Checking the price of car tax before buying a used car

samsung_laptop

I'm looking to buy a used car and a trick the garages is using is to say tax is only £30 a year tax, So is there a website that I can put in a car registration number to find out how much car tax would be.

TadleyBaggie

Took me all of 10 seconds using Google. http://whattaxband.com

samsung_laptop

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

Took me all of 10 seconds using Google. http://whattaxband.com

Thanks. Google is down on my phone at the moment so I couldn't search.

agrinnall

samsung_laptop wrote: »

Thanks. Google is down on my phone at the moment so I couldn't search.

I find that quite hard to believe. Sounds more like a fault with your phone than Google itself being down in any way.

Iceweasel

That goodness all this 'Low Emissions = Low Tax Rate' cumbersome system is being done away with (at least for new cars) next year.

But of course it'll take years for the existing system to be phased out as older cars rot away.

Nasqueron

Iceweasel wrote: »

That goodness all this 'Low Emissions = Low Tax Rate' cumbersome system is being done away with (at least for new cars) next year.

But of course it'll take years for the existing system to be phased out as older cars rot away.

Why?

VED is a pollution tax, logically if a car pollutes less it should attract lower tax than a high polluting car

Nodding_Donkey

Car A pollutes at the rate of x per mile

Car B with much more expensive tax pollutes at the rate of 2x per mile.


Car A does 15000 miles a year, Car B only does 3000.


How does car A pollute less?

bigadaj

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Car A pollutes at the rate of x per mile

Car B with much more expensive tax pollutes at the rate of 2x per mile.


Car A does 15000 miles a year, Car B only does 3000.


How does car A pollute less?

So do away with the 'tax' and put it all on the fuel.

Appearing to be green and actually being environmentally friendly and efficient are very different things, particularly when politicians, journalists, pr bonds and spin doctors have any say.

Nasqueron

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Car A pollutes at the rate of x per mile

Car B with much more expensive tax pollutes at the rate of 2x per mile.


Car A does 15000 miles a year, Car B only does 3000.


How does car A pollute less?

Because that's a deliberately distorted extreme example, you can do it the other way around too

Car A is in Band B and pays £20 and is rarely driven

Car B is in Band M and pays £505 and is driven 100k miles a year - it clearly does more pollution yet only pays £485 more despite causing untold damage to the environment

Short of scrapping VED altogether and putting it on fuel, the current system rightly punishes those who buy inefficient and polluting cars.

Under the new system after the first year rate everyone pays £140 a year regardless of how bad their car is giving little incentive to buy a clean car

Iceweasel

Nasqueron wrote: »

Why?

VED is a pollution tax, logically if a car pollutes less it should attract lower tax than a high polluting car

Why? Because only fully electric cars produce no emissions.

But of course the whole thing is a farce as that doesn't take into account the pollution involved in making the so called no-pollution car and it's batteries.

Anyhow it's all academic as the government of the day will do as it pleases to generate more cash for foreign sabre-rattling while hood-winking the masses into thinking they are getting a good deal.

What difference does it make to the annual motoring budget if a car is £30 tax or £130 tax? - very little change to the cost per mile.

Iceweasel

Nasqueron wrote: »

Under the new system after the first year rate everyone pays £140 a year regardless of how bad their car is giving little incentive to buy a clean car

Absolutely correct - another government c*ck-up - which will need to be changed in a couple of years.