The definitive guide to UK car tax (VED)

Car tax, officially known as Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), is a tax that most drivers in the UK have to pay to use their car on public roads.

In 2026, the standard VED rate is £200 a year, but the amount you pay will depend on your car's first registration date, fuel type, CO2 emissions and original price.

There are important rules you need to understand when it comes to buying or selling a vehicle, too. Car insurance is another core ownership cost that also needs to be factored into your budget.

Road tax explained: UK Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates and rules

What is road tax?

Road tax is officially known as VED (Vehicle Excise Duty). It is a charge that most drivers have to pay to drive or keep their car or van on a public road.

Who pays road tax?

Most drivers are required to pay for road tax. There are some exceptions, including historic vehicles and cars used by disabled people.

Current road tax rules

You need to pay for car tax when a vehicle is first registered. After this, you can pay for road tax every month, six months or 12 months.

The amount you pay for road tax depends on:

• The date the car was first registered
• What type of fuel it uses
• How much CO2 it emits
• The price of the car when it was new
• If you choose to pay monthly, every six months or 12 months

EV road tax

All electric car drivers are required to pay for road tax (also known as VED or Vehicle Excise Duty). This change came into effect on 1 April 2025.

How much you pay to tax your electric car will depend on the year it was first registered and its original list price. For example, for most electric cars registered from April 2026, drivers will pay £10 in the first year and then £200 a year.

What is road tax?

Car tax, officially known as Vehicle Excise Duty, (VED) is a fee that most drivers must pay to keep or use their vehicle on the public road.

It was introduced in 1937 and replaced the old system of road tax, which traces its roots back to the taxation of Hackney Carriages in the 17th century.

The tax disc was introduced in 1921 and, until 1974, car taxation was handled by local authorities.

Then, in 1974, the DVLC (Driver and Licensing Vehicle Centre) was established, with an office in Swansea handling all vehicle and driver registration issues.

The DVLC later became the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) and the tax disc was abolished in 2014. 

What does VED stand for?

VED stands for Vehicle Excise Duty. It is commonly known as car tax or road tax. It is essentially a tax for keeping or using a vehicle on a public road in the UK.

Why do we pay road tax?

Road tax is a legal requirement in the UK. Even if your car qualifies for a £0 rate of VED, you still need to tax it.

Each year, the DVLA collects billions of pounds in VED, but not all of this is spent on road improvements and infrastructure.

In fact, VED is grouped in with other forms of tax, meaning the income from your road tax is just as likely to be spent on education or healthcare as it is on roads.

Who is exempt from road tax?

The following types of vehicles are exempt from vehicle tax:

• Vehicles used by a disabled person
• Disabled passenger vehicles
• Mobility scooters, powered wheelchairs and invalid carriages
• Historic vehicles
• Mowing machines
• Steam vehicles
• Vehicles used just for agriculture, horticulture, and forestry

Please note, even if your vehicle is tax-exempt, you'll still need to apply for annual VED.

How much road tax will I pay?

The standard tax rate for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 is £200.

If your car had a list price that exceeded £40,000 when it was first sold (or £50,000 if your car is electric) then you may also be liable for the Expensive Car Supplement which adds £440 to the vehicle's annual VED costs - taking it up to £640 a year for a five-year period.

You may pay less or more if your car was first used before April 2017. The exact fee for your annual road tax will boil down to the year your car was first registered, the type of fuel it uses and its tailpipe emissions. 

You can find out more about VED for EVs in our electric car road tax guide. 

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Cars registered before March 2001

Cars registered before April 2017

VED road tax rates for cars first registered before April 2017 are split across 13 bands depending on the CO2 emissions of the vehicle. In basic terms, the lower the CO2, the lower the tax band.

Since the 2025 VED rule changes, cars with CO2 emissions below 100g/km no longer qualify for free road tax. This means you now have to pay £20 a year for VED if your car emits up to 100g/km of CO2. 

Road tax for petrol and diesel cars registered after March 2001 and before April 2017 are broadly the same. 

Cars registered after April 2017

Cars first registered after April 2017 are liable for the first-year ‘showroom tax’, with the first year rate based on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions.

From year two, the standard rate is applied and drivers are required to pay £200 per year while new cars with a list price of more than £40,000 (or £50,000 for electric cars) pay an additional £440 for the first five years the standard rate is applied.

*Cars with a list price of over £40,000 (£50,000 for electric cars) when new pay an additional rate of £440 per year on top of the standard rate, for five years. The five-year time limit starts from the second year the car is first registered. 

Expensive car supplement

If your car cost more than £40,000 when it was new (or £50,000 if your car is electric) you'll have to pay an additional Expensive Car Supplement, or 'Luxury Car Tax', for five years, which applies from the second year of registration.

The expensive car supplement (also known as the luxury car tax) only applies to the car's original list price when it was new. It doesn't apply to the vehicle's value as a used car.

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Car tax changes explained

Before March 2001

The car tax system for vehicles first registered before March 2001 is rather simple. Cars were classed as Private/Light Goods (PLG) vehicles, or private motor cars or goods vehicles not more than 3,500kg revenue weight.

The car tax system for cars registered before 2001 is split into two categories of engine size – not over 1549cc and over 1549cc.

March 2001 to April 2017

The car tax system was given an extensive overhaul in 2001 to incentivise drivers to use lower-emission cars.

Cars first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 are placed into specific bands (from A to M) with each one based on how many grams of CO2 the vehicle produces.

Originally, cars that emitted 100g/km or less qualified for free car tax. But this rule was abolished in 2025, with band A cars now charged the same amount as those in band B.

This road tax system has been criticised for encouraging drivers to buy diesel cars because of their lower CO2 emissions, despite diesels creating higher levels of harmful pollutants.

Cars registered from April 2017

On 1 April 2017, the system for taxing a new car in the UK changed. First-year VED retained the CO2-based system while second-year cars were moved into three new road tax bands:

• Zero
• Standard
• Premium

The changes applied to cars first registered from 1 April 2017 and were introduced in direct response to falling CO2 emissions levels, meaning many motorists in the UK were paying little or no VED.

This cost the Treasury millions of pounds in lost revenue, prompting the Government to make important changes to the way road tax is calculated.

Cars first registered after April 2017 were still liable for the first-year ‘showroom tax’, with the first year rate based on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. Electric car drivers did not have to pay anything for road tax.

From year two, the standard rate was applied and drivers were required to pay a flat fee while new cars with a list price of more than £40,000 now needed to pay an 'expensive car supplement' for the first five years the standard rate is applied. 

April 2025

The road tax system changed again in April 2025 with electric cars charged for VED for the first time.

New electric cars became subject to the first-year VED fee while existing cars were liable for the standard rate of VED and the £40,000 expensive car supplement.

EVs were subject to the first-year showroom tax (which applied to vehicles with CO2 emissions 1 to 50g/km).

Car tax changes 2026

Important changes to the car tax system were introduced in 2026. From 1 April, the expensive car supplement threshold increased for zero-emission cars from £40,000 to £50,000 to reflect the higher list prices of EVs compared to petrol and diesel cars.

From 2028: Pay-per-mile road tax for electric cars

From 2028, drivers of electric and plug-in hybrid cars will pay more tax, with a new pay-per-mile eVED (Electric Vehicle Excise Duty) system being introduced.

eVED will apply from April 2028, with fully electric cars paying 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids paying 1.5p per mile. As with standard VED, these rates will increase with inflation from 2029.

From 2028: Mileage verification for electric car drivers

In order for pay-per-mile road tax for electric cars to work, a new mileage verification system is being introduced in 2028.

• Drivers will be legally required to estimate their annual mileage when renewing car tax. This means you will need to provide your car's mileage, plus an estimate for the year ahead
• If you cover more miles than estimated, you can make a top-up payment. If you drive less, unused mileage will be carried forward as credit into the next year
• There is no exemption for driving aboard, this means the Government will not distinguish between UK and overseas journeys, as it believes doing so would make the system too complex
• There will be no discounts for rural or high-mileage drivers. The Government argues that petrol and diesel drivers who travel further already pay more through fuel duty, so eVED should not be any different
• The DVLA will compare your reported mileage with official MOT readings. If your car is below the threshold for MOT testing, it will be checked on its first MOT at three years (four years in Northern Ireland)

How do I find the tax band for my car?

To find the tax band of your car you will need:

• Date of the vehicle's first registration (you can find this on the V5C logbook)
• Its fuel type
• Its CO2 emissions

How to check road tax

You can check the road tax status of a vehicle online at www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax. You will need to enter your car's registration number to check its VED status online.

The tax disc was abolished in 2014, which means you do not need to display a paper disc on your car's windscreen.

The police and other law enforcement agencies use a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to check road tax. These cameras might be situated at the roadside, or located in a police vehicle.

The ANPR system exchanges data with the DVLA database which keeps a record of all taxed and untaxed vehicles.

When do you have to pay your car tax?

If you are the registered keeper of a vehicle, you will automatically receive a reminder before the tax is due to expire, which is always at the end of a given month.

In other words, if your vehicle is taxed for 12 months from 1 January, you’ll need to renew before the end of December.

You can tax a car for six or 12 months. You can also tax it monthly via Direct Debit.

You’re also liable for road tax as soon as you take ownership of a car, although if you’re buying an efficient new vehicle, this might cost less than you think.

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How much do I have to pay for my car tax?

How much you have to pay depends on the age of your car and the tax band it is in, use the tables in the tax bands explained section to find out how much you will have to pay for your car.

How do I pay for my car tax?

The easiest way to pay for road tax is to do it online.

To tax your car, you’ll need a reference number from one of the following documents:

• A recent reminder (V11) ‘last chance’ warning letter from the DVLA 
• Vehicle logbook (V5C) in your name
• A green, new keeper supplement (V5C/2) from a logbook of a car you’ve just bought.

You can pay via debit card, credit card or direct debit.

Note, additional charges may apply if you pay via direct debit.

If you’d rather not pay online, you can telephone the DVLA’s 24-hour service on 0300 123 4321, although direct debit is not an option over the phone.

Alternatively, for something a little more old-school, you can tax a vehicle at a Post Office that deals with vehicle tax. For more help, read our guide on how to pay road tax, everything you need to know

What happens if I don’t tax my car?

If you’re the registered keeper of an untaxed vehicle, you’ll be issued with a Late Licensing Penalty (LLP) letter.

The fine is £80, but this can be reduced to £40 if you pay within 33 days. If you fail to pay, the case will be referred to a debt collection agency.

Anyone caught using or keeping an untaxed vehicle without a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification)* will be issued with an Out of Court Settlement (OCS) letter.

The OCS is set at £30 plus one-and-a-half times the outstanding vehicle tax rate.

If this is not paid, the case may be pursued via a magistrates’ court, with a penalty of £1,000 or five times the amount chargeable (whichever is greater).

This penalty increases up to £2,500 if you’re caught using or keeping an untaxed vehicle on a public road with a SORN in place.

In both cases, the vehicle might be clamped, and a £100 clamp release fee will be payable within the first 24 hours.

If the vehicle is removed, the fee increases to £200, along with a £21 per day storage fee beginning once the vehicle has been removed to the vehicle pound.

Driving without car tax, can lead to serious consequences - with a fine up to £1000. Now that the disc is no longer in use, the police use a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to check if a car is taxed.

If a car that is not taxed is abandoned, the vehicle is stored for a period between 7 and 14 days, at which point it might be disposed of at auction, broken for spares, or crushed.

*You need to make a SORN when you take a vehicle ‘off the road’ and you want to stop taxing and insuring it.

What happens to your road tax when you sell your car?

It is not possible to transfer road tax to a car's new registered keeper, meaning the new owner must tax the car before driving away.

Similarly, if you’re selling the vehicle, be sure to let the DVLA know. Any remaining tax will be refunded to you.