The infamous £500+ tax bracket... bargains to be had

[R9UKE]

Evening all,

 

Been a while for me but I logged on yesterday and got sucked into a raffle for an ageing Vulva, so I guess it's rude not to post a new topic.  

 

My two current daily drivers have provoked tonight's thought.  One is a drop-top shit-hot Swede and the other is a load-lugging, gas-guzzling French tart's boudoir.  Both very different beasts, but with plenty in common; one thing being that they each cost a pretty steep £540 to tax for the year.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, if you're not familiar with the tax system around the period in question, let me give you a very brief run down.  Before 24th March 2006, road tax is capped.  Currently, the most you can pay to tax a car before this date is £305.  However, after this date, if your car pollutes more that 225g/km CO2 (don't get me started on the fact that they chose to tax CO2 and not the product of diesel shit that is actually killing people), you pass this ceiling and graduate to the £540 bracket.  

 

I'll give you the example of a Peugeot 407 3.0 V6 I had a few years back.  This was registered on 21st March 2006.  THREE DAYS BEFORE the end of that £305 ceiling.  Glorious.  Then take my Laguna.  Same engine, same CO2 figure, but registered on 7th October 2006.  That'll be £235 more per year, sir. 

 

And just a sideline on that... just because it's an 06 plate doesn't necessarily mean it'll be the higher tax, it may have just snuck in there.

 

What we have here is a rather tasty (if your fetish, like mine, is thirsty, large-engined, underpowered and understated shite) area where the government started taxing the hell out of big engined petrol cars to make the push into diesels (and are now going back on that.....) and manufacturers were still selling the last of a model that wasn't designed for this push on lower emissions.  The engines in both of my cars appeared in the very early 2000s, and became victim to this.  Consequently.... they're worth sweet f*ck all.  Well, the Laguna I'm sure would attract some Eastern European who would get as big a hard on as I did over that beige interior and V6 purr, but the Saab is a bloody 2 litre and not particularly unique.....

 

My point is, if you can get over the tax, there's a pocket of cars a little over a decade old that are virtually unsaleable, and therefore make for huge bargains.

 

 

Let's observe.

 

Being in the trade, I've learnt to be really careful of this little bracket of highly taxed and low value cars.  Yes, there's the likes of the Mercedes CLK350 and Lexus IS250 that fall into the subject in question, and whose values have fallen massively recently, but they will always remain desirable a car and attract a certain type of buyer.  This, on the other hand.  Imagine telling your potential customers that it's £540 to tax it

 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808219702160

 

Another victim is the later RX-8s.  As if they couldn't be any less desirable....

 

 

Most Citroen C6s are in the £540 bracket, but given the following they have, it's not been much of a problem for values.  However, take the 407 Coupé, with which it shares most of it's engines.  These things are worth bugger all now.

 

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/peugeot/peugeot-407-coupe-gt/1312482906

 

These ones could catch a few out - engine-specific variants in otherwise unaffected model ranges.  The likes of an 07 2.0 Turbo Zafira

 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201807088236159

 

A 2.0 Automatic Peugeot 807...

 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808219724717

 

.... or a late 2.0T Volvo S60

 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808249810718

 

 

But the absolute STEAMING turd of pollution, dripping down upon all others from it's untouched podium of worthlessness in this category just HAS to be this.  That's right.  Find a late Chevrolet-badged one of these with a 2.0 petrol slush box setup and it emits 234g/km CO2.  Dirty bastard.  HOW would you ever, ever, find a buyer for an atrocity like the Tacuma, without even mentioning the fact that it will cost the buyer about ten times it's true value to tax for the year.  

 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808279879699

 

And the Tacuma sums up my point rather beautifully.  These things will be killed off purely because of the tax.  There will be perfectly good, and in the case of my two, pretty bloody fantastic cars, being weighed in just because nobody wants to pay that amount to tax them for the year.  What you have here, is a future-shite hack, if you will.  A period of hungover millennials forgotten, purely because the government decided a HDi or TDCi should be £30 to tax even though you feel yourself losing 7 years off your life if you breathe in the result of somebody hammering one.  

