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[jjmartin349571]

Not all cars built after 1973 can be classics, surely?

You know. Let's pretend this passes, the Espace becomes a classic car. No sense.

Yeah, but I'm sure there are cars from say the 50's that we are happy to class as classic cars, yet if you could time travel back to the 70's and ask a random if that car should be a classic they'd be like 'what, that piece of jobby? Are you mad?!' - or whatever the 70's version of that response would be

Where do we draw the line? Are we saying that there'll never be another classic car, as everything else has missed the cut off?

Scrap car tax and just load up the duty on fuel. That way you pay in accordance to how much you drive, broadly speaking. Then people couldn't moan about whether they're paying their fair share or not. They'd just moan about the price of fuel instead

[Donald]

To keep this on topic I will skim over some of your post

Where do we draw the line?

Exactly. Not everything that is a classic should be, and I'm sure there are some that aren't but should be! It's tricky because this stuff can't be decided on an individual basis and going just on age is too broad, IMO. I don't have a good alternative idea though

[jjmartin349571]

I think what makes it more difficult is that largely speaking cars from before 1973 are not going to be viable for practical daily use. Once you start getting into the 80's though, there are a lot of cars that could be used as practical daily drivers. It's probably not a good idea to make these cars tax exempt as you're going to encouraging people into older cars for the sake of saving a couple of hundred quid on tax.

To use my Accord as an example, I use that car every day for all my driving requirements. It would not be fair for me to not be paying tax on it really, would it.

[Donald]

It would be so unfair you would have to sell it to me

[mercutio]

I think what makes it more difficult is that largely speaking cars from before 1973 are not going to be viable for practical daily use. Once you start getting into the 80's though, there are a lot of cars that could be used as practical daily drivers. It's probably not a good idea to make these cars tax exempt as you're going to encouraging people into older cars for the sake of saving a couple of hundred quid on tax.

To use my Accord as an example, I use that car every day for all my driving requirements. It would not be fair for me to not be paying tax on it really, would it.

thing is although cars like the espace and accord maybe should not be classed as a classic just how many do you think will actually make it into the next decade people who own them wont treat them as classics whether they are tax exempt or not.
Classics are classics because they survive through enthusiasts and the odd eccentric keeping other models going ie there might be 10 guys who decide not to let the espace die out. Go to a classic car show and look at the morris marina's are they deserving of classic status any more than the accord?
There will always be someone who loves a particular car and saves it because of memories or whatever reason he can find I have had loads of cars I now wish I had saved or kept, they are now so expensive or rare.

[wurlycorner]

FWIW, how could the Espace NOT be a classic? It's what started the entire mpv sector!

[W1ggz]

Depends what you class as fair, as lots of the company cars that people are driving now are blue motion or hybrid some of these are only £15 a year tax but they are the ones doing 30,000 miles a year. This is what really bugs me I thought road tax was for the upkeep of the road

[wurlycorner]

Which is why getting rid of vehicle licensing altogether and sticking it all on fuel is by far the fairest way...

[W1ggz]

I would definitely agree with that

[Vtecmec]

The problem here is the VED is not considered a tax used to pay for the upkeep of the road, but a general tax used as the government sees fit. This means that any argument regarding fair vehicle use can easily be quashed and the government can do whatever they like with the income. Not in a million years will Gordon Browns decision be reversed.