Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Roger-hatchy]

Sign the petition to re-introduce the Free Road tax on vehicles over 30 years old

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/183

[Riley Blue]

Oh not again......

Given the slightest excuse, the government will re-introduce road tax on historic vehicles, best to let sleeping dogs lie.

[Castellated nut]

My feeling is that 30 years old is not old enough. A 1981 car is still a viable prospect as a cheap banger. The case would be stronger if it was on behalf of vehicles which the average cheapskate would not reckon to be worth using as an everyday car just for the sake of free VED.

Maybe when the existing exemption applies to vehicles 40 years old or over (i.e. in a year or so) it might be time to push for a rolling date again.

[Jeeves]

As riley541 says "let sleeping dogs lie" i.e do not put at risk the exemption already enjoyed.

[Rick]

[michael1703]

Thats not a very well written petition, the person that created it needs to find out the facts as to what the classic car industry is worth, how many people are employed in it and the effect (whats in it for the government) a rolling tax redemption would bring.

Also, a rolling 40 years is a better prospect, but I'd prefer we didnt remind the government of our existence

[smiffy220]

Thanks for posting this on here Roger, I nearly did, but anticipated the response.

My very rare Opel Manta SR Berlinetta (only about 30 original ones like mine left in this country) is off the road this year as I can't afford to tax it along with my two modern cars. I will have to pay £200 a year for the priviledge, and be lucky if I drive 200 miles a year in it.
It's in mint condition and totally original. It's kept garaged and only comes out on dry days (as they had a tendency to rot!!). I can't see why that's any different to your pre-1973 cars and shouldn't deserve free road tax as older classics do. It might not be your cup of tea, but it is 31 years old, it's treated gently as any old car would be, in fact probably more so as it's not made of good solid steel as some of the older cars would be!
I hope they bring this in and I have signed the petition, although as said, it's not the best one I've ever seen. When the last Tory government bought the original free tax in, it was supposed to be a rolling 25 years old, so now for a suggested 30 years, why should that be any different?
I hope some of you re-consider, as I get as much enjoyment out of driving my old Manta as you all do in your older motors. I don't really think that that many people now use pre-1981 cars as their daily drivers, you may be a little out of touch here!!

Dave

Here it is next to my Dads old Morris, who does 10 times as many miles in his a year!!


_________________
Born to rally, forced to work!

1980 Opel Manta 2.0 SR Berlinetta
1934 Morris Cowley Four (my late fathers)

[Rick]

There'll always be cars that fall just outside of the cut-off, whatever year it is set at - annoying but that's how it goes. The exemption is a perk rather than a right after all, and we're lucky to have any exemption period if you ask me, especially with all the wailing from the green mob about old cars etc etc. If you make the group of cars that fall into tax-exemption too large, it makes it a bigger target for the exemption to be removed altogether IMHO.

Maybe a compromise is to tax a 1973-on car for 6 months of the year?

RJ

PS nice to see the Manta, as a kid I used to wash my neighbour's orange SR to make a few £.
_________________
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[smiffy220]

[MikeEdwards]

Well, I've voted for it as I voted on the last one, but I can't see it coming to anything. The current financial climate pretty much rules out the government granting free road tax to people who (in general, not always I know) have classic cars as second or third vehicles and in much of the general public's opinion ought to be able to afford to tax their cars.

I much prefer the idea of road tax via a small additional surcharge on petrol - a small admin charge per year for a tax disc to prove insurance and MOT at that point, then a few pence on a litre of fuel. Those like me that do a few hundred miles in a classic only pay a bit, those that do 20000+ in a company car pay a lot more. No need for fancy road-pricing equipment, job done.

I don't like paying £105 or more to tax mine for six months of the year, but compared to the cost of petrol it's hardly worth arguing about.

[baconsdozen]

Generally in life if you do nothing things stay as they are.
I've signed,it might make no difference but its better by a long,long way than doing nothing.
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[richbrick]

[52classic]

I admit to being cynical about these petitions. There was one about 4x4 tax rates and another had something to do with the environment and I'm sure the rolling tax thing has been done before.

The idea was dreamed up by the Commons P.R. Dept IMHO - Just what we need to keep the peasants happy. What you get is some sort of patronising sh1te as a reply and that's the end of it.

[ukdave2002]

I feel we need to be a bit more savvy here, firstly to recognise that in the current austere times the government are very unlikely to offer any form of tax relief on something that will be seen to benefit only people who are not exactly on the poverty line. We need to present a taxing system that is more revenue income neutral, but fairer to the classic community as a whole.

I think using the principle of taper relief, a practice that is currently used by HMRC for other areas may be the answer. So how about something like this:

Take the current cost of tax for a post 1972 vehicle; £205. Vehicles over 50 years old would get 100% relief , between 40 and 49 years old 90% relief (annual cost £20.50), between 30 and 39 years old 80% relief (£41), between 25 and 29 years old 70% relief (£61.50).

So we are giving something back to HM, helping the majority of enthusiasts rather than just a certain sector, and promoting the preservation of vehicles that may well have been scrapped.

Dave

[Rick]

Doesn't sound unreasonable ukdave.

How many people upset at having to tax their 70s classic, bought them after the rolling 25 years was frozen at 31/12/72 I wonder?

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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