things when you take into account petrol, parts etc.

Depends on the mileage you do, if it is a second or third car then it tends to get SORN'd and used irregularly. This month I was going to unSORN the MC, also need to tax one of the bikes, and the 30+ year old Toyota. That's over a grand in VED.

The old Toyota does about 1500-2000 miles a year since mum died and we're driving less, the MC probably similar since we got the dog last year. So at 40 mpg in the old one, thats 50 gallons or £315, about the same as the tax. Assuming the MC does 25 mpg average and similar mileage then the VED is more than the fuel. Service wise the MC gets oil and filter every year, brake fluid every 2 years, and Ins1/2 every 4 years, or sooner if the miles clock up. So on average, the highest element of the running cost for 2 of our cars is the VED, however I do SORN the MC Nov - March which brings it down a chunk.

But as Trav has noticed, the real kicker for me is that something like a 2017 V8 Range Rover with all the emissions and poor fuel economy is now about 1/5 of the cost to tax, the 2006-2017 system was crackers and really penalises the cars.

The diesel Avensis does about 8k a year, and costs £20 to tax.

Obviously it’s different for everyone, my point was in essence that it’s not something you can do anything about. It’s like saying council tax goes up every year and the banding is unfair, what can you do?
It’s certainly not a great system but it is what we have. Maybe I’m missing the point of the thread Will it be taxed out of existence? No. Will it cost more to own one than ‘x’ person can justify, yes, and it gets sold to the next owner who can justify it…..

I guess you could argue it might affect values one day, who knows!

[Argyll Andy]

At 5 years old mine drops to something ridiculously low like £150.

Like PVR, I don’t drink or smoke so petrol, tax, cars etc is where my money goes

[Secondtothird]

In my opinion all cars should be taxed on weight, regardless of propulsion system. Tyre and brake particles pollute solidly, not to mention the damage to the road surfaces, which around here are laughably appalling. Just my opinion.

Owen

[brillomaster]

I really dont get whats so hard for the uk government to get. You want the average car to pay £140 a year tax. The average car does 12,000 miles a year at 40mpg, thats 1400 litres of fuel, give or take. Therefore, add 10p VED to the price of fuel. Simple.

Now, how to solve tax on electric cars... my thought is, zero tax for home charging, and a set amount added when charging on the move.

[Argenta]

Our cars with a Z in its name is bad enough, sure you want a big flaming z in your profile..?

[tomscott]

It is an age old thing and I don’t think the rules work all that well.

I think I do 3000 miles a year in the Z as it is a toy and the £630 to tax it for such a small car with such a small engine in relative terms is annoying.

My insurance is about £600 so £1200 before you take it out the garage is a pain but at the same time you would pay the same for anything else in a similar category.

Then anything new that’s worth 40k or more and less than 5 years old is £335 on top of the standard tax so you’re looking at similar numbers to buy a newer car anyway.

Let’s be fair there is very little you can buy new that you would want for less than 40k anyway.

Better to accept and move on. Or if it’s really a problem put £50 a month away and it will cover it. Another way to look at it is just add another 3/4S of a tank a month in cost.

[PaulN]

I’ve got 3 cars and use one daily and do 20k miles a year…. The other two are garage queens but I still have to tax and insure if I want to drive them when ever I feel….

Imo the driver should be taxed not each car…. I’m only using one…. Tax should be fixed not on miles or fuel (imo) and they should use the money to actually maintain and repair roads with the money!!!