Rex & UK Road Tax

I overheard someone in the BMW showroom discussing that the i3 Range Extender version would become liable for Road Tax from 1st April 2017. Can anyone confirm this, as it makes a difference if they're going to change the rules.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty

Confirmed and it's complete madness IMO. Appreciating that the first year tax is designed to discourage gas guzzling monsters, people with sufficient money to buy such cars don't give a hoot about the first year tax, it's meaningless to them as is money more generally.

But once they become secondhand cars, an annual tax bill the same as any other car does not discourage other drivers from buying and using them which should be the whole purpose of the tax regime in the 21st century. Unless you live in Trumpton or maybe China of course where climate change and smog is just a figment of everybody's imagination!

I sometimes wonder who runs Governments and whose pockets they are in. No, I don't wonder, I know!

The simple fact is that they invented a really good tax system to encourage people to move away from low efficiency vehicles then realised they had shot themselves in the foot with no tax revenue even though this was the obvious ultimate outcome. So they've canned the system to get the tax revenue back and dressed it up with some words about fairness and progressivity in the tax regime.

Apparently it's unfair that drivers who can't afford newer more efficient cars have to pay more to drive older low efficiency cars. Yeah, that's the whole point of the policy actually! Get rid of low efficiency cars, not subsidise the less well off to enable them to carry on polluting the planet.

What next, remove taxes on cigarettes cos it penalises the economically challenged who want to continue to give themselves cancer?

Rant over!

I live in Trumpton, Delusion City, to be exact. If he gets his way, I will have to reorder my 2017 Bev for a CFV, Coal Fired Vehicle. It amazes me too how politicians, regardless of country of origin, have the same genetic flaws.
Road Jager

janner said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty

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Many thanks - this Govt have really lost the plot. Since the Rex isn't connected to the road wheels, it would be better carrying a petrol generator in the boot and know it wouldn't be taxed! At least it won't be retrospective.

Buzby said:

At least it won't be retrospective.

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That's the reason I went ahead when I did. I'm eagerly waiting to see how the i5 will be configured.

The '£40,000' reads like an anti-Tesla rule. Certainly the rule has moved away from CO{2} performance to something else.

I can appreciate the implementation date, April 1, which we call 'April Fools Day.'

Bob Wilson

It only affects new car registrations, starting from April 2017. Any ULEV vehicle registered prior to that will remain on the old scheme, which hasn't been changed (yet?). Therefore, our 15reg i3 REx is not affected, for example.

We have just replaced out Diesel with a 225xe Hybrid and I had to make a decision between lease and purchase of an ex-demo 16 reg. I chose the latter and one of the main arguments was that it doesn't attract any road tax in the foreseeable.

psquare said:

It only affects new car registrations, starting from April 2017. Any ULEV vehicle registered prior to that will remain on the old scheme, which hasn't been changed (yet?). Therefore, our 15reg i3 REx is not affected, for example.
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Did you miss the part we here I mentioned the VED wasn't retrospective?

Buzby said:

Did you miss the part we here I mentioned the VED wasn't retrospective?

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Bless. Don't take it personal.

Buzby said:

I overheard someone in the BMW showroom discussing that the i3 Range Extender version would become liable for Road Tax from 1st April 2017. Can anyone confirm this, as it makes a difference if they're going to change the rules.

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I paid £480 Road tax for 5 years for my i3Rex in 2018 yet a Tesla owned by a friend pays nothing - why? I have only used 2 gallons of petrol in 5 years.

Gen said:

I paid £480 Road tax for 5 years for my i3Rex in 2018 yet a Tesla owned by a friend pays nothing - why? I have only used 2 gallons of petrol in 5 years.

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At the moment there is no practical way for them to charge VED (UK Road Tax) on the basis of how many gallons of petrol you actually use, so all they can do is to set the VED with an assumption about what proportion of your motive power comes from grid electricity and how much from petrol. It's unlikely to be accurate for many users, but it's the best they can do for now.

The Tesla owner pays nothing (until next year when he/she starts to pay) because there is no possibility that any of the mileage in that car is petrol powered.

And really, the thinking behind it is not to make the charging in any way accurate - it is there to act as a disincentive to people who choose to buy hybrids rather than pure BEVs.

The distinction is that your car was registered after March 2017, because that's when the vehicle tax rules changed away from emissions and towards vehicle value. My i3rex '66 plate pays zero tax. Is it the case that yours was 2018, and valued at more than £40,000 as an on-the-road price Inc any extras/packages and before discounts as initially registered?

Here in Kansas, it costs $20 more each year to register a hybrid, and $70 more to register an all electric vehicle vs. an ICE car.

Clanduncan said:

The distinction is that your car was registered after March 2017, because that's when the vehicle tax rules changed away from emissions and towards vehicle value. My i3rex '66 plate pays zero tax. Is it the case that yours was 2018, and valued at more than £40,000 as an on-the-road price Inc any extras/packages and before discounts as initially registered?

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Thank Goodness that Mr. Porter was registered in March 17, as it had a list price WELL in excess of £40k

For full info follow this .Gov link

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables