New Car Tax Rates 2025: Plus Road Tax Calculator
Confused about different rates of car tax and what you should be paying? Our guide explains everything while our 2025 road tax calculator eliminates the guesswork.
Confused about car tax - or VED as it's also known? You're not alone, there have been a raft of changes over the past few years, creating a confusing system. Here's how much you car tax you will have to pay in 2025.
Road tax calculator by reg
It's a common assumption that car road tax is a single rate of taxation. In reality, it's become more complicated than that over the past two decades.
While moves have been made to make the system easier to understand and fairer for all, piecemeal changes changes have created four types of taxation, each further broken down into bands.
For cars alone, your could fall into one of four road tax systems:
- Cars registered after 1 April 2017
- Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
- Cars registered between 1 January 1984 and 28 February 2001
- Classics cars registered before 1 January 1984
To find out quickly, use our road tax calculator by reg above to work out your car tax rate for 2025.
New car tax rates 2025
There are significant changes to car tax rates in 2025. Electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from VED from April 1st 2025. The change applies to electric cars, vans and motorcycles.
Previously, EVs were exempt from both the annual standard rate VED and the premium car supplement for new cars with a list price of £40,000 or more.
Under the new rules new zero emission cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 will be liable to pay the lowest first year rate of VED (which applies to vehicles with CO2 emissions of 1g/km to 50g/km) currently £10 a year.
From the second year of registration onwards, they will move to the standard rate.
The expensive car supplement exemption for electric vehicles ended in 2025. New zero emission cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 will therefore be liable for the expensive car supplement.
Road tax rates for cars registered from 1 April 2017
Previously, all new cars were taxed against three road tax VED bands — Zero, Standard and Premium — with rates calculated using a combination of CO2 emissions and the list price of the vehicle.
This has now changed and as of April 2025, all cars pay the same rate of car tax, regardless of emissions.
Tax year 2025 to 2026 (effective from April 1st 2025)
| Year | Tax amount |
|---|---|
| Standard rate 2025/2026 | £195 |
First tax payment when you register the vehicle
If you are buying a new car, you have to pay a rate based on a vehicle’s CO2 emissions the first time it’s registered. This is in addition to the standard £195 tax you will also pay.
Tax year 2025 to 2026 (effective from April 1st 2025)
| CO2 emissions (g/km) | Standard rate | First year rate |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | £195 | £10 |
| 1 to 50 | £195 | £110 |
| 51 to 75 | £195 | £130 |
| 76 to 90 | £195 | £270 |
| 91 to 100 | £195 | £350 |
| 101 to 110 | £195 | £390 |
| 111 to 130 | £195 | £440 |
| 131 to 150 | £195 | £540 |
| 151 to 170 | £195 | £1360 |
| 171 to 190 | £195 | £2190 |
| 191 to 225 | £195 | £3300 |
| 226 to 255 | £195 | £4680 |
| Over 255 | £195 | £5490 |
Vehicles with a list price of more than £40,000
If you buy a car with a list price of more than £40,000, it will be subject to extra tax of £425 a year for five years. This applies from its first birthday. It's worth bearing this in mind if buying a used car. Electric and hybrid cars are no longer exempt or offered a discounted rate.
Effective from 1 April 2025, these are the current 2025/2026 car tax rates, applicable from the second to sixth year of taxation. This is effectively the £195 standard rate plus the £425 premium.
| Expensive car supplement | Tax amount |
|---|---|
| Annual rate | £620 |
This only applies to cars registered from April 1st 2025 so if you buy an EV that cost more than £40k but was registered before that date, you will only have to pay the standard £195 rate.
A vehicle's list price, Basic Retail Price or Recommended Retail Price is the cost of the vehicle plus options and is the figure used to calculate whether or not a vehicle is subject to the Expensive Car Supplement.
The 'on the road' price adds VAT, first registration fee, delivery to the dealer, numberplates and the first year's VED.
Car Tax for electric cars (EVs)
Electric cars are no longer free to tax. This changed on 1 April 2025 when they moved to the standard rate charge, currently £195 a year.
The exemption from the expensive car supplement also ended at the same time. This means electric cars with a list price of £40,000 or more will be charged an extra £410 (at present levels) per year for VED.
The car tax discount for hybrid cars and other alternative fuels also ended in 2025.