 

So please, add to this list any highly taxed, low value turds that I have missed.  It will make a damn good shopping list for me in a few years when they're totally done depreciating.

 

Luke.

[dollywobbler]

I thought that the Freelander V6 must be a contender, but no. It's the TD4 Auto that hits the MEGATAX button! I think they must have bodged it through somehow, as I see a less-dirty one is also listed.

[Kringle]

The rx8 makes the perfect candidate for a track car then, more likely to pick up a good one for your money in that bracket, then chuck it on a trailer and go for a spin!

 

Having said that, as they get 200 miles to a tank, I think tax is the least of its worries.

[Rave]

Last of the Mk3 Mondeos in V6 3.0 flava. Not sure they sold many mind. Mine's an 05, luckily .

[Supernaut]

If I remember correctly, in the case of the Volvo S60 2.0T it's only the auto that gets the silly tax.

 

Rantingyoof may know more about this though.

[hairnet]

what about yer case tractor bai

[Bren]

My a6 was £315 a year. After march 2006 same car was even more expensive.

[R9UKE]

If I remember correctly, in the case of the Volvo S60 2.0T it's only the auto that gets the silly tax.

 

Rantingyoof may know more about this though.

 

 

Very likely.  If my Saab was peasant geared, it wouldn't have made the £540 bracket.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Nothing to add but awesome thread sir. I'm that idiot that buys a car first on impulse then works out the tax cost. Thankfully I haven't been bitten yet....

 

Sent from my F3211 using Tapatalk

[mk2_craig]

My wife has an 2007 Astra Twintop with the 2 litre turbo. So it has the double whammy of a moneypit power roof system and a £45 a month rent bill. Or it would if we weren't Channel Island dwellers. So hopefully high CO2 emitting old knackers will live a bit longer here.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

....if you're not familiar with the tax system around the period in question, let me give you a very brief run down.  Before 24th March 2006, road tax is capped.  Currently, the most you can pay to tax a car before this date is £305.  However, after this date, if your car pollutes more that 225g/km CO2 (don't get me started on the fact that they chose to tax CO2 and not the product of diesel shit that is actually killing people), you pass this ceiling and graduate to the £540 bracket.  

Y e e e s s s . . . that was Tony B.Liar's government wheeze , wasn't it?

 

.... the Laguna I'm sure would attract some Eastern European ....

Hardly. They're mostly interested in Mercs, BMWs, Audis and VWs.

[Fumbler]

Or here they drive suspiciously loaded and painted LDVs. They then leave as so not to get a ticket, and then arrive again. And then leave for the winter.

[Kiltox]

Cant believe that Tacuma is £690 - I've seen them not get a single bid at £100 at auction with a year's test..

[rantingYoof]

If I remember correctly, in the case of the Volvo S60 2.0T it's only the auto that gets the silly tax.

 

Rantingyoof may know more about this though.

 

Yup, autoboxes can sometimes tip it towards silly tax.

 

Same happens with the 2007 onward Volvo S80 2.5T.

 

And the Honda Accord 2.4 VTEC.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Perfect cases for ethically responsible ringing, as far as I can see.

 

I cancel out the £47.25 per month for Mrs N's ML by driving a £30 per year clean , non-polluting car that's saving the planet a little every mile it drives . Well that's what the manufacturer said and they wouldn't lie, would they?

[timolloyd]

Mrs timolloyd’s XC90 falls into this bracket. Annoyingly, it was registered just a couple of months before the system changed to various levels of emissions, from 2008 onwards, so the same D5 engine in a later car requires almost half as much tax

[FakeConcern]

It sounds like I'm lucky my 2007 C4 VTS only emits 200g/k the same as the 2005 one I had previously so tax for the year is cheap at £280.

[djimbob]

My dad often bemoans "high" tax costs on certain cars, until I have to remind him that it's not so much when you see how much he spends on fuel, on maintenance and repairs, insurance etc - get the right bargain and that extra couple of hundred quid is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the savings to be had overall

[Wingz123]

Keep the plates in the window all year round job done

[SiC]

Majority of the high tax band cars are the bigger and quicker engined versions. Got to pay to play.

 

I remember when the new high band was released and the moanings about how old cars with high tax will become worthless very quickly.

