Impending road tax rise

[stu vxr]

Hi all, with the impending annual road tax rise from April this year to £630 in line with inflation I am losing the will to keep and run my Monaro, as it is not my daily driver I generally drive weekends during the summer and don't do more than a 1000 miles each year.

Given the price also of fuel now and insurance on top, it's getting harder for me to justify the money, it feels like I am paying the government to keep my car and it is really starting to spoil my enjoyment and enthusiasm for my pride and joy, also as time goes by I think the future is very bleak financially for our cars from every perspective given the expansion of the clean air zones.

I am thinking of selling and calling it a day, this makes me very sad but I just can't see past the fact the government is gathering momentum on road tax hikes in the coming years.
Anyone else feel the same?

[stevieturbo]

the government are criminals, there is no doubt. They want to ruin anything enjoyable.

[V88Dicky]

My first Monaro used to attract the top rate, but I used to compensate it somewhat by SORNing it each winter, between November and March. The DVLA would send me a cheque back for several hundreds pounds (depending on when the car had been taxed)

An option?

[Emily's dad]

Have you thought about £630 a year as £1.72 a day, seems to make it more palatable.

My best mate takes the piss out of me for paying £600 a year on my car tax.
His daily coffee at Costa cost him more each year.

Still winds me up paying the govt. so much money, but £1.72 a day seems a small price to pay to keep my car on the road.

I guess it’s just a variation of man maths.

[stu vxr]

V88Dicky said:

My first Monaro used to attract the top rate, but I used to compensate it somewhat by SORNing it each winter, between November and March. The DVLA would send me a cheque back for several hundreds pounds (depending on when the car had been taxed)

An option?

Always sorn from November to March, car is garaged always, just hard and to justify giving the government £55 per month compared to other cars on the road considering the mileage I do.

[Janosh]

Depends on how much you value having a 450bhp V8 at your disposal…

Zero depreciation & relatively low running costs is how I justify mine. I can’t see how you could own something with so much power and character for less?

[SturdyHSV]

Use it more to get more value for your VED £££s I suppose is one option?

Agreed ~ £1.50 / litre is a bit painful now, I use the wagon as my daily and even with just an 18 mile commute (each way) you're realistically looking at over £10 a day to get to work and back

[SamR380]

You can pay monthly on direct debit and cancel at any time, if you don't use it in the winter you can just pay for the summer months.

[Trevor555]

I agree the government will continue to up the costs of owning such a beast.

Because the owners are such a minority, what they do about it? Not much...

Forget for a moment that it's a car, and see it as your hobby.

Your hobby costs £1500 per year for example? (RFL, insurance, service)

That's just under £30 per week.

There's far more expensive hobbies out there.

[stevieturbo]

stu vxr said:

Always sorn from November to March, car is garaged always, just hard and to justify giving the government £55 per month compared to other cars on the road considering the mileage I do.

Have to say I totally agree...hence why I don't really own a new sporty car

However, my 41 year old twin turbo V8.....now has free tax lol

[Vasco]

You know that you can drive thousands of miles every year and pay no tax at all?

[stu vxr]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone appreciate it, guess the bottom line is I don't use enough as it's not my daily, I commute 100 miles a day to work so the Monaro is rarely used for work due to the price of fuel.

I just feel the future is more bleak from a road tax point of view and that just feels like dead money at the moment.

I do wonder though whether I could live without the Monaro in my life it's been 13 years now and it's been a passion.

[stu vxr]

Vasco said:

You know that you can drive thousands of miles every year and pay no tax at all?

I assume I need to buy a classic car same as Stevie.

[stevieturbo]

Vasco said:

You know that you can drive thousands of miles every year and pay no tax at all?

I'd say that is pretty much impossible.

[Lincsls1]

I think you need to wait until March and you start driving it again, then see how you feel.

[AndyM62]

If you do decide to sell it, please let me know. I've just started looking for one, but in no hurry, just want to get a good example.

[vxr2010]

not sure what my 04 cv8 tax will go up to , but i just did my jdm Forester sti and it was only 5 £ more , hopefully that reflects the same for other cars , having house heating and electricity seems more of a concern now £££ but seems same across the world as we found out in cyprus

[TerryS]

Gotta love my 2000 VT2!