How Much Is My Car Tax? (UK 2025 Car Tax Bands Explained)

If you’ve found yourself asking “how much is my car tax?” or “how much road tax will I pay?”, you’re definitely not alone.

The UK’s car tax system (officially Vehicle Excise Duty, or VED) has changed several times, and what you pay now depends on a mix of:

When your car was first registered
How much CO₂ it emits (for many cars)
Fuel type – petrol, diesel, hybrid, electric
The original list price when new (expensive car supplement)
How you choose to pay – yearly, 6‑monthly or monthly

In this guide, we’ll break all of that down in plain English and show you:

The easiest way to find out exactly how much your car tax is today
How car tax is worked out for different registration years
What’s changed for electric cars and low‑emission vehicles in 2025
Example tax costs for typical cars
When high car tax is a clue that it might be time to scrap rather than repair

And if you reach the point where you think, “this car tax plus MOT and repairs really isn’t worth it”, you can get a no‑obligation scrap quote direct from ScrapTrak. We’re a direct scrap car buyer, not a comparison site, and we’ll link to useful pages like:

Quick answer: the fastest way to see how much your car tax is

If you just want to know “how much is my car tax right now?”, you don’t need to learn all the bands and rules.

The quickest way is to use the official government services:

Go to the Gov.uk “check vehicle tax” or “get vehicle information from DVLA” page.
Enter your registration number.
Confirm the car’s make/colour is right.
View the details, including:
- Whether the vehicle is currently taxed
- When the tax expires
- Often, the current tax rate (especially if you use the V5C reference)

These official tools pull straight from DVLA’s database, so they’re more accurate than any generic “car tax calculator” hosted elsewhere.

Once you’ve checked your own car, you can also search another car’s reg – handy if you’re looking at buying something and want to know “how much is the car tax on that one?” before you commit.

For a full step‑by‑step on taxing your car (rather than just checking the cost), see our separate guide: Tax My Car (UK 2025 Guide).

What decides how much my car tax is?

Even though the quickest way is to check online, it’s useful to know why your car tax is what it is.

In 2025, the amount of VED you pay for a car depends mainly on:

When the car was first registered
Fuel type (petrol, diesel, hybrid, electric)
CO₂ emissions (for cars registered after 1 March 2001 and before April 2017)
Whether it’s classed as an expensive car (over a certain list price from new)
How you pay – yearly, 6‑monthly or monthly Direct Debit

The system is split by registration date into three main groups:

Cars registered before 1 March 2001
Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
Cars registered on or after 1 April 2017

Let’s go through each.

1. Cars registered before 1 March 2001 – engine size based

If your car is really getting on a bit – first registered before 1 March 2001 – your car tax is based mainly on engine size, not CO₂ emissions.

There are basically two bands:

Up to 1549cc (smaller engines)
Over 1549cc (larger engines)

The government’s own tables and independent guides show that, from April 2025, the annual rate for these older cars is in the region of:*

About £220 per year for engines up to 1549cc
About £360 per year for engines over 1549cc

*These figures are based on official VED rate tables for 2025/26 – always double‑check your exact amount on Gov.uk before budgeting.

So if you’re driving an older 1.0L or 1.2L run‑around, you’ll be in the lower band. If you’re running an older 2.0L+ or bigger, you’ll be in the higher one.

These older cars are also more likely to have higher running costs overall – fuel, repairs, parts – so if you’re paying the higher rate and facing big MOT bills, it may be worth reading Scrap or Repair My Car? and thinking about whether it’s time to move on.

2. Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 – CO₂ bands

Most “modern” older cars fall into this group. For vehicles registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017, your car tax is based on:

CO₂ emissions (g/km)
Fuel type – petrol or diesel

The government splits these into a series of CO₂ bands – Band A, B, C, D and so on – and each band has its own annual VED rate. Lower emissions = lower band = lower tax. Higher emissions = higher band = higher tax.

Some key points for 2025:

Cars in the very lowest bands (for example, certain Band A models) that used to pay £0 tax now pay a small amount (around £20 per year for up to 100g/km CO₂ under the updated rules).
As you go up the bands, the annual tax increases, with the highest‑emission cars in this era paying several hundred pounds per year.

You don’t need to memorise the whole band table. To see how much your car tax is for a car in this age range, you can:

Check the car’s CO₂ emissions on its V5C logbook or via the DVLA vehicle info service.
Look up the relevant band and rate on the Gov.uk car tax tables, or simply use the DVLA tax checker.

If you’re car‑shopping in this age bracket, it can be worth comparing two similar models’ tax bands before you buy – sometimes choosing a lower‑emission variant can save a meaningful amount per year.