[jon.k]

Interesting topic. It is psychologically hard to get over shelling out that much isn't it, though? It's meant I've been able to get several thirsty petrol cars on the drive because they were just pre-threshold, whilst I would never be "allowed" to get something with that tax bill. My 04 saab 9-5 auto was a case in point, and because I didn't want to get a manual to replace it and didn't want to suffer the massive tax of an auto I ended up buying something different and completely unsuitable. I should have just paid the couple of hundred extra in tax and got a newer 9-5, which was the car I really wanted.

[SiC]

High tax isn't so painful now it can be done monthly by direct debit. Just becomes yet another monthly payment that comes out.

[egg]

Some Vectra Turbos are in the £500+ bracket. Umm...desirable!

[Ohdearme]

Ah, yes - I do love this bracket and forever find myself searching for these...A 2.8 V6 Turbo Signum, not quite a barge, not quite an estate and therefore worthless to Joe public

http://www.thevehiclesite.co.uk/used-cars/for-sale/Vauxhall/Signum/used-Vauxhall-Signum-Design-28i-V6-24v-Turbo/9916116

 

That one is a bit rich but they can be grabbed for three figures if you keep checking as many an owner faints at the tax.

 

I’ve confess I’ve not quite had the stomach to take the plunge either, despite it probably being more frugal and therefore cheaper than the 2.3 Aero estate.

[Datsuncog]

When looking for a Subaru Forester, I'd narrowed my search down to pre '06 cars for this very reason... the tax for the '53 plated 2.0 XT I ended up with runs to £315 annually; I think the liability pretty much doubled for the same car registered after the new tax rules came into force.

 

Still, even with this I don't think the UK does too badly - tax rates in the Republic of Ireland are absolutely terrifying, and it does seem to be cutting a swathe through the stock of older/interesting cars.

I can foresee the cheapo diesel tax rates becoming a thing of the past before too very long...

[AMC Rebel]

I remember looking at those Peugeot 407s - the 2.7 diesel is particularly tragic as its only 1g/KM over the limit.  The same(ish) engine in the Jag XJ is only 214g/KM.

[Marm Toastsmith]

The daft thing from my point of view is that it doesn't take into account mileage/usage. Really that's what the government should be discouraging. And as such, as unpopular as it might be, just taxing fuel is probably a far fairer way to do it.

 

Where I live residents parking is also based on engine size and/or emissions too, again it doesn't make any difference how often you use the car... in fact, in a round about way (and fuel cost aside), it would make more sense to buy a £500-tax car if I did high mileages! I don't, so for me anything with £500 a year tax is definitely not going to be in bargain category!

 

But then when was taxation ever fair?

 

It is frustrating though, the air around here IS excessively polluted, not looking forward to walking the kids to school tomorrow after the holidays so they can breathe shit.

[AMC Rebel]

Cant believe that Tacuma is £690 - I've seen them not get a single bid at £100 at auction with a year's test..

 

Nor me but it's the cheapest of the 4 listed on Autotrader in that tax bracket.

 

Come to think of it, none of these seems a particular bargain.

 

The Zafira in the original listing is a grand and apparently won't rev - you'd be better off with Junkman's Merc for a bag.

[AMC Rebel]

The daft thing from my point of view is that it doesn't take into account mileage/usage. Really that's what the government should be discouraging. And as such, as unpopular as it might be, just taxing fuel is probably a far fairer way to do it.

 

 

 

I agree with that.  It seems pretty ludicrous to me that my 4.7 litre V8 costs zero to tax when some of these much cleaner motors are £500+ = if it was all on fuel I'd be paying per mile.

[Dan_ZTT]

The daft thing from my point of view is that it doesn't take into account mileage/usage. Really that's what the government should be discouraging. And as such, as unpopular as it might be, just taxing fuel is probably a far fairer way to do it.

 

 

Another one in agreement here, the current system is somewhat daft. 1p a litre would more than cover it, especially when you consider the £££ saved from reduced bureaucracy, and more importantly it's the only way to fairly tax emissions. With the fluctuations in fuel price people would barely notice the difference anyway.

 

If I was in charge, etc, etc