Vagaries of the Tax Bands

[Eric Tilley]

Two cars standing on the forecourt, both C180 (W203) Kompressor, petrol, manual, same year. One tax band E, one tax band F ?. Reason, one has the sports 245 tyre on the rear. I ask you how much more Co2 can a 10mm wider tyre generate ? certainly not £40 a year worth. The brochure for the car only gives the emissions for the car with the standard tyre (band E) so if you want to know the actual tax band the car is in you have to ask or look at this handy calculator curtesy of the VCA http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/ved/
Of interest this calculator shows that for the new C class (W204) like for like with my car (C180 petrol auto, sport) the vehicle drops a tax band . The new car is down into Band E. I know the new car is 6Kg lighter. I surmise that BM are getting into the game and massaging specs to achieve lower bandings.

 

[Micman]

How interesting and bizarre!

I knew the manual 180k was in group E and the auto (like mine with sport 245 rear tyres) is in group F, but that seems crazy that the manual one with the sport pack 245 tyres should be group F as well!

I would be gutted if I had bought a manual one with sport pack then discovered that I have to pay an extra £40 per year road tax.

That calculator reckons there is an extra 5g/km Co2 emission from the car with the bigger tyres pushing it into group F!

Does that mean if I put pram wheels on mine I might get it down into the same tax group as a Toyota Prius!! he he

 

[Eric Tilley]

How interesting and bizarre!

That calculator reckons there is an extra 5g/km Co2 emission from the car with the bigger tyres pushing it into group F!

Does that mean if I put pram wheels on mine I might get it down into the same tax group as a Toyota Prius!! he he

Its worth a try, although you may decide to pay the £205 so that it will go round corners.

 

[100%Bitch]

Mines not even on there so it must be free.

 

[hawk20]

The effect of wheels is more important than many believe. Bigger wheels have lower profile tyres on them to keep the rolling radius the same. The tyres are lower but wider. There are many effects. The walls are stiffer giving a harsher ride. The tyre wear is more on wider tyres. The grip is less good in wet weather and on snow.

But for emissions the important point is that the rolling resistance is higher and the frontal area is greater, which means more power is need to achieve a given speed. Hence more emissions. So in my view it is perfectly fair that the emissions band should vary with the wheels fitted.

On the S class, the 320cdi with standard wheels is in Band F with emissions of 220. So no £25 per day London Congestion charge.

BUT if you opt for the larger wheels with low profile tyres the emissions go up to over 225 g/km and the car goes into Band G with £300 VED and the huge congestion charge of £5300 per year for those living in the London C charge area. Nasty.

BTW Mercedes show this in the brochures on wheel options - but a friend of mine ordered the S as it was in Band F and then afterwards changed the wheel option before delivery and was mortified to find it was in band G. Beware: many salesman seem unaware of these problems.

One other point worth noting: the CO2 Band is based on the wheels and tyres as supplied new and on the emissions figures shown in the logbook. If the wheels and tyres are changed AFTER PURCHASE and AFTER 1st registration this does not affect the VED. I have checked this with DVLA.