Pre or post 2008 cars.....road tax dilemma

caomhino

Hi, I'm considering spending around €15-16k on a new car. Was looking at 2005/06 320s series or an diesel A4s.

Just wondering would it be better to spend a bit more to go for a 2008 model with cheaper road tax, plus the car is worth a bit more in 3/4 years or buy the 05/06 version but then be stuck with a car in the high bracket which would be a lot harder to shift on.........

Is there any chance the gov will move to a totally emissions based car tax scheme in the future for cars of all years ?

cheers

stevenmu

caomhino wrote: »

Is there any chance the gov will move to a totally emissions based car tax scheme in the future for cars of all years ?

I'd really doubt it. A lot of people will have made choices based on the current system and if it was reworked it would really annoy a lot of people. My car which I bought recently is €531 on the old system but would be €2.5k on the emissions based. That's an extreme example, but there would be others similarly affected. Also people who, like you are considering, stretched the extra bit to get a car on the new system would find the values of their cars dropping significantly.

It's not unknown for the government to screw over motorists, but this is an issue that will go away on it's own after a few years as older cars drop out of use and only a small number of enthusiasts will have cars on the old system, so I don't think they'd bother.

galwaytt

caomhino wrote: »

Is there any chance the gov will move to a totally emissions based car tax scheme in the future for cars of all years ?

cheers

....frankly, not a hope in hell. And existing emissions tax is going to go up anyway........

Big difference on tax on petrol and diesel post 08, though, so you need to decide that, first.......lets says 2.0 diesel....

I understand the dilemma - it depends on how long you plan to keep the car, tbh...........if you keep it a real long time, say 5 years, than a pre-08 car will be worth, effectively, zero in 5 yrs time. Call it 2k.

Now, a post 08 car will cost more to buy, but less to tax. All you have to do is the sum of:

A pre 08 car, over 5 years, will cost you (using your numbers, didn't look them up...) 13k depreciation + 3070 tax = 16070.

A post 08, over 5 years, will cost you say, (imho, mind..) 10k depreciation + 780 tax = 10780.

That's a 6k difference. That's shocking.

If I'm over-estimating post-08 depreciation, the difference is even bigger. If under-estimating, it'll be smaller, but not by much.

For this reason, (and I include myself), owners of pre-08, clean cars, are completely and utterly...............fugged.

The only way it can balance, is if the pre-08 now is dog-cheap to buy, so that when you add the 5 yrs tax, that it compensates. In other words, pre-08 diesel owners will have to take a big hit, now.

If it's 2.0 petrol though, the numbers are completely different.

Interested to know what others 'in the know' think........

_Kaiser_

You've described my dilemma perfectly there galwaytt.

As an owner of a 06 2L TDI Passat (which is in great condition I might add as I look after my cars), when it comes time to change I'm going to get (even more) screwed as a result of these tax changes.

As with most things "green", it's only a thinly veiled revenue exercise, but it's one that punishes a car owner who doesn't feel the need to upgrade every year.

Gurgle

caomhino wrote: »

Just wondering would it be better to spend a bit more to go for a 2008 model with cheaper road tax, plus the car is worth a bit more in 3/4 years or buy the 05/06 version but then be stuck with a car in the high bracket which would be a lot harder to shift on.........

Depreciation - the more you spend, the more you lose.

You will get the '05/'06 a lot cheaper now because it's in the high bracket - and you'll sell it proportionately cheaper in 3/4 years.

Will the difference in road tax over 3/4 years cover the extra cost of the '08 car?

Not a chance.

caomhino wrote: »

Is there any chance the gov will move to a totally emissions based car tax scheme in the future for cars of all years ?

None - the last thing they want to do is encourage people to keep older cars, regardless of efficiency. That would be taking money out of their shareholders' pockets.

caomhino

cheers for the feedback guys. Yeah, say for instance a 2005 320D against a 2008, you'd save €2290 in road tax, 2008 320D are about €25-28k on carzone today and a 2005 one are fetching about €15000 at the moment - €10k difference !


cheers,