CLK road tax

[Eddy77]

Lord above. My clk is now £675 a year to tax. It’s always been pricey but this is the first year where I’ve really thought “how high is this going to go?”. It’s not enough to make me think about selling as the car has so much emotional value and set against depreciation on anything newer it’s not a big deal. But the system does just seem a bit skewed. It’s a 15 year old car that does 1,500 miles a year. You’d think that based on age the rate might taper so as to acknowledge that not many 15-20 year old cars are being used as high polluting daily drivers!

 

[AMGeed]

It's long overdue to scrap road tax and put a fair sum on the fuel we use.
Those who use the roads most or fuel guzzlers pay more. Seems fair to me.
It's unfortunate the road fund licence has reached such a high price for those who hardly use their cars.

Pay per mile is coming, but I doubt road fund licences will be dropped. It's too lucrative.

 

[SpikyMikey]

It also appears that it is no longer about environmental considerations.
Mrs S has just had her car back from MOT. The Sun emissions test results make interesting reading:
CO at fast idle - max limit 0.200. Actual value 0.002
HC at fast idle - max limit 200. Actual value 12
Natural idle test CO - max limit 0.300. Actual value 0.000
Now to a non-expert like me, that looks like Mrs S's motor probably churns out cleaner air than it sucks in
So why did it cost £30 in RFL when she bought it in 2018 and now is £185, up £20 from last year?

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Lord above. My clk is now £675 a year to tax. It’s always been pricey but this is the first year where I’ve really thought “how high is this going to go?”. It’s not enough to make me think about selling as the car has so much emotional value and set against depreciation on anything newer it’s not a big deal. But the system does just seem a bit skewed. It’s a 15 year old car that does 1,500 miles a year. You’d think that based on age the rate might taper so as to acknowledge that not many 15-20 year old cars are being used as high polluting daily drivers!

Its really just a cash cow. I try not to think about it! My Merc isn't too bad but i do wonder whether diesels will start to get hammered more. Im fortunate with the Alfa - if it was 6 months younger it would be in the much higher bracket. It's average mileage the last few years (apart from last year) was way less than 1000 miles - and at that point when you add up servicing, tax, insurance etc it gets a bit silly £/mile. I try to keep it moving all year round so SORN is not an option.

 

[DITTRICH]

At around 240g co2 / km be thankful your first registration was before 01/04/2017 at £675 rather than £2,220 initial plus the next 5 years at £180 +£390 = £570 if >£40k. That would be £5,070 over 6 years or £845 / year for a 240g/km co2 car. Time to get a 40 year old historic vehicle, I suspect.

 

[W1ghty]

Lord above. My clk is now £675 a year to tax. It’s always been pricey but this is the first year where I’ve really thought “how high is this going to go?”. It’s not enough to make me think about selling as the car has so much emotional value and set against depreciation on anything newer it’s not a big deal. But the system does just seem a bit skewed. It’s a 15 year old car that does 1,500 miles a year. You’d think that based on age the rate might taper so as to acknowledge that not many 15-20 year old cars are being used as high polluting daily drivers!

Weird isn’t it , my 2009 E320cdi with no dpf is £395 a year .

 

[ChrisEdu]

Scrap the tax! Time to pay as you play.

 

[ToeKnee]

Scrap the tax! Time to pay as you play.

You do pay as you play, the more you use your car the more fuel you put in therefore the more tax you pay

 

[ChrisEdu]

You do pay as you play, the more you use your car the more fuel you put in therefore the more tax you pay

But there's still a standing charge.

 

[ToeKnee]

But there's still a standing charge.

As in most energy supply

 

[ALFAitalia]

My derv ALFA 159 (one of the last, so Euro 5, 2.0L and lower tax group than the Euro 4 spec 1.9L it replaced) has just gone up to £200....it was just £130 when I bought it in Jan 2019.....theevin' robbin' bast.........!
I guess if I think of it as £16.67 per month it sounds better. Even a £695, 212 E63 sounds a little better at £57.93 per month....about two quid a day! Man maths!

 

[Manoerwar]

Mine £365 and i'm complaining!

 

[Rayny]

Mine was about £180 this year - But think of the Irish :

PDF.js viewer

www.gov.ie

 

[Will]

I really do think road tax is pretty badly worked out when you consider that it takes into no account where vehicles are parked, how often they are driven or during which times (peak vs off peak), or even if you own more than one vehicle (you can only drive one at a time!)

I get that it’s worked out to consider levels of CO2 produced but that’s only relevant if cars are used at a similar amount when making comparisons.

Some people no doubt pay lower road tax for a vehicle that just fits into a lower bracket for CO2 but then drive everywhere and sit in traffic and cover five figure mileages PA.

Conversely, a vehicle that is considered at the top tier for CO2 may only get used occasionally/at weekends etc and actually produce less CO2 overall.

Would gladly embrace pay-per-mile in these circumstances - the more you use the more you pay, seems a fairer way to me

 

[pioneercollector]

I almost purchased a 2009 SL 500, and after a LOT of research i noticed that cars registered before 31st March 2006 were tax banded at £365, after was around £695 .... as i hate giving even more of my hard earned to the government i actually looked at cars that were pre 2006 .... Mine is 2003...

 

[MrGreedy]

Maybe the RFL is being cranked to such silly levels that when the Gov proposes a solution (to the problem they have created) by total journey surveillance under the guise of pay per mile, the financially crippled masses will embrace it with open arms?

Obvs if they keep RFL the above is just paranoid thinking.

 

[BSGalactica]

I was going to post a thread re the tax and this thread came up.

I too just paid £675 tax for my CLK. Is that just the way it is?

 

[W1ghty]

I was going to post a thread re the tax and this thread came up.

I too just paid £675 tax for my CLK. Is that just the way it is?

Well next year it will be even more I’m afraid .

 

[BSGalactica]

Well next year it will be even more I’m afraid .

Well, I only bought it as a treat. So if I get one summer driving with the top down at least that's something. If the tax goes up by a lot, it'll be goodbye to it.

And those in power can go f themselves.

 

[MeQ]

My previous 2017 c220 was the newer 9g-Tronic but registered the day before tax bands changed so was £30 a year which is a bit of a bargain and rare to find. The EQE is currently £0 but even that will be £180 from 2025