Historic vehicle road tax

[APOLLO]

Announced in the budget last year was a one year extension to the Historic vehicle free road tax - extended to include cars manufactured between 1 Jan 1973 and 31 Dec 1973. This was once a rolling exemption, stopped by the Labour government a few years ago to cars manufactured before 31 Dec 1972.

 

Now my old Rover 3.5Litre P5B V8 was first registered in July 1973, (Bought it in 1982) so I was miffed when Labour stopped the rolling exemption before I could be entitled to it. I taxed it for 6 months only from then. Since last March I was looking forward to today, so went on the DVLA website to tax it. As it was on Sorn I put in the sorn number - but no use, there was the usual £235'ish charge. The DVLA site wasn't much help, so I phoned them at 08.00 this morning !!. Well, the Welsh girl I spoke to was very helpful. Take your V5C (logbook) to the nearest licence issuing post office, write "HISTORIC" in the change of taxation section (section 7), sign and date it in black ink. The post office will issue a free tax disc so long as MOT & Insurance docs are shown & valid.

 

So, off I trot to the local post office, run by a very helpful Indian couple, at 09.00. I was mentally reciting the procedure expecting problems - but again no problem, the postmistress knew exactly what to do, stamped and kept half of the V5C and said she will forward it to the DVLC, issued me a free 12 month tax disc and receipt !!

 

Unbelievable - the system worked, flawlessly !!

 

So there you have it, if you have a 1973 manufactured car, change the taxation class at the post office and you're away.

 

Now before anyone asks, is this going to be a "rolling" exemption ?. That, I'm afraid I can't answer and the internet seems to give conflicting info. If anyone knows definitely, please let us know.

 

Just need to take a mortgage out for a tank of petrol !!

 

Brit15

 

 

 

 

[Mike Bellamy]

 

 

Now before anyone asks, is this going to be a "rolling" exemption ?. That, I'm afraid I can't answer and the internet seems to give conflicting info. If anyone knows definitely, please let us know.

 

 

 

That's my understanding following further changes in this year's budget

 

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news/2014-03/classic-car-road-tax-exemption-now-rolling-at-40-years/

 

There's good news for classic car owners in the 2014 budget. From April 2014, the classic car exemption from VED will begin rolling from 40 years, with cars built before January 1974 eligible for a zero-rated tax disc. Then, from January 2015, the formerly fixed cut-off, will become a rolling one. 

[Londontram]

I have a 1949 Rover and must admit its one of the few joys I have left to stand at the post office counter each year and watch the person write No Duty on my Tax disc and from last year no MOT as well. Fully comp insurance for £98 it breaks your heart dosnt it   

[skipepsi]

I have a 1949 Rover and must admit its one of the few joys I have left to stand at the post office counter each year and watch the person write No Duty on my Tax disc and from last year no MOT as well. Fully comp insurance for £98 it breaks your heart dosnt it   Rover photo.jpg

No it seems entirely right and proper to me!

[TheQ]

I know from landrover pages that many other countries have a similar system of rolling tax exemption, I seem to remember that The Netherlands has had huge arguments over this, it looks now that cars over 25 years old will be paying 25% of full road tax,  125 euros for the average car. but I know  full  road tax for a landrover is 2750 Pounds A Year!

[Judge Dread]

No it seems entirely right and proper to me!

I have been in the happy position of having a 1967 Morris Minor with no road tax but unfortunately it has languished in a lock up garage for several years waiting for me to get my finger out and restore it. My only hope is now that my 1998 Citroen Berlingo van can last long enough to become tax free but I'm not holding my breath there. The chances are that I will be "holding my breath" before that happens!    

[Horsetan]

.....if you have a 1973 manufactured car, change the taxation class at the post office and you're away.

 

Now before anyone asks, is this going to be a "rolling" exemption ?. That, I'm afraid I can't answer and the internet seems to give conflicting info. If anyone knows definitely, please let us know.

