Pay as you drive shows its ugly face again.

[Glaucus]

But comparing an eco car with a thirsty one...

If both travel 12000 miles a year, one at 12ppm in fuel the other at 20ppm in fuel then the difference is £960 lets assume a £200 difference in road tax that makes a £1160 difference between the two.

Now take 50% off the cost of fuel (high admittedly but if the cost per mile from the road toll is high enough...) then straight away the difference in fuel is only £480 and there is no road tax so they are comparatively £680 closer to the running costs of the other car straight away.

Unless the roads are tolled at different levels (and lets face it a system that takes into consideration time of travel and the roads used is already complicated enough without a third multiplier thrown in) then those that are running around in economical cars are getting the crappy end of the stick compared to those in cars that drink like a fish which was the point I was trying to make.

Obviously the figures above are all guestimates but the logic is sound isn't it?

non of that makes any sense.
this isn't coming in next year, petrol will go up, Electric prices do not go up the same amount. Which ever way you look at it, either in the short term or long term. Economical and alternative fuel cars are better off for the owner.

Also how would it be complicated, it'll be done by a GPS box and a computer system. The System can easily apply a discount to the id number. Its Justas easy as the system which prints VED reminders out and applies different rates.

 

[Jokester]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but when they say there'll be a 50% reduction in fuel revenues, they don't mean fuel tax is getting cut by 50%, they mean the money raised from fuel duties will have dropped 50% because people won't be buying petrol or diesel anymore, ie if you still have a petrol car not only will you be paying fuel duty, but also road use duty as well.

 

[Third Opinion]

Genuine question, can you name some countries that offer a good standard of living without high tax on fuels. I can only think of oil producing countries which avoid taxes on fuel by making huge profits selling the stuff and the US which whilst it has much lower tax on fuel also lacks a nationalised health service.

Don't we have one of the highest fuel taxes in the world? Although I appreciate the national health system a lot of European countries put ours to shame and still manage to tax fuel at a lesser rate.

Granted they have higher taxes elsewhere. But I think a workforce that is made less mobile by higher taxes will be less efficient.

Plus I don't think the NHS is our problem, it is our welfare state system.

 

[Dr Who]

Just another attempt to tax people into public transport that is over priced and poorly run I guess.

 

[Trifid]

This is the galling thing, we already pay per the mile - through 60% tax on fuel.

But just imagine the Dartford toll on every major road. It's terrible. The back roads will be even worse because all the cheap people will be avoiding the tolls. And you just know they are the ones who drive 40mph everywhere.

 

[Conscript]

But just imagine the Dartford toll on every major road. It's terrible. The back roads will be even worse because all the cheap people will be avoiding the tolls. And you just know they are the ones who drive 40mph everywhere.

Speaking of which, that's due to go up in a couple of weeks, with still no word on the upgrades that the rise is meant to fund.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19676175

 

[Trifid]

Speaking of which, that's due to go up in a couple of weeks, with still no word on the upgrades that the rise is meant to fund.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19676175

First of all it was to just pay the crossing off, then to build a tunnel and then to build a crossing further down the estuary (along with a Thames barrier) and then finally it is lining someone's pockets all at the expense of the motorists wallet and time.

 

[lordrobs]

non of that makes any sense.
this isn't coming in next year, petrol will go up, Electric prices do not go up the same amount. Which ever way you look at it, either in the short term or long term. Economical and alternative fuel cars are better off for the owner.

Also how would it be complicated, it'll be done by a GPS box and a computer system. The System can easily apply a discount to the id number. Its Justas easy as the system which prints VED reminders out and applies different rates.

Well... It makes sense in my head

At the moment the major benefits of an eco car are that they use less fuel and they have cheap road tax. Scrap the road tax and halve the cost of fuel then replace it with a flat rate p per mile fee... How can they not be realatively worse off comparatively? Maybe I'm looking at it wrong?

As for how it is complicated, I meant from a user perspective. At the moment I know that my car costs 16 ppm in fuel and tax is a 12 monthly fixed fee. With this pay as you go proposal I'd need to consider fuel cost plus the fee for the roads I'd be using, then any discounts or penalties for the time of day... And then add in a discount (or penalty) for the co2 level of the car?! I'm not exactly brain of Britton but I consider myself to be of average intelligence and those sort of sums wouldn't be possible off the top of my head!

 

[crinkleshoes]

Can't they just put it on the price of fuel? Tolls are good for one thing, testing 0-60 times, but only after spending ages queueing.

If they stop foreign companies from reclaiming duty - I'd be ok with that.

Eddie Stobart moved to the continent in order to reclaim the fuel duty... despite the majority of their operations being UK based (at the time, may have grown now).

Those who use the roads the most, don't pay these hideous taxes... it's abhorrent!

I'm all for pay as you go motoring... it makes much more sense.

My gran pays more road tax for her old Micra than I do for my BMW... she does 3000 miles a year and I do 15-20k... how is that fair?

Pay as you go = fairer... with no loopholes for companies to get out of paying it

 

[The_Abyss]

First of all it was to just pay the crossing off, then to build a tunnel and then to build a crossing further down the estuary (along with a Thames barrier) and then finally it is lining someone's pockets all at the expense of the motorists wallet and time.

With the recent increase I demand mood lighting in the tunnels. No other reason to pay more

 

[Glaucus]

Well... It makes sense in my head

At the moment the major benefits of an eco car are that they use less fuel and they have cheap road tax. Scrap the road tax and halve the cost of fuel then replace it with a flat rate p per mile fee... How can they not be realatively worse off comparatively? Maybe I'm looking at it wrong?

!

As its not coming in next month, such a system is years away.
So you have years of paying less, then even when it comes in, petrol is still expensive and going to up, even without tax, the basic price of fuel is still high. So there for Eco cars will still be financially better off and that's not even taking into account if they implamnet a cheaper price per mile for Eco cars.

As for complicated, I don't see it being complicated open up google maps or new sat nav, bang in "tax rate" time of travel and press route. Get price and alternative routes.

 

[nucastle]

What a fantastic idea.

Don't quite see how a tax levied in order to pay for the upkeep of the road network has now turned into an eco crusade.

My car takes up just as much space as someones oil burner or low capacity engine runaround, so not so sure they should pay 30-100 quid a year while i pay over 500.

Anything that forces people off the roads is a good thing.

 

[cuke2u]

Hi, I drive a maximum of 4k a year. Is it fair I should pay the same to licence my car than someone who does 40k?
Chris

 

[Glaucus]

Edit DP

 

[Glaucus]

What a fantastic idea.

Don't quite see how a tax levied in order to pay for the upkeep of the road network has now turned into an eco crusade.

My car takes up just as much space as someones oil burner or low capacity engine runaround, so not so sure they should pay 30-100 quid a year while i pay over 500.

Anything that forces people off the roads is a good thing.

It hasn't been for the upkeep of roads, for since before we were born. It's just a general tax and in no way ring fenced.

Improving efficiency of the uk fleet, not only keeps us on target for legal obligations, but helps the economy, by reducing the money we throw abroad. It also improves the cost of transportation, which affects the cost of everything.