Classic Car tax exemption is back !

[DSdriver]

What do we think of this then (which everyone seems to be missing).

 

 

I think it means you will have to sell your car at 00.00hrs on the 1st of the month to avoid the government getting two months tax out of the exchange. I would be very surprised if there was any common sense or flexibility involved.

[vulgalour]

It's such a relief that people who have an old car for a hobby are spared a couple of hundred pounds a year, while people who need to run a car but can't afford anything cheaper to tax still pay.

 

I see where you're coming from with this statement, but not all of us have shit old crocks as hobbies, some of us are mental enough to rely on them for everything a normal person would demand of a new car.  If the Princess were 40 instead of a mere 34 then I could save myself £225ish a year which, on my current budget, is quite a lot of petrol and maintenance costs covered.  Heck, it's like getting a full set of tyres for free!

[Junkman]

The Rover of d00m will thus be tax exempt from April 2016.

 

Hence I can predict with a probability bordering certainty, that the NewLab Neo-Stalinists will win the 2015 elections, and the first thing on their agenda will be to stop the rolling tax exemption, introduce a £287.73 per Month penalty tax on anything older than 15 years, and ban them from being driven closer than ten miles into the vicinity of any settlement with more than 50 inhabitants.

[Station]

For all the people that said signing the petition wouldn't work: "LOL"

Admittedly there were more petitions for this than actual signatures!

Only ten years to go for my Micra!!! Woo

[fordperv]

10 years for the mk1 sierra, it might actually be finished by then lol

[wuvvum]

Good news, although it's going to have f*** all effect for me - the R6, 164 and Corsair are all exempt anyway, and the LNA doesn't become exempt until 2023.  And as several people have said, no doubt if Labour get back in after the next election one of the first things they'll do is remove the rolling exemption (but not bother to tell anyone so people will still think it's in place 15 years later) like they did last time around.

[Lankytim]

You lot are so miserable, surely this is a good thing?

 

I only have to wait 5 years for me Allegro to be exempt... that's if I get it on the road by then.

[sutty2006]

3 years and the B series Manta will be tax exempt. This is nice news. But for those moaning that people still have to pay tax on cars they use everyday..... bum ya. I'll still be forking out for 3 other cars so its not all WIN WIN you know!

[EssDeeWon]

My BMW will be tax exempt in 28 years in 2042 so that's another 28 lots of £300 = £8400!! By which time driving a big petrol car will be a criminal offence, mean 6 months in prison and all modernz will run on tap water, so its not news for me personally but I am delighted that it may help keep some old shiters on the road, thumbs up George

[catsinthewelder]

Oh goodie,  I'm glad I didn't sell the 74 camper now,  just got to fix the bloody thing in time to take advantage of it 

[dugong]

You lot are so miserable, surely this is a good thing?

 

I only have to wait 5 years for me Allegro to be exempt... that's if I get it on the road by then.

No, because it's the start of further restrictions for old cars.

 

Just you wait.

[Lankytim]

Why would it be?

[Junkman]

Because of the economy and the environment, you know.

[Ratdat]

No, because it's the start of further restrictions for old cars.

 

Just you wait.

 

That'll come eventually no matter what. The green agenda and European harmonization will see to that. That's progress I'm afraid. Tax exemption has nothing to do with it. It's just a sweetener but make no mistake here... it has ZERO impact on whether classic vehicle use will become restricted... that's a given IMO. It's just a matter of time.

 

It's a better result than ending up with restrictions on use AND having to pay VED as well. 

[Lankytim]

Well, as WAT said we'l see, but I can't see there being any strings attatched TBH. The average 40 yr old car won't do much mileage at all and therefore will be "self restricting".

[Cavcraft]

-10 points for a non-Autoshite response, Tim.

[catsinthewelder]

On the bright side,  when they do bring the mileage restrictions in.

 

Old cars are easier to clock

[Junkman]

It's a better result than ending up with restrictions on use AND having to pay VED as well. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised a bit if they use exactly this as the backdoor through which they impose the restrictions. As long as you paid taxes, you could have argued that this should give you the right to use your car when and where you please. But since you are exempt, you are fair game.

