Just got my UK annual car tax reminder of £0 Have renewed it online and it took 20 seconds and did I say it cost me £0? A mate of mine recently renewed his Range Rover which was about £400! lol I don't think I could ever go back to a gas guzzler again. I've made a promise to myself that all my future vehicles will be low emission now. I like the idea it costs the Government money to send me the tax disc renewal and the disc itself. Result http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10012524
Even better if you live in or regularly visit central London. Gen3 is congestion charge exempt Potential saving of £15 a day.
£15 a day now? You're kidding? It was £10 last year. I was going to register to get in for free but the registration fee was £10 so I wouldn't save unless I went into central London more than once a year. Having experienced the 'joy' of driving in central London I don't believe I will ever drive there again in my lifetime - at least not if I can help it! They're bloody nutters!?!?!
Interesting... assuming SUVs are counted as petrol cars (here, they're counted as "light trucks" and not passenger cars), we really could use such taxation in the US to encourage more efficient vehicle buying choices. In my neighborhood, I saw someone w/a brand new extended length GM monstrosity class SUV (e.g. Suburban, Yukon XL or Tahoe XL, they're all the same). A 2WD '11 Suburban 2WD per Compare Side-by-Side emits 523 grams per mile (your UK FE tests are different than ours). Nevertheless, that would translate into 324 grams/km. It was parked next to their older GM monstrosity class SUV. So, if my assumptions are right, and I'm reading your page right, they'd be taxed 1000 pounds the 1st year (~$1530 USD), and 460 pounds/year the subsequent years (~$704 USD). Yow! If we had that sort of thing, could really make folks think twice. Over here, people get all bent out of shape when prices get above $4 per US gallon and the news media runs stories like "pain at the pump"...
Your assumptions are pretty much correct. There are some exceptions for commercial use vehicles, but you can't try and make out your Range Rover is a commercial vehicle. So are these taxes making people change their habits? For sure. I live in an affluent town and every other car is a Range Rover but from talking to some rich customers I find that even they are considering downsizing to something more economical. Despite having money they don't like the idea of £150/$230 to fill their car and then £500 each year just for the pleasure of having such a car. A lot seem to be downsizing to BMW 5 & 7 series, Mercedes E & S class, Jaguar & Audi diesels. Range Rovers (and similar) over here are now virtually all diesels. A new petrol V8 is now a very rare sight indeed. Do people like the tax rates? No. But there are equally nice high class vehicles out there that can still return brilliant mpg's. Put it another way, this tax rate might be why the UK is one of a handful of Countries that have exceeded their Kyoto targets. File:Kyoto Parties with first period (2008-2012) greenhouse gas emissions limitations targets and the percentage change in their carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion between 1990 and 2009.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol]Kyoto Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Last time I went it was £8 (many years ago) but I went to the congestion charge website to check what it is now and they wanted £15! Maybe a London regular can correct me if this is wrong.
