Road tax and emissions.

[ianali]

Out of curiosity, does anyone care to share what tax they pay for a zetec 1800 silver top? I pay £280 for the year. Just like to know I’m not paying over the odds...

[Kingster]

I think there’s only two tax brackets for our cars - and they have nothing to do with emissions at all (might just be a simple engine size cut off point)

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Everyone should pay the same* for kits unless a mistake has been made when registering.

 

There are only two key prices, (other than six month or monthly options, and card surcharges,  )

 

Kits are counted as PLG vehicles, with rates of:

 

Under 1549cc £170 for twelve months

Over 1549cc £280 for twelve months.

 

And that’s it.

 

It does get more complicated with different payment types, and for six months etc. So full table is here:

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-for-cars-and-light-goods-vehicles-registered-before-1-march-2001
 

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Note, the PLG bit is a catch all class, ignore the registered after March 2001 bit, the different rules there, only apply to fully type approved cars with emissions on their homologation documents. Kits don’t have any of that so are treated, for tax purposes, as pre March 2001 PLG’s.

[ianali]

That’s cleared that up then. Thanks. 

[Bandageman]

@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club SecretaryI’ve got my renewal Dave, also £280. My Westie was registered in June 2006, but Govt website taxation classes page specifically states that the 2 classes you mentioned are for vehicles under 1549cc or over 1549cc for vehicles but registered before March 2001. Vehicles registered after that, according to their own website should be based on CO2 emissions. Doesn’t help me right enough as CO2 emissions are not on my V5. I’m going to contact DVLA as I think they’ve lumped all Kit cars together. Failing that they should specifically state that all kit cars, regardless of year registered are to be classed as pre March 2001, which I’m guessing is why you’ve stated “that’s it” unless I’m missing something.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

1 hour ago, Bandageman said:

@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club SecretaryI’ve got my renewal Dave, also £280. My Westie was registered in June 2006, but Govt website taxation classes page specifically states that the 2 classes you mentioned are for vehicles under 1549cc or over 1549cc for vehicles but registered before March 2001. Vehicles registered after that, according to their own website should be based on CO2 emissions. Doesn’t help me right enough as CO2 emissions are not on my V5. I’m going to contact DVLA as I think they’ve lumped all Kit cars together. Failing that they should specifically state that all kit cars, regardless of year registered are to be classed as pre March 2001, which I’m guessing is why you’ve stated “that’s it” unless I’m missing something.

Your V5C does not have the relevant emissions data for it to be charged excise duty based on It’s emissions because it was not tested in that way when first registered.  Emissions based excise duty is for vehicles that have a EC Certificate of Conformity having been tested in accordance with the relevant type approval regulations.  The majority of kit cars (and some other low volume vehicles) are tested using IVA which is is vastly simplified testing process costing many £000’s less than type approval however this does not measure the g/CO2/km required for it to be taxed based on emissions and vehicle age.

 

As ever the gov.U.K. site provides guidance for the majority of customers but given that kit cars probably only amount to 0.01% of all vehicles on the U.K. roads it can’t provide all the detail for every scenario. If you want to get down the the nitty gritty of details then you need to be reading the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, particularly Part 1A of Schedule 1 that clearly states that the emissions based limits are for vehicles with an EC Certificate of Conformity and part 1 of Schedule 1 which states that the cc based limits are applicable in all other cases that are not defined elsewhere in the regulations.

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/22/contents

 

 

[CosKev]

2 hours ago, Bandageman said:

Vehicles registered after that, according to their own website should be based on CO2 emissions. Doesn’t help me right enough as CO2 emissions are not on my V5.

 

A kit car will never have emissions based VED,as emmisions based VED is not worked out off the idle/IVA/MOT type emmisions test,its worked out from the manufacturers information they supply for MPG/emissions they work out/fiddle on rolling roads

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

@Bandageman you need to read my other post where I say ignore the March 2001 bit, that only applies to mainstream production cars with full homologation. 

On 27/09/2021 at 18:40, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

Note, the PLG bit is a catch all class, ignore the registered after March 2001 bit, the different rules there, only apply to fully type approved cars with emissions on their homologation documents. Kits don’t have any of that so are treated, for tax purposes, as pre March 2001 PLG’s.

 

[Bandageman]

@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary thanks Dave, it definitely seems that although the Zetec 1.8 would, I assume have been tested, the DVLA have decided to tax kit cars at a higher rate. Seems highly unfair, but hey ho, the fun makes up for the extra cost for VED. Thanks for info.👍

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

If you mean the 1.8 had been tested in the original car and might be lower then yes, I suppose that’s true.

 

But think of it the other way round, you could put a cylinder head, cams, throttle bodies, the works on there, and it doesn’t affect the tax at all…

 

Still seem unfair?

 

You could add a turbo, or a super charger, still same tax! Still seem unfair!

 

In fact you could put a six litre V8 in if you desired, and guess what, no difference in tax! Still unfair?…

 

 

Just a different way of looking at it.  

[Mark (smokey mow)]

21 minutes ago, Bandageman said:

the Zetec 1.8 would, I assume have been tested👍

it wouldn’t, and nor would any other engine as a individual component.
 

type approval testing looks at the emissions of the car-assembly as a whole and are expressed as the grams of CO2 emitted per km from that car. different factors such as the weight of the car and the type of tyres fitted will all have a bearing on this figure, as such two different cars from the same manufacturer and fitted with the same engine would have different g/CO2/Km and would therefore be taxed differently.

 

the system is far from unfair, quite the opposite in-fact as it gives amateur builders the chance to build a car and get it tested and on the road for a reasonable cost.

 

The alternative to this is type approval which costs a manufacturer many thousands to test just a single car and that approval is then only valid for identical examples that are built thereafter. The benefit for them may be lower VED but this does not offer the flexibility that we are given with the IVA process as amateurs to build our cars uniquely.

 

In the U.K. we are incredibly fortunate to have IVA, not all European countries have such as system and therefore registration of kit cars or any home builds is virtually impossible for them.

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

13 hours ago, Bandageman said:

it definitely seems that although the Zetec 1.8 would, I assume have been tested

the Zetec 1.8 would not have been tested in isolation, a vehicle (well lots of different vehicles) with zetec 1.8 would have been tested and all with varying results. 

 

Take an engine I'm familiar with (as I've had a few cars with it) the BMW 2.0 L TD, that engine appears in lots of cars in various states of tune, eg at one time just in the one series it was in the 116d, 118d, 120d and 123d not to mention it was also in 2 series, 3 series, 4 series .... and also in a number of different Mini's and each and every one will have different emissions/CO2 results. 

 

The emissions used for VED calculations don't relate to an engine they relate to car.  If I were to but a crate BMW engine into a kit car, which model would I have to pick for the emissions. the 116d or the X5 2L D.