| Car tax rises leading to confusion and anxiety | | | | litre diesel and the Ford Fiesta 1.4 diesel. |
| Swinton Car Insurance is concerned that the | | | | Band C (cars which emit between 121-150g/km) |
| latest wave of car tax rises outlined by Gordon | | | | includes Fiat Panda 1.2 petrol, Ford Ka 1.3 petrol, |
| Brown is leaving drivers unsure about which | | | | VW Golf 1.9 TDI diesel, Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi diesel |
| category their car fits into and whether their | | | | hatchback and the Jaguar X-type 2.0 diesel saloon. |
| vehicle is one of the heaviest polluters. | | | | Band D (cars which emit between 151-165g/km) |
| The Manchester-based insurance company | | | | includes the VW Passat estate 1.9 TDI diesel, |
| believes that the vast majority of drivers of | | | | MINI One hatchback 1.6 petrol, Ford Fiesta 1.6i |
| family saloon type vehicles are unsure where their | | | | petrol and the Peugeot 307 1.4 petrol. |
| car fits on the pollution scale and how much it is | | | | Band E (cars which emit between 166-185g/km) |
| costing them. | | | | includes the Ford Mondeo saloon 1.8i petrol, |
| But, more alarmingly, an increasing number of | | | | Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 petrol saloon, Rover 75 1.8 |
| drivers are getting worried that they may | | | | petrol and the Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol saloon |
| unwittingly be falling into Vehicle Excise Duty | | | | hatchback. |
| (VED) banding brackets which are becoming | | | | Band F (cars which emit between 186-225g/km) |
| demonised for being so-called gas guzzlers. | | | | includes the Land Rover Freelander 2.0 diesel, |
| Jon Kirk of Swinton Insurance said that it is all | | | | Toyota RAV4 2.0 litre petrol, Audi A4 1.6 petrol, |
| very well the Chancellor raising car tax for the | | | | BMW 5 series estate 3.0 diesel and the Mazda |
| heaviest polluting vehicles and lowering it for the | | | | MX5 2.0 petrol. |
| most environmentally friendly cars, but the simple | | | | Band G (cars which emit more than 225g/km) |
| truth is very few people actually know which of | | | | includes the Jaguar X-type 2.0 petrol saloon auto, |
| the seven A-G bandings their cars fall into. | | | | Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe 3.6 litre petrol, Renault |
| "It came as no surprise that the Chancellor put up | | | | Espace 2 litre petrol Range Rover 4.4 V8 petrol |
| car tax on the heaviest polluting vehicles in the | | | | auto and the BMW X5 4.8 litre petrol. |
| latest Budget," said Jon. "And most people know | | | | Simply by making these examples known, |
| that 4x4s are the worst polluters on UK roads, | | | | Swinton Insurance hopes to put drivers at ease |
| but that's not the whole story." | | | | because they have a better framework to work |
| As he points out, figures from the Society of | | | | from when trying to establish how much more |
| Motor Manufacturers and Traders revealed that | | | | they are going to have to pay each year in car |
| the worst polluting band only accounted for 7.5 | | | | tax. |
| per cent of all new cars sold in 2006. | | | | "The biggest problem is that most motorist have |
| At the other end of the scale the number of cars | | | | little idea how much the increases announced by |
| which fall into the first two bands only accounts | | | | Gordon Brown are actually going to cost them |
| for 4.7 per cent of cars. | | | | until they receive their car tax renewal notices," |
| "This means that nearly 90% of cars on UK | | | | said Jon. |
| roads fall into just four of the seven bands," said | | | | "And given the Chancellor's timescales, some |
| Jon. "So you can see where the concern is arising | | | | people won't feel the full effect of his |
| as there seems to be a huge mid-ground where | | | | announcement for another 12 to 18 months." |
| owners of typical family cars can't be sure where | | | | While there are losers who will have to pay more |
| on the scale they are in terms of carbon | | | | car tax because of the Chancellor's |
| emissions." | | | | announcement, there are also winners. Drivers of |
| Swinton Insurance points to a list of examples of | | | | cars in Band B will see their road tax bills cut by |
| cars in the different bands to try to help clear up | | | | £15 to £35. |
| some of the confusion. | | | | But this will only be short-lived because the |
| Band A (cars which emit less than 100g/km) | | | | Chancellor also said VED will rise by £5 for |
| includes the Honda Insight petrol electric hybrid | | | | each of the next three years. Drivers of petrol |
| and the Smart diesel. | | | | cars also face an extra hike because Gordon |
| Band B (cars which emit between 101-120g/km) | | | | Brown said he will be aligning the differing rates |
| includes the Toyota Prius 1.5 litre petrol-electric | | | | between petrol and diesel cars to the higher diesel |
| hybrid, Smart car 0.7 litre petrol, Citroen C2 1.4 | | | | rate. |