Yes it's only for new cars registered after 1st April. The old zero rate has gone unless the car is purely electric. Minimum rate for anything with a internal combustion engine is now £140/yr. The wife has a mk4 dci Clio that is zero rated - the dealer has been trying to get us into a new one before April but it was stock cars only, no customer spec cars. We didn't bother.
I think it's a load of bollocks. We've just got a mk4 dci edc clio... Zero tax, how they can then justify £140 for the same car is beyond me. Surely this makes it worse, the restrictions on emissions to get into a low ir zero tax band has now gone? Won't they now just throw out cars with great mpg but high emissions?
The car tax rules now are that the 1st year cost is based on co2 output. So if the car puts out no co2, the first year cost will be £0 If the the car outputs over 255 g/co2, then you're paying £2000. Yes 2 grand. The cost for the subsequent years is dependent on engine type. Electric is £0 Petrol & Diesel £140 Alternative fuel (hydrogen or something) £130 If the car cost over £40k, the tax cost is as above, plus an additional £310 per year for the first 5 years. This was always going to happen. It will be the same with electric cars - right now there are tax breaks and incentives to use one but if the vast majority started using them, the benefits would cease.