3. Cars registered from 1 April 2017 onwards – first year vs standard rate

For cars registered on or after 1 April 2017, the system is a bit different again:

There’s a special first‑year rate that depends on CO₂ emissions.
From the second year onwards, most cars move onto a standard flat rate – currently about £195 per year for 2025.
Expensive cars (above a certain list price when new) pay an extra supplement on top of that standard rate for several years.

In practice, that means:

When the car is brand new, the first year’s tax can be anything from very low to quite high depending on emissions.
From year two onwards, most “normal” petrol and diesel cars all pay roughly the same standard rate each year.

This is also where a lot of electric cars now sit in 2025 – more on that shortly.

If you’re looking at a 2018, 2019, 2020 etc. car and asking “how much is my car tax?”, you’re usually looking at the standard rate plus any expensive car supplement if it was a pricey model when new. Money and motoring guides confirm that from April 2025 the standard rate is £195 a year, with supplements for cars that were over £40,000 new (and a higher threshold for EVs from 2026).*

*Always check the latest figures on Gov.uk or a current VED band guide, as rates are uprated most years.

What about electric cars – how much is my EV road tax?

For a long time, the answer to “how much is my car tax?” for an electric car was simple: £0.

That’s now changing. From April 2025, the UK began bringing electric vehicles (EVs) into the normal VED system:

Many electric cars now pay the same standard £195 annual rate as other low/zero emission vehicles registered after April 2017.
Older EVs registered between March 2001 and March 2017 move into a low annual rate (around £20 in 2025).
New EVs registered from April 2025 get a small first‑year rate (around £10) then move to the standard rate, with an extra supplement for high‑price models.

On top of that, the government has announced a future electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from 2028 – a mileage‑based charge for EVs and plug‑in hybrids. That doesn’t affect your standard VED bill today, but it’s worth keeping an eye on for the future if you’re planning to run an EV long term.

If you’re running an older EV on the roads in 2025, it’s definitely worth checking how much your annual tax will be via DVLA – a lot of drivers are surprised to find they now pay something where it used to be £0.

How how much your car tax is changes with your payment method

Another detail that affects “how much is my car tax?” – even once you know your band – is how you choose to pay.

For most car tax bands, you can pay by:

12 months (one annual payment)
6 months (one upfront 6‑month payment)
Monthly Direct Debit

The headline annual rates (like £195) assume you pay in one go for 12 months. If you choose 6‑monthly or monthly Direct Debit, there’s usually a small extra cost overall – essentially a surcharge for paying in instalments.

It’s not massive, but if you’re really trying to squeeze costs down, paying annually is normally cheapest. If cash flow is tight, monthly Direct Debit can be easier to manage even if it costs a bit more over the year.

Example: how much is my car tax in real‑world situations?

Let’s run through some simplified examples so you can get a feel for how the system works. These are ballpark examples using typical 2025 figures – always check your own car on Gov.uk for an exact number.

Example 1 – Small pre‑2001 hatchback (1.2L)

Registration: 1999
Engine: 1198cc petrol
Tax system: pre‑2001 engine size based

Because it’s under 1549cc, it falls into the lower PLG band. From 2025 tables, you’re looking at roughly:

Annual car tax: around £220 per year (if paid in one go)

Example 2 – 2012 diesel hatchback (CO₂‑based band)

Registration: 2012
Fuel: diesel
CO₂ emissions: say 110g/km
Tax system: CO₂ band (2001–2017)

At 110g/km, you’re in one of the lower bands rather than the top. For 2025, that might mean an annual rate somewhere in the region of a few tens of pounds to a low three‑figure amount, depending on the exact band. A quick DVLA check will confirm your precise tax band and cost.

Example 3 – 2019 petrol crossover (post‑2017 standard rate)

Registration: 2019
Fuel: petrol
List price when new: £27,000
Tax system: post‑April 2017

By 2025 this car is well past its first‑year rate, so it’ll be on the flat standard rate. So you’re typically paying around:

Annual car tax: about £195 per year (standard rate)

No expensive car supplement here because it was under the price threshold when new.

Example 4 – 2024 electric SUV (standard rate + supplement)

Registration: 2024
Fuel: electric
List price when new: £52,000
Tax system: post‑2017 with EV rules

From 2025, EVs now pay VED. The rough idea is:

A small first‑year rate, then
The standard rate (around £195 per year) from year two onwards
Plus an expensive car supplement for several years because it cost over the relevant price threshold when new

If you’re driving something like this, your yearly car tax is now very much worth checking – it’s not £0 anymore.

How much is my car tax if I don’t use the car?

