Used diesel cars - will tax increase?

Ray_Singh-Blue

Question for anyone knowledgeable about these things.

I'm looking at buying a used diesel car. The car I'm looking at will cost £30 per year to tax because it was registered before April 2017 and that means the road tax is based on CO2 emissions. (as I understand it). Bargain. 

But will this continue to be the case? Or is this likely to change as part of persuading people not to drive "legacy" combustion engine cars?

Grateful to anyone who knows, or can point me to info

Thanks

Mickey666

No one knows . . . except perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Diesel cars have certainly been demonised of late but it hasn't been enough to persuade me change my two because of the far greater fuel economy.  Of course, if government was serious about 'persuading' people away from legacy-engined cars then they'd increase fuel duty . . . but of course they won't because that screws with the economy.  So science meets politics in a policy car crash that pleases no one and achieves nothing.  Par for the course really.
Your post will no doubt prompt an interesting discussion but don't expect any definitive answers because there are none - well not in the short term anyway.  Long-term we'll all be going EV but how long is a piece of string.  I'm banking on my cars having another 10 years in them if I'm lucky, by which time these sorts of decisions will be far easier or I'll be beyond caring anyway.

daveyjp

I wouldn't worry about it, any increase will be far less than depreciation.

chrisw

It might go up to £2135 per year.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/351849/drivers-could-pay-ps2135-year-road-tax

Or it might not. 

Ray_Singh-Blue

Depreciation is a cost I have my head around though. I ride my horses hard and put them away dirty, so expect it to depreciate to zero during my ownership.

Flight3287462

chrisw said:

It might go up to £2135 per year.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/351849/drivers-could-pay-ps2135-year-road-tax

Or it might not. 

Did you actually read and understand the article?  They are talking about cars post 2017.

Will the £30 VED, possibly but not by much.

thegentleway

I hope so - diesels stink! 

MX5huggy

Best guess is no, they don’t generally change the system for cars already in the system. But if it doubled its not an issue really, well if a £30 unexpected bill is an issue don’t buy a car. More likely they will increase fuel duty. 

Ray_Singh-Blue

Doubling wouldn't be an issue, but a retrospective punitive tax might. Say £500 or £1000 per year. But it's good to hear that this sort of change hasn't been made in UK in the past 👍

AdrianC

Mickey666 said:

No one knows . . . except perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer

And how long will that job be occupied by this particular individual?

History tells us that the method of calculating VED for extant vehicles tends not to change - but that a change isn't without precedent.
Changes in the method tend to apply for new cars after that date only.

OTOH, changing the pricing within the calculation methodology happens annually - yes, usually just inflationary in recent years. But, again, a change wouldn't be without precedent.

VED is at historical lows - £30/year was the average for a new car before the 2017 change. The last time the average was that absolute figure was the early 70s. So, yes, it's entirely feasible that there may be price changes within the bands.

Mickey666

AdrianC said:

Mickey666 said:

No one knows . . . except perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer

And how long will that job be occupied by this particular individual?

Indeed, which is why I mentioned the office and not the current incumbent