[Junkman]

On the bright side,  when they do bring the mileage restrictions in.

 

They do this via the insurance policies. The coalescence of State and corporations (= fascism).

[Ratdat]

I wouldn't be surprised a bit if they use exactly this as the backdoor through which they impose the restrictions. As long as you paid taxes, you could have argued that this should give you the right to use your car when and where you please. But since you are exempt, you are fair game.

 

I doubt it. HM Gubbermint doesn't feel the need to justify it's actions on anything else so I can't see why the would on this. At the moment they probably figure that this will buy them a few more votes for next election. If they wanted to restrict old car use, they'd just do it anyway. Your 'rights' don't enter the equation.

[Mash]

I knew as soon as this was officially announced that the neagativity would be piled on in spades.  I for one am going to get the build date of my 1974 car verified and apply for a change in taxation class immediately and take full advantage of it.  If it is repealed at some stage then so be it but for now let's celebrate a small old car victory.

 

The only fair system is to pay for usage whether that is per miles or per gallon of fuel and I can't see that happening any time soon at the moment.  I have five cars and I can only use one at a time so if I can reduce my costs, I'll take it and say ta very much.  When I want to run one on a dry day in winter but can't because I have to have it on SORN it's a pain in the arse.

[I_am_Diesel]

This is good news and I'm sure it will add value to 40+yo cars. Sadly for me, I'll have to wait another 14 years for my Metro and another 17 years for the Golf. The challenge is to keep them both for that long. I very much doubt that I will.

[messerschmitt owner]

we're all doomed! Think of the children!

[CortinaDave]

In really happy about this. The one month tax thing allows me to keep a "backup" heap and only use it when I want to /have to rather than having to shell out £150 upfront for six months rent.

 

The exemption won't hit my cortina for 5 more years but it's a step forward and I for one am glad to see it.

 

That alongside a petrol freeze and a penny off beer plus a rise in the income tax threshold is all good news for me. Gordon Brown lives all of three miles from me but seemed to take great delight in what seemed like permanent persecution of everything I enjoyed !

[Ratdat]

Realistically, the number of cars that will benefit from this rolling exemption will diminish over time anyway. A lot of cars from the late 90's onward don't really stand much chance of still being around in 40 years time. A current 40 year old car is a pretty simple beast without a great deal of specialist parts or materials and little to no complex electronics. Keeping a pre 80's car on the road, even with a lack of parts is possible.... for a pre 70's car it's even easier... but I don't think that'll be easy with later stuff. 

[chaseracer]

I knew as soon as this was officially announced that the neagativity would be piled on in spades...

Some of us prefer to call it 'realism'. With a side order of 'cynicism', informed by our old friend 'experience'...

[In The Pit]

On the subject of restrictions for older/classic cars it looks like they are trying to put restrictions on new ones also as they are proposing to ban from Central London petrol cars built before 2005 and would you believe diesel cars built before 2014!  Still I guess someone on Boris Johnsons wage would think a 2013 car is an old banger.

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/london-set-ban-older-private-petrol-and-diesel-cars

[oman5]

Marvelous. time to dust off the '73 P6 and get cracking on it.

[RichardMoss]

It's such a relief that people who have an old car for a hobby are spared a couple of hundred pounds a year, while people who need to run a car but can't afford anything cheaper to tax still pay.

Absolutely true - although you may like to note that most people who run a "hobby" car also run a newer, VED-liable daily driver (or maybe more than one).  I think that by the time a car reaches the grand old age of 40 it has paid its dues to the nation.

[Guest Breadvan72]

No, because it's the start of further restrictions for old cars.

 

Just you wait.

 

 

Old car world is populated by a combination of Eeyore and Cassandra.  If the Government was to say "all owners of old bangers are to be given a bucket of cash,a nice jumper, and a free snog with Eva Green", the car fora would be full of "just you wait, this is all a plan to send us to concentration camps".