Road tax for cars registered between 2001 and 2017
If your car was registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017, you pay VED road tax based solely on its CO2 emissions.
This is a more complex system than the ones before and after it. During its lifespan, this road tax system was modified under several governments. You will need to know your car's CO2 emissions in order to calculate its road tax or you can use the calculator above.
It did, however, create several opportunities for car owners to pay zero or very little road tax. As car manufacturers learned to take advantage of the system, more cars fell into lower bands and this ultimately led to its abolition.
Effective from 1 April 2025, these are the current 2025/2026 car road tax rates, applicable for models first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017.
Tax year 2025 to 2026
| Vehicle Excise Duty band | CO2 emissions (g/km) | Standard rate |
|---|---|---|
| A | Up to 100 | £20 |
| B | 101 to 110 | £20 |
| C | 111 to 120 | £35 |
| D | 121 to 130 | £165 |
| E | 131 to 140 | £195 |
| F | 141 to 150 | £215 |
| G | 151 to 165 | £265 |
| H | 166 to 175 | £315 |
| I | 176 to 185 | £345 |
| J | 186 to 200 | £395 |
| K* | 201 to 225 | £430 |
| L | 226 to 255 | £735 |
| M | Over 255 | £760 |
*Band K includes cars emitting over 225g/km registered before 23 March 2006.
Car tax for models registered between 1985 and 2001
The system for cars registered between 1 January 1985 and 28 February 2001 is based exclusively on engine size. It's simple to understand with just two rates — one for those of 1549cc and below, the other for models of 1550cc and above.
Note that models registered or manufactured before 1 January 1985 are exempt from paying car tax.
Effective from 1 April 2025, these are the current car tax rates, applicable for models first registered between 1 January 1985 and 28 February 2001.
Car tax for cars and vans registered before 1 March 2001
| Engine size | Tax year 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|
| 1549cc and below | £220 |
| Above 1549cc | £360 |
Road tax for classic cars over 40 years old
If there's any good news to be had regarding VED car tax it's that classic models first registered at least 40 years ago are exempt from paying it.
At the start of each year, on a rolling basis, the latest possible first registration date to qualify for VED exemption moves forward by twelve months.
For example, for a car to qualify for VED exemption in 2024 it must have been registered before 1 January 1984. However, from the start of 2025, the exemption date will roll forward to cover all models first registered before 1 January 1985.
Was Road Pricing introduced in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024?
There has been much talk of road pricing replacing the car road tax VED rates but this is unlikely to be introduced any time soon. The time and cost of implementing a ULEZ style system with cameras across the major road networks is likely to be prohibitively expensive.
A Transport Committee previously hinted at charging motorists to use the busiest motorways so the idea is not a new one.
The government will see revenue from road tax VED decrease by an estimated £13 billion by 2030 as more drivers switch to electric cars, which currently pay no road tax VED. While that's changing in April 2025, the extra revenue won't plug the gap.
There are several ways road pricing could work, from charging all cars to use motorways at peak times to charging different rates depending on emissions or fuel type. Of course the result is likely to be more traffic on quieter, less safe, roads and the creation of 'rat runs'.
There were no road pricing announcements by Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Is VED the same as road tax and car tax?
VED - which is shorthand for vehicle excise duty - is often called road tax or car tax. It's essentially the duty you have to pay to the government in order to legally drive or park on public roads.
Essentially there's no difference between road tax and car tax, they are just two terms to describe VED. The reason we call it car tax rather than road tax is that the VED you pay doesn't actually directly pay for road maintenance. Rather it goes into a central government fund with other taxes such as council tax.
How to cancel car tax
Unlike the old days when car tax stayed with the vehicle when it was sold on, now it is essentially a contract between you and the DVLA, so as soon as its ownership is transferred, you no longer have to tax it.
That might seem more complicated but it takes the tax element out of buying or selling a car, and also means you don’t have to pay car tax for a car you are not using.
Here's how to cancel car tax and get a refund.
Road Tax Calculator UK
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Cars registered from 1 April 2017 are taxed at a flat rate, based on their initial list price.
Cars registered from 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017 are taxed according to how much CO2 they emit.
Cars registered from 1 January 1984 to 28 February 2001 are taxed on engine size. There are two bands: engines up to and including 1549cc and engines over 1549cc.
