Importing cars - how does it affect C02 bands?

Wig

I ask because I just looked at an Isuzu van pickup on the DVLA vehicle enquiry

It is currently taxed at the 2007 rate
It was manufactured in 2005
It has a zero rating for C02

And a tax cost of £180 which is the 2007 rate for a pre 2001 (non banded car). The only reason I can think for this is that it is an import from Japan, and because Japan or wherever does not rate the CO2 it is grouped into a pre 2001 VED tax band.

This if true, is an easy way to circumvent the tax banding scheme. Checking the used cars on the market, it seems Isuzu has stopped selling new cars in UK since 2005, probably because their cars are very high in CO2 = 273 for the trooper 3 .0 TD I looked up. This car would have been £300 VED in 2007 but the owners of imports get it for £180 in 2007.

When they renew 2008 prices it will be £185 instead of £400
in 2009 it will be £190 instead of £440

2010 should be £455

I don't like this loophole at all!

Conor_3

Whilst you may not like the loophole, it exists. I wouldn't be overly worried about it.

flutterbyuk25

The reason for this is the fact that the vehicle you are refering to is a van not a car.

Since 2001 when the CO2 bandings came in, van's have been taxed separately to cars, as either Light Good's Vehicle's or Euro 4 Light Good's Vehicle's (if they met Euro 4 [an EU directive] standards between Mar 2003 and Dec 2006).

The taxation is based on the construction and use of the vehicle (ie it's a van) not the CO2 emissions or engine size.

All cars/vans/bikes that are imported into UK which are under 10 years old must provide a Certificate of Conformity from manufacturer which states all the technical info inc CO2 emissions if it's a car. So all imports for vehicle's registered after 2001 *should* be taxed on their emissions not engine size so there is no loophole. In 5 years of working at DVLA I have only seen about 3 that have not been taxed on emissions that should be, and it was soon rectified!

In fact importing vehicle's can lead you to pay more road tax because your tax band goes from date vehicle first registered in UK not manufactured. So if you had a 2003 vehicle with 300+ CO2 and registered it now you would pay £400/yr, whereas if you had identical car but registered it in UK prior to 23 March 2006 (when highest band G came into existence) you would pay £210/year!

Hope that helps

x

Wig

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Hope that helps

It certainly does help. An added bonus is that shows Conor was wrong

Thanks

Indout96

An added bonus is that shows Conor was wrong

No he isnt, there is a loophole :j but it depends on the car not being available to buy in the UK from a main dealer, not sure if this is the case with this vehicle

The loophole is being used to bring in US cars which are all classed as £180 atm. So the 700bhp Shelby mustang Super Snake will be £180 but the 2.0 Dodge Calliber will be higher as it is available from dealers over here.

There was a large article about this in Classic American magazine a couple of months ago with a quote from the licencing people who have no plans to change the system at this time.

Conor_3

Indout96 wrote: »

No he isnt, there is a loophole :j but it depends on the car not being available to buy in the UK from a main dealer, not sure if this is the case with this vehicle

The loophole is being used to bring in US cars which are all classed as £180 atm. So the 700bhp Shelby mustang Super Snake will be £180 but the 2.0 Dodge Calliber will be higher as it is available from dealers over here.

There was a large article about this in Classic American magazine a couple of months ago with a quote from the licencing people who have no plans to change the system at this time.

That's what I was going on. My wife has an import Mitsubishi which was a Japanese market only model. Pays £185 a year. Interestingly as well, it only needs to meet the pre 2001 MOT emissions as well which allows for a bit of tuning.

Wig

My apologies to you Conor. :embarasse

Conor_3

Wig wrote: »

My apologies to you Conor. :embarasse

Non needed. It's not something that's an everyday occurence coming across an import like these. Had the missus bought something else instead, I'd not have known.

jasnat

Not sure again if this is the right area to be in but I will give it a go and see if any one comes back. Planing early next year to live in Guernsey and wanted to import a Lexus from Japan to Guernsey but after trying to get information from the uk and Guernsey tax people how to do it and how much it would cost me so that I can work out a purchasing budget for the car I have come to the conclusion that they want to make it as some kind of mathematical equation that only little men from Mars will understand

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sorry would just like a simple version if any one has one. Thanks.