CoC without emission values?

[SalvadorP]

Originally Posted by Forrest

I was intrigued by your figure of 244g/km and concern about future taxation regimes. In the UK, most cars over 40 years old are free of annual road tax. A legacy system is likely to remain in place until at least 2041 whereby cars first registered prior to March 2001 pay one of two rates dependent on whether their engine size is above or below 1,549cc. For Volvo 940s (above 1,549cc) this means a current annual tax bill of £325.

A different system is in place for cars first registered between 2001 and 2017. This is based on CO2 emissions. This has 13 tax bands and, if relevant, the 244g/km would put the 940 into band L with an annual bill of £675.

The regime for cars registered after 2017 has a standard annual rate of £180 for most cars although it heavily penalises more polluting vehicles in their first year. This is a rare example of UK eco-tax not being regressive.

When importing a car into the UK the CoC is not required for vehicles more than ten years old. However, if the emissions are not verifiable, even if the car is 2001 - 2017, the DVLA will sometimes put it onto the old tax regime based on engine size. This is clearly a disadvantage for a car with low CO2 emissions but, it seems, a big advantage for a larger, more polluting car.

It seems that Volvo first started (voluntarily) producing CoCs for new cars from 1995. They only became mandatory after January 1998.

Sorry, not directly relevant to your question beyond further sympathy for the need to negotiate a complex and ever-changing tax minefield.

Here, for cars until June 2007, the tax is solely based on engine capacity and fuel type.
The brackets are huge though. ABout 10 years each one. The last one is June 1996-June of 2007. Meaning a car of same specs from 96 will pay the same as one from 2006, which is completely ridiculous. From 2007 onwards there is an emissions component.
Also cars imported from within EEC/EU will maitain the same registration year. If it was from outside, my car would count has a 2024 registration and pay much, much more, because of the afformentioned emissions component. That's why you can't import old cars from Japan or USA or whatever.
Anyway, this means that, in principle, my car will pay the same, regardless of the emission values, because for cars until 2007, emissions are not considered for tax purposes.

But... and this is a BIG but, they recently tried changing the way the IUC (Circulation Tax, that's the name of the anual tax on cars) is calculated. It was a big thing, people went to the streets, there were demonstrations all over the country. Basically everyone would have to sell their cars older than 2007 because it was gonna be ridiculously expensive. The government had a majority so they didn't budge behind public pressure... "You can not make concessions when it comes to the environment", PM said. That was until weeks later the PM and several ministers were acused with several major corruptions cases... Gov. fell, elections were called and all of a sudden, the government was against their own proposed and approved tax change. PM said: "this change would be a tax on the poor, the people who cannot buy newer cars and would contribute to the impoverishment of the already struggling families"... This is true. I wish it was a joke. Portugal is a banana republic.

So, you imagine I am wary of importing a car with an official emissions value of 400g/km co2 or whatever it is going to be, because the law may change at any moment and then I would have to part the car. I would much rather keep it forever and be buried in it, thank you very much.
But, if there is no other way, there is no other way. I just have to hope for the best and that they never implement a tax that will consider emissions on cars of this age.