Low Emission Zone

jeannieblue

I'm interested to find out how people are/were affected by the low emission zone, what they did or how they are handling it etc.

I understand that now, quite late lorries are affected around '06 onwards. Vans, a bit older.

:beer:

mikey72

Easy one.

I avoid it, and don't go there. Even in the low emission car. As a tourist, I avoid it, if I need something, I buy it elsewhere.

jeannieblue

A tourist can avoid it yes, but I'm thinking about the ones that need to go into those areas for work, in this economic climate, you can't be choosy about where the jobs are.

The price of secondhand vans that are ok for the emission zone has gone sky high! And I've met a couple of guys that have been forced to sell their low mileage trusty vans for later ones, and have had to spend a fortune on them.

Lum

It only affects vans and HGVs, not cars right? It sounds like you need to travel into the LEZ in a van in order to do whatever it is you do for a living.

So get a decent estate car like a Volvo 940 or 850, remove the seats, get some limo tint on the rear windows and fill it up with your tools or whatever it is you need to carry.

jeannieblue

An estate car would not be sufficient for a lot of the materials & equipment that are needed to be transported, especially if said vehicle was a lorry. Plus for competition in the market place you need to have a vehicle that looks professional to get the job sometimes.

Meanwhile, who would buy the 'old' trusty van at a sensible price? And then need money to buy the alternative..........

Anyone actually come up against this problem that lives in or near the low emission zone?

Anyone had the DPF kit fitted?

chunkychocky

Where is this zone? Never heard of it!

Inner_Zone

chunkychocky wrote: »

Where is this zone? Never heard of it!

Boris land.

jeannieblue

Anywhere inside of the M25!!!

Beware in case they introduce this into other cities! Causing enough problems for hardworking people as it is!!!

Lum

It would help if you said what vehicle you're currently replacing. I know for a fact that a 940 is bigger than, say, an Escort van. Obviously if you're currently driving a 7.5 tonne Luton van then you're screwed.

As for who would buy the van, pretty much anyone who doesn't travel into London. I'm sure you could find someone in Wales or Bristol who'd take it off your hands.

jeannieblue

I've not got a van or a lorry I'm trying to gain information/help from others to help others who do have these problems!

Vehicles do range from small vans up to rather large lorries. Obviously there isn't anyone in the South/central area on here - well today or yesterday..... so far ......

Lum

Well, for your question about DPFs, have a look at any recent petrol vs diesel thread. But basically DPFs are bad news if you mostly do short distance urban journeys, such as pottering around in Central London. Not sure if the aftermarket ones are cheaper or easier to replace than the factory ones, but the factory ones are typically over a grand and die after a few years if they're not given a good long motorway blast from time to time. (yes I'm oversimplifying this a bit)

Am I right in thinking that it only applies to diesels, and that vans up to Transit size are still available as petrol models? Might be worth getting one of those and doing an LPG conversion.

I also remember a thread about this on here from about a year ago, some guy who was a farmer in Essex, but just inside the M25, has to pay the LEZ fee if he wants to take his Land Rover onto the M25. He only really uses the Land Rover to go off roading in Wiltshire or Wales, never takes it into London, but it's classed as a commercial vehicle. I think he ended up getting a petrol one?

The other thing you need to be asking yourself is how long before they change the rules again, and is it likely to invalidate your new vehicle? How many times will you enter the zone in that time period and will that cost more or less than the cost of replacing your vehicle? Can you get away with adding a LEZ surcharge to your bills to people within the zone. May as well add a Con. Charge surcharge as well while you're at it.