Diesel Engines Demonised.

[Old Peter]

It looks as if diesel engines that don't meet Euro 6 regulations are to have a hefty hike in the Vehicle Excise tax/aka Road Fund Licence following the Budget.

So the S type 2.7 diesel owner who drives 15 miles to work in the morning and the same distance back home may be penalised, but the white van man  with the 2.0 litre Diesel engine who leaves home at 7.00am and spends all day on the road delivering parcels will have no increase  in VED at all?

This seems illogical to me if it is a attempt to improve air quality.

The is also a point made yesterday that if diesel cars go off the road and their owners buy petrol engines there will be more CO2 emissions which is the reason why there was a push for diesel usage 17 years ago.

[Leo]

My understanding is that the new tax applies only to new cars sold after April, and which don’t comply with the latest emissions standards. Apparently most cars don’t comply.

It doesn’t apply to cars already sold.

I agree with your other comments though. I am a bit aggrieved that, due to supposed emissions, I pay over 500 pounds a year for my road fund licence, when I do less than 3,000 miles a year. It’s worth it though!

[Old Peter]

Hi David,

I was unsure about that element.  My first thoughts were that it was an attempt to get older diesels off the road.

I do less that 6,000 miles a year and those who do 30,000 pay the same.  I am 100% in favour of looking at a system that takes account of the amount of usage and it looks like fuel that is the only accurate way of producing fairness.

Other suggestions would be interesting,

Peter.

[Leo]

Hi Peter,

I totally agree with you: The present system is “one size fits all” which is patently untrue. Nobody is going to do anything about it though!

David

[Guest]

The Road Fund License has been a source of considerable irritation to me all the years I've been paying it. Not least because it is so arbitrary and bears no relationship to the use one makes of the roads. It was particularly annoying though when my fathers RFL fee was the same as mine while I was doing circa 15,000 miles a year (and for a few short years 25,000+) and he was doing around a 1000. The whole thing was, and continues to be, unfairly slanted in favour of the high mileage driver and its high time something was done about it.

Personally I am very much in favour of a Pay as You Go type scheme and, with the kind of technology now available, I can see no good reason, technical or otherwise, why such a system could not be implemented. I know that some feel that charges levied at the pump could be used to eliminate/replace the annual RFL fees and yes it would provide a better reflection of ones use of the roads and also the relative fuel performance of each car. However, given that with Fuel Duty and VAT circa 50% of the At the Pump Price I would want to see a Flat Per Litre Rate of Tax to be charged irrespective of the sale price of the fuel itself.

Rant over. Maybe.

Maybe we should consider starting a protest group and begin lobbying the authorities?

[Old Peter]

How to avoid Vehicle excise duty.

[Guest]

Ah, would that be the new MarkII(Foot) Jaguar?

A classic from the outset obviously but after a long rive the socks may do more damage to the environment than 60 litres of your finest 4 Star.

[Old Peter]

Yes Steve, it was the model without the Rocker Box.