Cars with low road tax...

kattynel123

Hi is anybody able to advise me which cars are only £20 - 35 per year road tax? I've looked on Google but getting a bit confused so if anybody has this information and is willing to share I would really appreciate it.
I'm not really interested in new cars as I'm just trying to keep the cost down and want a car that is cheaper to run long term.
Thanks in advance

Wh05apk

kattynel123 wrote: »

I'm not really interested in new cars as I'm just trying to keep the cost down and want a car that is cheaper to run long term.
Thanks in advance

So why the pre-occupation with low road tax? surely a car that costs £100 pa but will be perfectly reliable is better than a free tax car that requires work?


Cars cost thousands to run a year, so £100 here or there for road tax is insignificant, find a good reliable, economical (ish) car then look at road tax.

tight_scotsman

I have a toyota aygo 1 ltr smallcar but the road tax is only £20 I think some of the corsa ecoflex engines are ver low VED

AdrianC

Wh05apk wrote: »

So why the pre-occupation with low road tax? surely a car that costs £100 pa but will be perfectly reliable is better than a free tax car that requires work?

Cars cost thousands to run a year, so £100 here or there for road tax is insignificant, find a good reliable, economical (ish) car then look at road tax.

Print and frame that post.

pete428

check out renault clio, 1.5dci. the newer models are £30 a year.

gilbert_and_sullivan

AdrianC wrote: »

Print and frame that post.

Indeed, never could understand the way some people spend nearly 5 figures to get an extra 10mpg.

The lowest VED cars with larger than sewing machine size engines are Diesels, but when a modern Diesel fails every penny that its saved you and then some can be wiped out in a moment.

Diesels are currently lower VED than equivalent petrols due to VED being based on C02, now everybody has done as they are told and bought low emission Diesels, you may have noticed some recent articles about city air quality being blamed on Diesels engines, so expect that to change in due course...kerching.

Some BMWs go into almost free VED, but runflat tyres @ £200 a pop soon puts that into perspective.

kattynel123

Being a girl, and not a car expert I thought that low tax cost meant low emissions and therefore it is the most economical to run. If anybody has any suggestions as to cars with low running costs then I would appreciate that advice too.
Thank you tight Scotsman and pete 428.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Aygo/C1/107 take some beating, cheap tax, even the petrol does over 50 to the gallon dodging about, top quality tyres @ £35 apiece, set of front brake discs/pads around £60 for good stuff and half an hour to fit.

They are lasting well, early examples had a small clutch but thats about the only problem apart from odd leaks from the tailgate in heavy rain, easily sorted.

The only downside is road roar due to poor insulation, if you have a handy person about or don't mind having a go yourself, a couple of hours and £40 worth of self adhesive sound absorbent pads will transform it.
Oh and the radio/speakers are budget to say the least.

Other than that for cheap motoring its one of the best.

AdrianC

kattynel123 wrote: »

Being a girl, and not a car expert I thought that low tax cost meant low emissions

Yes, because of the way that the VED band is based on CO2 emissions.

and therefore it is the most economical to run.

Fuel costs are a significant part of your motoring costs, yes, but a relatively small saving in fuel is very quickly outweighed by unreliability or high depreciation.

If you do 10,000 miles per year, say...
60mpg diesel = 750 litres per year = £1000
40mpg petrol = 1125 litres per year = £1460

So, wow, that's a £460 saving. Great!
And that, of course, is if you really do get those economy figures. If you're only doing half that mileage, half the saving.

But it doesn't take much of a bill to negate that. Modern diesels are fragile things, especially if you only do a low mileage. And if you're buying a near-new car, to "benefit from low VED", you may well be spending £2500 per year on depreciation and finance costs - or more.

Joe_Horner

Lowest overall running costs with cars are almost invariably found with well chosen bangers. Hence the "bangernomics" thread on here.

It's entirely possible to run an older car for very little more than the cost of fuel, insurance, MOT and road tax. Which, with the right car and enough miles, means pretty close to the cost of fuel.

Using our Pug 405 as an example (2 litre diesel estate, cost £500, done 12k miles so far in it):

Depreciation to date 9assuming I scrap it tomorrow): about £400 allowing for scrap
Cam belt etc as precaution when bought: £130 parts
Insurance for the year (fully comp, business cover, no-claims not available): £290
Road tax: £220
2x front tyres: £84
Alternator: £25
2x oil & filter changes: £40
Fuel (overall average is about 40mpg): £1900


Total cost: £3039

Now, that's around what a lot of people spend on the car itself, then they have to add the fuel, servicing etc on top. The "one off" repair costs such as cambelt and alternator will also not be needed again for a good few years / miles so it gets cheaper over time.

It helps a lot if you do the servicing etc yourself, but even if I'd paid a garage for the cambelt, alternator and oil changes, that would add maybe £400 to the total so far - still less than a lot of people will spend on the car.

On the flip side, you don't get seen to be driving something new-ish, and you need to pick right in the first place for basic reliability. This one's on 196k miles at the moment and I'm looking forward to going into lunar orbit an another couple of years.....

gilbert_and_sullivan

Agree with Joe, bangernominics is the cheapest by a country mile, but only if you can do a lot of work yourself or have a good tame mechanic, possibly not the ideal route for a young lady who knows nothing about cars though.

According to modern thinking a car older than 10 years is seen as a death trap, funny how so many cars up to 50 and more years old and their often older drivers are still kicking about in daily use and they usually have more than an up to the limit set of credit cards in their wallets.