UK Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) in 2026: A Complete Rate Guide for Every Type of Car

Vehicle Excise Duty — VED, more commonly just called car tax or road tax — is the annual charge every driver in Great Britain and Northern Ireland pays the DVLA to keep a vehicle legally on the road. It is also one of the most confusingly structured taxes in the UK, because the rate you pay depends on three things at once: when the car was first registered, what it emits, and (for newer cars) what it cost when new.

2025 and 2026 have brought big changes. Pure electric cars lost their VED exemption on 1 April 2025. The expensive-car supplement now bites on EVs too — at a £50,000 list price, rather than the £40,000 that applies to petrol and diesel. The first-year showroom tax on new petrol and diesel cars has been pushed up. And a sizeable chunk of the UK fleet — anything first registered before 1 March 2001 — still sits on the old engine-size system.

This article is the 2026 reference. We walk through all three VED cohorts, set out the full rate tables, explain the £440 expensive-car supplement, cover the DVLA Direct Debit options, run through SORN, and finish with ten worked examples for real-world UK cars.

The three VED cohorts at a glance

Every car taxed in the UK sits in exactly one of three groups, determined by its first-registration date.

Plus one important free-pass cohort: older vehicles can fall into the historic class — but tax exemption and MOT exemption are two separate tests, not one. For VEHICLE TAX, GOV.UK states that a vehicle built before 1 January 1986 can stop paying from 1 April 2026, and you must APPLY to move it into the historic tax class; it does not happen by itself. For the MOT, the vehicle must have been built or first registered more than 40 years ago AND have had no substantial changes, and that one needs no application. You still have to tax the vehicle formally each year even at £0. The 40-year cut-off rolls forward on 1 April each year, so a car built in 1985 became historic on 1 April 2026.

Cohort A — Cars registered from 1 April 2017

This is now the largest single cohort on the UK road, and it works in two parts.

The first-year showroom tax

The very first year you tax a new car, you pay a CO2-banded rate sometimes called showroom tax or first-year rate. For 2026, the bands look like this (petrol and diesel meeting RDE2; non-RDE2 diesels pay one band higher in the first year):

Once that first year is done, you move onto the standard rate.

The flat £200 standard rate

From year two onwards, almost every Cohort A car pays the same £200 per year — whether it is a 50mpg Yaris, a 25mpg Range Rover or, since 1 April 2025, a Tesla. The Treasury chose simplicity here. The CO2 banding only bites once, in that first year.

Alternative-fuel cars (most full hybrids and some PHEVs) used to get a £10 discount, but that ended on 1 April 2025 — they now pay the same £200 standard rate.

The £440 expensive-car supplement

If your car's list price when new was above £40,000, the DVLA charges an extra £440 per year on top of the standard rate in years 2 through 6. That is a total premium of £2,200 over five years, on top of the £200 standard. For an expensive new car, your year-2 VED bill is therefore £200 + £440 = £640.

Two things to know about the supplement:

• It is based on the list price including options, VAT and delivery — not what you actually paid. A car that lists at £40,500 but was discounted to £37,000 still incurs the supplement.
• Since 1 April 2025 it applies to battery-electric cars too — but at a higher £50,000 threshold, and only to EVs first registered on or after that date. An EV registered before 1 April 2025 never pays the supplement, whatever it listed at. A new £55,000 EV registered today pays £10 in year 1, then £640 a year from years 2–6, then £200 from year 7 onwards. A £45,000 EV sits under the threshold and simply pays £200 from year 2.

Cohort B — Cars registered 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017

This is the original CO2-banded system. There is one flat annual rate for the life of the car, varying by emissions band. The 2026 rates:

Bands L and M only apply to cars first registered on or after 23 March 2006. A car registered before that date with CO2 over 225 g/km stays in Band K and pays £445.

Cohort B is where the bargains live. A 2014 Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost in Band A pays just £20 a year — the old zero rate was abolished, but £20 is still the cheapest VED on the road short of a historic vehicle, and there are tens of thousands of them on the used market.

Cohort C — Cars registered before 1 March 2001

The pre-2001 system is the simplest. There is no CO2 measurement. The rate depends entirely on engine capacity.

Cohort C is shrinking every year as cars age out of the road network, and from 2026 the oldest of these cars are also rolling into the 40-year historic exemption.

Electric cars and VED — the post-April-2025 reality

Until 31 March 2025 a battery-electric car paid no VED at all. From 1 April 2025 onwards, EVs have been treated essentially the same as petrol or diesel:

• New EVs registered on or after 1 April 2025: £10 in year 1, then £200 from year 2 onwards. If the list price was above £50,000 — not the £40,000 that applies to petrol and diesel — add the £440 supplement in years 2–6.
• EVs first registered between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2025: now pay the full £200 standard rate from 2025–26 onwards. The expensive-car supplement does not apply retrospectively to this group — only to EVs registered after 1 April 2025.
• EVs first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017: move into the lowest applicable Cohort B band — currently Band B at £20/year.

This shift means a £55,000 Tesla Model 3 bought new in May 2025 pays its £10 first year, then £640 every year from years 2–6, and then £200 from year 7. A £45,000 one sits under the £50,000 EV threshold and pays the plain £200 from year 2. A 2022 Model 3 bought used also pays just the £200 standard — and can never attract the supplement at all, because it was registered before 1 April 2025.

