UK Road Tax (VED) Calculator

How to use the road tax (VED) calculator

Select your vehicle's fuel type, enter its first registration date, and — for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars — its CO2 emissions figure in grams per kilometre. If the car's list price was over £40,000 when new, tick that box too. The calculator shows your first-year rate (if the car was registered on or after 1 April 2017), the standard annual rate that applies from the second year onwards, and any expensive car supplement due.

Vehicle Excise Duty, commonly called road tax or car tax, is collected by the DVLA and is a legal requirement to keep any vehicle on a public road in the UK, even if it also needs to be insured and have a valid MOT. Rates depend heavily on when a car was first registered, because the rules have changed several times since 2001.

How VED rates are structured

Cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 follow the current system: a CO2-banded first-year rate, followed by a flat standard rate (currently £195 a year) from the second year onwards, regardless of emissions — plus an expensive car supplement of £425 a year for five years if the list price was over £40,000. Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 use an older system of 13 CO2 emissions bands that determine a single annual rate for the life of the car, with no separate first-year charge. Cars registered before March 2001 are taxed based on engine size rather than emissions, since CO2 figures weren't routinely recorded before then.

Worked example

A new petrol car registered today with CO2 emissions of 120 g/km and a list price under £40,000 would pay a first-year rate of around £540, based on its emissions band. From the second year onwards, it drops to the standard rate of £195 a year, regardless of its emissions, for as long as you own it.

Now imagine the same car, but with a list price of £45,000 — over the £40,000 threshold. The first-year rate stays the same, but from year two through year six, you'd pay the £195 standard rate plus the £425 expensive car supplement — a combined £620 a year — before dropping back to just the £195 standard rate from year seven onwards.

Why CO2 emissions matter so much for new cars

The first-year rate system exists to nudge buyers towards lower-emission vehicles at the point of purchase, when the price difference is most visible. A zero-emission car pays the lowest first-year band, while a high-emission performance or luxury car can face a first-year charge running into thousands of pounds. Because the standard rate from year two is flat regardless of emissions, this incentive effect is concentrated entirely in that first year.

The end of the electric vehicle exemption

Electric vehicles were fully exempt from VED until March 2025. From 1 April 2025, that exemption ended: new EVs registered from that date pay the lowest first-year rate and then the standard annual rate from year two, exactly like a low-emission petrol or hybrid car — and are subject to the expensive car supplement on the same basis if their list price is over £40,000. Many electric cars, especially higher-end models, do cross that £40,000 threshold, so it's worth checking carefully if you're comparing running costs.

Common questions when budgeting for car tax

A frequent surprise is the expensive car supplement catching out buyers of premium hatchbacks and family SUVs that cross £40,000 once options and extras are added to the list price — it's based on the price when new, not what you paid second-hand. It's also worth noting that road tax doesn't transfer with the car when you buy it used — the tax is cancelled automatically and the new keeper must set up their own from the date of registration.

Related calculators

Once you've worked out your annual VED, use our fuel cost calculator to estimate running costs for regular journeys, and factor both into your overall motoring budget alongside insurance and maintenance.