New Car Tax Figures

[as400]

My Tesla chucking nothing out the back will be £190, plenty of dirty diesels will be paying well less, that doesn't make sense.

I'm currently 're-taxing' it monthly at £0 to avoid paying anything until 2026. The £190 will cover my insuance on the Z.

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

It’s such an odd system, my 21 year old 120k miles diesel megane is £0 road tax, but I have to pay ulez, so tomorrow, for better air quality, I’ll take a 19 year old 3.0 petrol Z4 to twickenham! The z4 is over £400 to tax!

 

[Pond]

It’s such an odd system, my 21 year old 120k miles diesel megane is £0 road tax, but I have to pay ulez, so tomorrow, for better air quality, I’ll take a 19 year old 3.0 petrol Z4 to twickenham! The z4 is over £400 to tax!

Lazy Governments. They ditched the 'emissions-led' RFL for new cars from 2017, so all are the same, as it was getting too complicated for the millions of Whitehall workers (!) to cope with. But kept the 'emissions-led' rates for anything before then. And also kept the legislation for stuff before that, which was in the days when diesel was seen to be the messiah.

And they say they are interested in 'saving the planet'.

 

[Pingu]

My Tesla chucking nothing out the back will be £190, plenty of dirty diesels will be paying well less, that doesn't make sense.

I'm currently 're-taxing' it monthly at £0 to avoid paying anything until 2026. The £190 will cover my insuance on the Z.

I don't think you have to do that. The VED lasts for 12 months from the date of renewal, regardless of price changes. The price will only change when you renew it - which will be on its 3rd birthday or 12 months after the previous one was renewed. If you want to renew earlier, you can SORN it, renew it immediately at the Post Office or wait five days and renew online. I don't think you can tax it earlier than its 3rd birthday, but it could be worth a try if it means saving £175.

 

[as400]

I don't think you have to do that. The VED lasts for 12 months from the date of renewal, regardless of price changes. The price will only change when you renew it - which will be on its 3rd birthday or 12 months after the previous one was renewed. If you want to renew earlier, you can SORN it, renew it immediately at the Post Office or wait five days and renew online. I don't think you can tax it earlier than its 3rd birthday, but it could be worth a try if it means saving £175.

Have renewed twice now without issue, no SORN necessary but appreciate your comments. I'm only paranoid the governemnet will suddenly realise what a million+ EV owners are doing and quickly make some change to the system!...

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Maybe, but every drug has side effects, some aren't apparent until after many years of use.

You mean like alcohol and tobacco? Still, there's tax money to be made on them.

 

[Pingu]

Have renewed twice now without issue, no SORN necessary but appreciate your comments. I'm only paranoid the governemnet will suddenly realise what a million+ EV owners are doing and quickly make some change to the system!...

The SORN is only necessary if you want to move your VED date to an earlier month, although you may be able to move it to an earlier month without having to SORN. I've always done it using the SORN trick.

If you can afford the cash flow, it's always best to run your tax from March to February, as changes usually come into effect starting with the April tax disc.

 

[elevensies]

Many morons! Edward Jenner must be turning in his grave. I wonder just how many millions of lives have been saved around the world by vaccines since he first pioneered a vaccine for smallpox.

quite so, smallpox was killing people of all ages, and was viscous, the vaccine he created saved the world. Covid on the other hand...well quite ironic the vaccine and the testing procedure was already with us, and every strain had exactly the same test and vaccine. Its now a pharma scandal where many many people became very rich. Hardly smallpox

 

[Z Victor 1]

I prefer to rely on validated sources for information rather than internet conspiracy rubbish.

 

[bessieblue]

I did see reports that costs were going up, didn't realise by how much. This is starting to be significant.

I know of people who sorn over winter, does anybody see any downside to me sorning Mon - Fri and only taxing it the weekends I actually take it out ?

Asking for a friend . . .

Road tax on my z3 2.2 now over £400 a year , I taxed it for 6 mths but only used it twice, sorned now till next April

 

[t-tony]

It's an expensive bit of fun mate. Partly why I used my Zs for work.

Tony.

 

[Brian James]

Assuming one wants to SORN a car over the winter months, what are the best precautions regarding battery care? - trickle charger or discharge and recharge (regularly i.e. weekly)?
What is the best practice ?

 

[Nodzed]

Assuming one wants to SORN a car over the winter months, what are the best precautions regarding battery care? - trickle charger or discharge and recharge (regularly i.e. weekly)?
What is the best practice ?

Personally I use a C-Tek smart charger on mine.

Link HERE

 

[Z Victor 1]

I just back it out of the garage when it's not raining every week or so , warm it up and put it back.

 

[Nodzed]

I just back it out of the garage when it's not raining every week or so , warm it up and put it back.

Not really the best way, without driving it the oil temp will never get anywhere near an optimal temp even though the coolant will, this can encourage condensation in the engine and white sludge to form.

 

[Z Victor 1]

I drive it enough to get the oil temp up at regular intervals. It depends on how long the car isn't being used. I don't sorn the car for months.

 

[ChrisD]

Assuming one wants to SORN a car over the winter months, what are the best precautions regarding battery care? - trickle charger or discharge and recharge (regularly i.e. weekly)?
What is the best practice ?

A deep discharge can damage a lead-acid battery. Best to keep it at optimum charge with a battery maintainer.
I have no power where I park my vehicle so I'm experimenting with a solar battery charger. My experience of removing the battery over winter has been a disaster with ~30yr old electronics not powering up correctly after a long period of dormancy.

 

[elevensies]

i use solar to charge my leisure battery, only 1.5v goes in and i just leave it, i get great results, always a small trickle flowing, battery is at least 10 years old.

 

[t-tony]

I was in Lidl in Gainsborough today and they have for sale a battery “Conditioner” on the shelf for only £12.99. I was tempted to buy one but I have a similar thing. Sounds like it’s just what @Brian James needs.

Tony.

 

[Brian James]

@t-tony - many thanks Tony for the helpful info. Will look in Lidls

My query in this thread was in terms of laying up a car was prompted by some feedback in a MG club magazine (Dec) issue that I saw. The previous issue had a members report concerning the MG3 where the battery did not seem to hold its charge after standing for 10 days. Another member who had a Ferrari F8 (bought in 2022) and it suffered from a flat battery and the long and short of it, he was advised to use a trickle charger.
However, the battery failed and the advice from Ferrari was that although a trickle charger was suitable it should be disconnected from time to time and the car started so that it could be chraged by "proper charging levels".

In a similar thread on this forum (unfortunately I cannot relocate it) a member wrote that when using a trickle charger one had to do "it through the car's charging system under the bonnet" and not just to connect the trckle charger to the battery terminals.
I have also heard that should one diconnect/ remove the battery (for charging or any other reason) then the car has to be "told"to accept the new battery.
All advice greatly appreciated.