Car tax bands: 2024/2025 VED bands explained
Our guide to the VED road tax bands for cars first registered from 1 April 2017 onwards
For many drivers, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) - commonly known as road tax or car tax - is an inescapable aspect of car ownership. Furthermore, it's one that brings with it the annual struggle of deciphering the latest band changes, as the HM Treasury tries to squeeze as much cash as possible from drivers.
On 1 April 2024, the latest set of changes to road tax for new cars came into force. This saw the existing VED band structure adjusted for inflation once again. Auto Express has looked at the numbers, and here you can check exactly how much you'll pay in road tax for your next new car.
How much road tax will I pay?
If you buy a new car, the car's price isn't just what the manufacturer expects you to pay for it, as there are additional costs included. There's VAT, which is charged at 20 per cent, for starters, and there's a registration fee – for the number plates and getting the V5C from the DVLA – and any delivery charges that the dealer will also add.
Plus, there's VED, which for the first year of a car's registration is calculated differently to the rest of its life. In this article, we're concentrating on the amount buyers will pay as part of a new car's first year 'on-the-road' costs and each year after that. It all comes down to the UK's car tax bands.
For the first year, VED is calculated on the car's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, though diesel cars that do not meet the RDE2 (Real Driving Emissions 2) emissions standard pay a higher rate. Our table below shows how much you'll pay if you buy a new car today:
VED car tax bands for cars first registered from 2017 onwards
| Emissions (g/km of CO2) | Petrol and RDE2 diesel first-year rate | Non RDE2 diesel cars first-year rate | Alternative-fuel vehicle first-year rate |
| 0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 1-50 | £10 | £30 | £0 |
| 51-75 | £30 | £135 | £20 |
| 76-90 | £135 | £175 | £120 |
| 91-100 | £175 | £195 | £165 |
| 101-110 | £195 | £220 | £185 |
| 111-130 | £220 | £270 | £210 |
| 131-150 | £270 | £680 | £260 |
| 151-170 | £680 | £1,095 | £670 |
| 171-190 | £1,095 | £1,650 | £1,085 |
| 191-225 | £1,650 | £2,340 | £1,640 |
| 226-255 | £2,340 | £2,745 | £2,330 |
| Over 255 | £2,745 | £2,745 | £2,735 |
Cars priced above £40,000 pay a £410 annual supplement for five years from the second year of registration.
VED tax bands after the first year
The last major set of UK road tax changes in April 2017 saw a fixed rate of road tax applied to cars after their first year of registration, and these new VED rates are not retrospective so can't be applied to older cars. So after the first year rate above, road tax is £190 per year – £10 more than in 2023 – although there's a £10 annual discount for alternatively fuelled vehicles (hybrids, mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids) and electric cars are tax free. From 1 April 2025, hybrid and electric cars will pay the full rate of VED.
| Fuel type | Single 12-month payment | Single 12-month payment by Direct Debit | Total of 12 monthly payments by Direct Debit | Single 6-month payment | Single 6-month payment by Direct Debit |
| Petrol or diesel | £190 | £190 | £199.50 | £104.50 | £99.75 |
| Electric | £0 | N/A | N/A | £0 | N/A |
| Alternative fuel | £180 | £180 | £189 | £99 | £94.50 |
Read more about the UK's VED road tax system here...
Find a car with the experts