This would have helped my old 1973 NSU Ro80, but I sold it years ago.

 

My understanding is that this is intended to be a rolling exemption, but don't forget that there's a General Election next year. Should the next Government have more than a hint of Labour about it, expect the exemption to be frozen where it is (it would only have reached 1974 model year cars by then), or withdrawn altogether. Labour have form for this; they stopped the original 25-year exemption in 1998, so only cars made or registered before 1st January 1973 would qualify.

 

The 25-year exemption has now become a 41-year exemption.

 

Still doesn't help my 1983 635CSi.

[40 058]

Great news!

Its about time this made a come back even if it is 40 years instead of 25.

If the 25 yr rule was still going it would mean the 5 cars I own, I wouldnt have to pay road tax on any of them!

 

Still happy though, as it means my 73 Mercury will be exempt when it arrives in this country (hopefully not too long now!) and my 74 mk2 Capri will be exempt next year, before the next election.

[Michael Delamar]

my uncle had this problem with his 1973 Beetle which just missed out, it really annoyed him.

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

I'm really glad the rolling exemption has been reintroduced, it means some great cars built after 1973 are be more likely to be saved from the scrapheap. Take the 2200 engind Rover P6 for example - previously, quite a lot of these fine beasts had been broken for parts for earlier tax exempt 2000s and 3500s but lets hope more of these relatively rare models will survive and be put back on the road. They were only built from October '73 to March '77 and are hidden gems in that they are smoother than the 2000 and in good fettle can often keep pace with the V8 3500s.

 

My mate Jon is well chuffed that his 1978 SD1 will be tax free in a few years from now!

[jjb1970]

I wonder when they'll drop all the VED thresholds. When the £0 rate for cars up to 100gm/km was introduced it was a real challenge to get a car within that band. Nowadays there is no shortage of great cars qualifying (cars like the Volvo S60D4 and the Citroen DS5 Hybrid are full size family cars with no shortage of power or luxurry that get £0 VED) and if you look at cars within the £20 and £30 bands there are some really rather fast sweet handling cars. I just traded my wifes Audi A1 for a Golf GT with DSG gear box and the 1.4TSI engine with cylinder cut off, it is a properly quick car (not a hot hatch but undeniably brisk) with a petrol engine and no fancy hybrid trickery and yet the VED is £20 a year. So I'm anticipating a major re-allignment of the VED bands to incentivise much lower emissions cars or to penalise cars which today are cheap to tax.

[Londontram]

No, some one will still save an Austin Allegro

Well if any one is they had better hurry according to this site there are only 291 left on the DVLA's books out of 642,340 built

 

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/top-10s/top-20-endangered-british-cars/

[30801]

I wonder when they'll drop all the VED thresholds. When the £0 rate for cars up to 100gm/km was introduced it was a real challenge to get a car within that band. Nowadays there is no shortage of great cars qualifying

Look at http://www.smmt.co.uk/2014/04/new-car-registrations-march-14/ (beware auto-playing video)

 

Scroll down to "New car registrations by VED bands, March 2004 and 2014" This March fully 50% of registrations are in band A-B compared to about 5% in 2004

[Horsetan]

.....My mate Jon is well chuffed that his 1978 SD1 will be tax free in a few years from now!

It won't be if Labour returns to Government next year.

 

Remind Jon to think carefully before he votes......

[jjb1970]

I was going to say the SD1 Vitesse was a great car then thought great may not be the best word....it certainly remains one of my all time favourite cars and was a glorious looking car. If BL had managed to build the things with a good, consistent quality I really do wonder about what might have been. I know it was style over substance in that under the sleek body it was quite a primitive suspension set up etc but by jove it looked good, and still looks good. For all that the British car industry of the 70's is a bit of a laughing stock there were plenty of genuinely interesting and innovative cars designed by Britain in that decade. I remember my father trying to be patriotic and buying a Marina, it was actually not a bad looking car in it day (please don't laugh...) but the thing just fell to bits and he followed up with a Ford Cortina and never went back to BL or Rover. Despite the Ford jibe fixed or repaired daily he stuck with the Cortina and then Sierra an they were good solid reliable cars in our experience.

