How come I have to pay twice as much car tax as my friend for an identical car?

Hi I own freelander 2.0 diesel 2006 ,road tax is £500.00 pound a year,my friend has got the same model exactly the same and he pays £250.00 pounds a year. Would be grateful if you could give me some advice .thanks

Asked by peter howe

This arises because, when the Government introduced the highest bands (bands L and M) for CO2-based Vehicle Excise Duty (Car tax) they weren’t applied retrospectively.

The result was that VED Band K (CO2 emissions between 201 to 225g/km) also applies to cars releasing over 225g/km and first registered between 1 March 2001 and 23 March 2006.

A car releasing more than 225g/km but first registered after 23 March 2006 is taxed in either band L (226-255g/km) or band M (over 255g/km).

So your friend’s car will have been first registered before 23 March 2006 and yours after.

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