UK Car Taxes and VED / Road Tax rates for 2009/2010

On May the first 2009 after being announced in  the budget speech new car tax rates and VED (vehicle excise duty) apply on vehicles registered on or after 1 March 2001.The new vehicle tax rates only applies to cars that have been type approved in category M1 and registered on the basis of CO2 emissions measured in g/km driven, in other words the lower the cars CO2 emissions the lower the tax payable on it.This is good news for company car owners which CO2 emissions are low, depending on how low these emissions are drivers could exempt from taxes, while gas guzzlers could be paying fees as high as £405.This year petrol cars (TC48) and diesel cars (TC49) were divided in 13 bands labelled with letters form A to M, in band A are the cars with the lowest CO2 emissions, up to 100g/km, these cars are exempt from taxes and as you might guess in band M are the cars with the highest CO2 emissions anything above the 255g/km margin will have to pay £405.00 on a 12 months rate or £222.75 on a 6 months rate.Another band that is worth noting is band K which includes cars that have a CO2 figure over 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006.Alternative fuels cars (TC59) have their own table of tax rates, again cars are divided in 13 bands and fees are slightly lower than TC48 and TC49 cars, the same apply for cars with up to 100g/km for the high polluters on band M the fee is £390 on the 12 months rate and £214.50 on the 6 months rate.Light goods vehicle (TC39) registered on or after 1 March 2001 the fee is £185 on a 12 months rate or £101.75 for a 6 month rate. TC 36 cars or Euro light goods vehicles, registered between 1 March 2003 and 31 December 2006 only will have to pay £125.00 on a 12 months rate or £68.75 on a 6 months rate.For Private/light goods vehicle (TC11) registered before 1 March 2001 fees are based on engine size, vehicles with engines with up to 1549 cc will pay £125 in taxes while vehicle with engines that exceeds the 1549 cc margin rates are £190.00.New in this years budget is a different VED rate for new cars. Starting in 2010-11, the so-called 'showroom tax' cars included in Bands A, B, C, D will be exempt of taxes, VED will only be charged from Band E and above and the cost can get as high as £950 for the most fuel inefficient vehicles in Band M.