MoronTax: Designed to expose Morons

Skeeter · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:30

So, the new tax rules for cars, dubbed the 'MoronTax' by some people, is a great rule for exposing absolute morons. This time round, it was my girlfriends step mum.

She owned a red 56 plate Peugeot 207 1.4 Sport. A friend of hers said they were getting a Citroen C1 as it was cheap to run and tax. She decided the 207 was costing way to much in tax (yeah, £120.... hmm) so she went to look at the 107.

Poor choice you may say, id agree, so did she, said it was tacky and cheap.

But it got worse. It got unbeliveably worse. So bad I had to make excuses and leave the room before laughing in her face.

She traded in her 56 plate 207 1.4 Sport, paid an extra £3000 and got... wait for it...

A 57 plate 207 1.6 HDI with the same millage as the 1.4 had on it! All because it costs only £35 a year tax!

She waffled on about it getting 60MPG and going better than the 1.4 sport... but I was still in shock!

£120 was to much tax, so she got the same car with a diesel thats only £35 a year tax.... AT A ONE OFF COST OF £3000!

But its ok, the saving of £85 a year tax will pay for itself in.... 35.2 YEARS!

It baffles me how someone can think £120 a year is too much, yet £3000 thrown away in one go is fully acceptable.

phil675 · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:35

Cool story.

Peter Diffey · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:38

There are more people like this around than normal people.
They just dont do the maths, they become obsessed with saving £10 a month by switching to a more expensive diesel car, or saving on car tax like you said.

Its pretty funny really when you sit down and think about it. Try and not get mad at these idiots

ash_scotland88 · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:42

whats the age limit on cars, you know how say post 2000 is still keeping to the two tax bands

Skeeter · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:50

ash_scotland88 said:
whats the age limit on cars, you know how say post 2000 is still keeping to the two tax bands

Y reg onwards are subject to the Moron Tax IIRC.

mike5678 · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:51

Registered before 01/03/2001 if I remember correctly.

Tom|Nbk · 20 Sep 2008 at 21:58

Happens a lot.

Lashout_UK · 20 Sep 2008 at 22:02

I think the choice of car says it all, too

ajgoodfellow · 20 Sep 2008 at 22:37

Happens a lot - I've come across it before!

Parkers had a section where they pointed out how it could take decades for a diesel to pay for itself, or, in the case of the C1 HDI, how it would never pay for itself at average mileage

Repta · 20 Sep 2008 at 22:52

ajgoodfellow said:
Happens a lot - I've come across it before!

Parkers had a section where they pointed out how it could take decades for a diesel to pay for itself, or, in the case of the C1 HDI, how it would never pay for itself at average mileage

c1 hdi was over 1 million miles or something like tht wasnt it?

ajgoodfellow · 20 Sep 2008 at 22:55

Yeah - something mad like that!

nalla · 21 Sep 2008 at 05:31

women huh cant see sense

The Edge · 21 Sep 2008 at 07:41

With the price of diesel as it is i can't see any advantage in using it until you hit 20k a year minimum. Of course if the price differance comes down it will pay for itself much quicker if she does a few miles.

OpenToSuggestions · 21 Sep 2008 at 07:44

Even though the c1 hdi is pointless, they will keep making them as long as fools buy them!

EDIT: Some of that £3000 will be due to the c1 being a year newer.

K.C. Leblanc · 21 Sep 2008 at 10:56

Repta said:
c1 hdi was over 1 million miles or something like tht wasnt it?

One of the papers ran economy tests on the C1 petrol and diesel. The petrol one beat the official economy figures by a significant margin and was as economical as the diesel.

It was hinted that Peugeot were understating the economy of the petrol because if they didn't know one would buy the diesel.

_PD_ · 21 Sep 2008 at 11:12

? OK, I don't think she's done the right thing

BUT

The car will have better re-sale value, it's a year newer and has a higher list price for a start. It's not £3k down the drain ENTIRELY.

That's like buying a car to get to work and then you laughing at me because I could have bought 12 years worth of taxi fares for the money - you still have something to sell at the end of it.

Still a bad decision though.

Meatball · 21 Sep 2008 at 11:14

What's so bad about the Peugeot107/c1/aygo? Granted it's only a 1.0, 3 cylinder engine but its aimed for people needing a car around town. I'll be getting one next year in time for 09 plates, unless I can find another car that costs £35 a year in tax and does around 60mpg for £9,000 new (Urban Move 5dr with extras)

Trojan · 21 Sep 2008 at 11:42

Meatball said:
What's so bad about the Peugeot107/c1/aygo? Granted it's only a 1.0, 3 cylinder engine but its aimed for people needing a car around town. I'll be getting one next year in time for 09 plates, unless I can find another car that costs £35 a year in tax and does around 60mpg for £9,000 new (Urban Move 5dr with extras)

Why do you have to spend £9000 on a new car? Why not spend significantly less on a much better 2nd hand car?

mike5678 · 21 Sep 2008 at 11:45

Meatball said:
What's so bad about the Peugeot107/c1/aygo? Granted it's only a 1.0, 3 cylinder engine but its aimed for people needing a car around town. I'll be getting one next year in time for 09 plates, unless I can find another car that costs £35 a year in tax and does around 60mpg for £9,000 new (Urban Move 5dr with extras)

Spend half that £9000 on a better, slightly older car and use some of the money to pay for the extra tax and petrol. Go on holiday with the remainder.

SB118 · 21 Sep 2008 at 11:54

mike5678 said:
Spend half that £9000 on a better, slightly older car and use some of the money to pay for the extra tax and petrol. Go on holiday with the remainder.

Or spend 1/9th of the money on a good £1000 car and change it every year for 9 years, you get better payback that you would on a nine year old 1L engine shopping trolley and you get to drive nicer cars too.