This is a big one: if your car is just sitting there and you’re not using it, you might be wondering if you still have to pay car tax.

The basic rule is:

If your car is kept or used on a public road, it must be taxed (or be exempt).
If your car is kept off the road (driveway, garage, private land) and you’re not using it, you can declare a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification).

With a SORN in place:

You don’t pay car tax.
You usually can’t drive the car on public roads (except in very limited circumstances like a pre‑booked MOT).

If you’re SORNing a car because it’s broken, failed its MOT or just not worth repairing, you might be halfway to the decision to scrap anyway. At that point, you can:

Park it off‑road legally.
Get a scrap quote from ScrapTrak.
Let us collect it and sort the paperwork, so you’re no longer responsible for tax, MOT or insurance.

Our guides Scrap or Repair My Car? and When Should I Scrap My Car? can help you decide whether it’s time to take that step.

What happens if I don’t pay my car tax?

Ignoring VED and hoping for the best is rarely a good idea.

If your vehicle is untaxed and not on SORN, you risk:

DVLA penalty notices – often an automatic fixed penalty.
Fines – if things escalate to court.
Your car being clamped, towed or impounded.
Extra fees to release it, plus storage charges.

There are also separate rules around insurance – Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) – so running a car that’s both untaxed and uninsured can get very expensive, very quickly.

If you’ve reached the point where you can’t afford or justify tax, MOT and insurance on a particular car, the cleanest solution is often to scrap the car and reset, rather than let penalties and charges pile up.

When high car tax is a sign it’s time to scrap

Sometimes the question “how much is my car tax?” is really the first step towards “is this car worth keeping at all?”

High car tax tends to go hand‑in‑hand with:

Older, less efficient engines (big petrol or early diesel models)
Higher emissions, meaning higher bands
Often, higher fuel bills and more frequent repairs

If you’re paying a lot each year in:

Car tax
MOT and repairs
Fuel
Possibly ULEZ or clean air zone charges

…it’s worth running the numbers and asking whether an older, high‑tax car is actually cheaper overall than scrapping it and moving into something newer and more efficient.

Our articles Scrap or Repair My Car? and When Should I Scrap My Car? walk through that thought process step by step.

If you do decide the car itself is the problem, ScrapTrak can give you a direct scrap price. We’re not a comparison site – you get a clear offer from us, and we handle collection and DVLA notification so you’re no longer paying tax, MOT or insurance on a car you don’t really want.

How ScrapTrak fits into the picture

ScrapTrak exists for the point where you’ve run the numbers and decided:

Your car tax is high,
Your repair costs are rising, and
The car just isn’t worth the ongoing spend.

When that happens, you don’t want more hassle – you want a clean, straightforward way out.

Here’s how we do it:

You get a quote
Head to Scrap My Car and enter your reg and postcode. We’ll ask a few simple questions about the vehicle.
We give you a direct offer
ScrapTrak is a direct scrap car buyer, not a marketplace. The quote you see is our offer – not a list of random third‑party bids.
We arrange collection
We agree a collection time that suits you. If you’re not sure whether we cover your area, check Areas We Cover.
We help with paperwork
We’ll guide you through the DVLA side so you’re correctly recorded as no longer the keeper. Our FAQs explain what happens if you don’t have the logbook.
We collect and you get paid
Your car is collected and processed at authorised facilities, and you get paid in the agreed way. No more car tax, no more MOT stress, no more worrying if it will pass another year.

For a full walkthrough of the process, see How ScrapTrak Works.

How much is my car tax? – final checklist

To wrap it up, here’s a quick checklist you can use right now:

Find out your exact tax cost
Use the official DVLA tools to see how much your car tax is today and when it’s due.
Work out which system you’re in
Is your car:
- Pre‑March 2001 (engine size based)?
- 2001–2017 (CO₂‑based bands)?
- April 2017 onwards (first‑year + standard rate)?
Think about the bigger picture
Add up car tax + MOT + repairs + fuel + any ULEZ/clean air charges. Is it still worth it for this particular car?
Decide whether to keep, sell or scrap
If it adds up and you like the car, great – just make sure you don’t miss your renewal. If it doesn’t, it might be time to look at replacing it or scrapping it.
If scrapping is on your mind, get a quote
Use Scrap My Car to see what your car is worth as scrap. Then read:
- Scrap or Repair My Car?
- When Should I Scrap My Car?
Between those, you’ll have all you need to make a confident decision.

So the next time you catch yourself wondering “how much is my car tax?”, you’ll know exactly where to look, how it’s calculated – and what to do if the answer is “more than this car is really worth to me now”.