Vans, motorhomes and motorcycles

Light goods vehicles (most vans up to 3,500kg) registered after 1 March 2001 pay a flat rate. For 2026 that is £360 per year for a standard van. Older vans pre-2001 fall under the same engine-size rules as cars.

Motorhomes registered new since April 2017 are treated as cars for VED purposes. Older motorhomes pay a private/light goods rate.

Motorcycles are taxed on engine size:

How to pay — Direct Debit, six-monthly and annual

There are five options, not three, and the two six-monthly ones do not cost the same. Taking the £200 standard rate as the example:

• Single 12-month payment — £200. The cheapest, and the rates above are these annual rates.
• 12-month payment by Direct Debit — £200. Exactly the same. Direct Debit itself carries no surcharge.
• Monthly Direct Debit — £17.50 a month, £210 a year. A 5% surcharge.
• Six-monthly by Direct Debit — £105 twice, £210 a year. Also 5%.
• Single six-month payments — £110 twice, £220 a year. A 10% surcharge, and the dearest way to pay.

The surcharge is for spreading the cost, not for using Direct Debit — and paying twice a year without a Direct Debit costs double what paying monthly does. Is it cheaper to pay car tax yearly or monthly? works through all five.

Direct Debit is set up on gov.uk/vehicle-tax and renews automatically. DVLA cancels it when the vehicle is sold or transferred, declared SORN, written off, scrapped, stolen or exported, or when you tell them the tax class has changed — see gov.uk/vehicle-tax-direct-debit/cancelling. A valid MOT is required for the vehicle to be taxed at all, so keep it current.

SORN — when you do not need to pay VED

If you are taking a car off the road — restoring it, storing it over winter, or leaving the country — you can declare it SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) at gov.uk/make-a-sorn. Once SORN'd, the vehicle pays no VED, but it cannot be driven, parked on a public road or even left on the kerb outside your house. You automatically get a refund cheque for any full months of tax left.

Ten worked examples across the cohorts

And the bonus eleventh row everyone wants to know about: a car built before 1 January 1986 can move into the historic tax class from 1 April 2026 — VED £0, once you have applied for it — and a vehicle over 40 years old with no substantial changes is separately exempt from the MOT. Historic vehicles are also exempt from the London ULEZ charge.

Checking what your specific car owes

The single fastest check is gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax. Punch in the registration and you see when tax is due and the exact band. For a forecast — say, working out what a car you are thinking of buying will cost you each year — use our car tax calculator with the registration date and CO2 figure from the V5C.

What happens if you do not tax it

Using or keeping a vehicle on a public road without valid VED is an offence. DVLA identifies untaxed vehicles from its vehicle register and sends the registered keeper a late licensing penalty of £80, reduced to £40 if it is paid within 33 days; if it is not paid, the case is passed to a debt collection agency. A vehicle used on the road untaxed may also be clamped, with DVLA's published release fees of £100 within the first 24 hours and £200 once it has been removed to a pound (DVLA enforcement policy, GOV.UK).

Finding a low-tax car on Autoza

Autoza listings show an annual vehicle tax figure where the car's details allow us to work it out. There is no VED-band filter, so search used cars by budget and fuel type and check a specific car with the car tax calculator — there are still hundreds of £20-a-year Band A Fiestas, Polos, Aygos and i10s available second-hand in the UK in 2026. Use the free valuation tool to check what your existing car is worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the standard rate of VED in 2026?

For petrol and diesel cars first registered after 1 April 2017, the standard rate is £200 per year from year two onwards. Alternative-fuel vehicles (most hybrids) also pay £200 — the old £10 discount ended on 1 April 2025. Both rates are payable for the life of the car except where the expensive-car supplement applies.

Do electric cars still pay no VED?

Not since 1 April 2025. New EVs now pay £10 in year 1, then the £200 standard rate — plus the £440 expensive-car supplement in years 2–6 if their list price exceeded £50,000 (the EV threshold; petrol and diesel use £40,000). EVs registered before 1 April 2025 never pay the supplement. Used EVs first registered between 2017 and March 2025 also pay the £200 standard rate from 2025–26 onwards.

Is the expensive-car supplement based on what I paid?

No — it is based on the manufacturer's list price including VAT, options and delivery. A car listed at £40,500 but discounted to £37,000 by the dealer still incurs the supplement.

Do I need to MOT a historic vehicle?

Usually not. A vehicle built or first registered more than 40 years ago that has had no substantial changes is exempt from the MOT, and that needs no application. Vehicle tax is a separate test: from 1 April 2026 a vehicle built before 1 January 1986 can move into the historic tax class and pay £0, but only once you apply. You still have to tax it formally (showing the historic class), and you must keep it roadworthy under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations.

Can I get a refund if I sell my car?

Yes. When you tell the DVLA you have sold, scrapped or SORN'd the vehicle, you automatically get a refund cheque for any full months of tax left, sent to the address on the log book. Contact DVLA if it has not arrived after 8 weeks (GOV.UK). The buyer cannot use the seller's tax — every change of keeper requires the new keeper to tax it themselves before driving.

What is the cheapest car to tax in the UK in 2026?

A vehicle in the historic tax class — from 1 April 2026, anything built before 1 January 1986, once you have applied — pays £0. Beyond that the cheapest rate is £20, covering both Band A (under 100 g/km) and Band B (101–110 g/km) cars from 2001 to 2017. Band A lost its zero rate, so £20 is now the practical floor for an ordinary used car.