Is your car’s road tax due for renewal soon? Do you want to save yourself a bit of money when the upcoming changes to VED road tax take effect on April 1st 2009? If the answer to these questions is ‘yes’ then read on and you might be able to save some money.
With the amount of tax due for lower-emitting cars falling and higher-emitting cars going up, you need to take a look at your car, work out what you’re paying now and what you’ll be paying after April 1st, and decide whether to renew your tax disc for just six months or the full twelve.
Take a couple of examples. The first is a Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi with CO2 emissions of 124g/km. If the road tax is due after 1st November 2008 then you should buy 6 months tax for £66 (instead of 12 months for £120), then pay the new rate after 1st April of £90 for a year. That’s £54 that stays in your pocket! If the tax is due before 1st November then you should buy 12 months worth of tax, which means you’ll miss out on any savings but you will be paying the lower rate on your next tax disc.
On the other hand, if you’ve got something like a Golf GTI that emits 181g/km of CO2 and your tax is due before 1st November then you should get 6 months tax now for £93.50, then another 12 months tax before 1st April at the current rate of £170. This means you can get 18 months of road tax for £263.50 before switching to the new rate of £260. Compare that with buying 12 months now (£170) and another 12 months after April 1st (£260) for a total of £430 … you can see the savings to be made!
To check your car’s CO2 rating visit the reviews section of Parkers, then check the VED tax band structures to find out how much you are/will be paying.