[Rugd1022]

It won't be if Labour returns to Government next year.

 

Remind Jon to think carefully before he votes......

 

Oh we've already discussed it in the mess room, many, many times!

 

(Don't want to lock the thread or get all plitical but I will never vote labour again as long as I live. Mini rant over!).

[30801]

I know it was style over substance in that under the sleek body it was quite a primitive suspension set up etc but by jove it looked good, and still looks good.

Can you imagine a sophisticated suspension set-up made by 70's BL?

My mate's dad spend his pools win on a brand new SD1 2600S and simple as it was it never worked right from day one.

[jjb1970]

Can you imagine a sophisticated suspension set-up made by 70's BL?

My mate's dad spend his pools win on a brand new SD1 2600S and simple as it was it never worked right from day one.

Fair point!! Yet despite that I used to lust after the Dolomite Sprint and SD1 Vitesse, they were great looking cars and the Dolly Sprint was really very advanced in many ways.

['CHARD]

This would have helped my old 1973 NSU Ro80, but I sold it years ago.

 

I had an old NSU once.  Happily a course of penicillin sorted it out.

[MartinWales]

It won't be if Labour returns to Government next year.

 

Remind Jon to think carefully before he votes......

A rather cynical way of looking at it-or the usual Tory scare tactics?

 

For most in Cameron's Britain, this is a luxury, myself included ALSO a Labour voter (and an owner of a 1975 Hillman Super Imp currently SORN)  

[jjb1970]

NSU, great looking cars, shame about the throw away engine. The Wankel engine is a terrific concept but even in the Mazda RX8 where it was a reliable engine it consumed a lot of oil.

[jjb1970]

For some reason this thread made me think of the old Lada Riva, when was the last time anybody saw one of those? I remember in the 80's you'd very occasionally see somebody trying to make one of those look mean and cool with stripes, spoiler, alloys etc, oh dear......

[lyndonsdad1]

And the Moscvich ,now maybe my spelling is wrong but a mechanic friend of mine claimed that they wouldn't pass the MOT from new. Anyone remember them?

[skipepsi]

Yes and they wouldn't due to the brake hoses IIRC.

[Horsetan]

A rather cynical way of looking at it-or the usual Tory scare tactics?...

 

 

Not at all. The rolling tax exemption was one of the first things to be stopped by Labour shortly after taking power. They will do it again. Of that I am certain.

 

I make a point of not voting for any mainstream political parties - the only thing they're good at these days is making a big mess whilst trousering as much cash as possible. Voting for small crackpot extremist parties (but not the Greens, absolutely not) is much more fun. Sinn Fein is quite good for a laugh, and reflects my predilection for Ireland, so long as you don't ask them awkward questions about what some of them actually got up to during The Troubles....

 

 

NSU, great looking cars, shame about the throw away engine. The Wankel engine is a terrific concept but even in the Mazda RX8 where it was a reliable engine it consumed a lot of oil.

The whole point about the rotary engine is that it does use oil as part of the combustion process, just like a 2-stroke. My 1973 Ro80 was fitted with the 13B rotary out of a Mazda RX7; it was considerably quicker off the mark than a standard Ro80. The only thing that went wrong was the vacuum solenoid for the clutch, but that was very easily replaced - literally unscrew, disconnect two hoses, reconnect to new solenoid, and screw back in. Really wish I hadn't sold it. There are only about 30 still "on-the-road" this year; when I had mine, it was nearer 100.

 

 

The Moskvich 412(?) had its fair share of, er, quality control problems. They were sold here for quite a few years, and sold quite a few - sales figures were about twenty times better than VW's contemporary K70 saloon (only 800 sold in the UK between 1972 and 1975 - and, yes, I had one of those as well!).

 

I seem to recall it was quite successful at rallying......