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Car Tax Guide, Car Tax Categories Explained, Car Tax Explained, Help with Car Tax - How to Buy Car Tax Online

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Car Tax Guide

Paying car tax was once very simple and straightforward, although also very time consuming. Today, by contrast, car tax payment can be made online within a matter of minutes but there are myriad different rates of payment variously based upon the age of the vehicle and its fuel type and carbon dioxide emissions, as well as upon whether payment of the car tax is made for a period of six months or for twelve months.

To make sense of the various different classifications of car tax the need to consult some form of car tax guide will be almost inevitable.

Essentially cars registered before 1st March 2001 are divided into two categories according to engine size. Vehicles of 1550 c.c. or over are subject to a higher tax rate than those below that threshold. For motors registered after that date there are thirteen separate bands of payment for petrol and diesel cars and a further thirteen for those using alternative fuels. In all cases these are divided up according to the vehicles’ respective CO2 emission levels. Furthermore, in every one of these 26 categories there is a separate first year rate which applies on the first registration only, after which the regular rates kick in.

Goods vehicles, motorcycles and other forms of road transport are subject to different rates of tax still.

One very positive development in the payment of road tax is the facility to purchase car tax online rather than having to confront the traditional queues at the Post Office. As well as enabling the purchaser to sidestep the arduous process of walking or driving to the Post Office and then standing in a slowly moving line until a clerk becomes available, paying one’s car tax online avoids the agony that comes with the realisation that the required documents have been left at home, thereby necessitating an unwelcome and time-consuming return trip. When using the online portal a handy car tax guide will talk the purchaser through the process and explain point-by-point what information is needed and from which documents.

Once the purchase has been made, along with the necessary declarations confirming that the information provided has been honest and accurate, the tax disc will arrive in the post within five days. In the meantime a computerised record is held providing evidence of the transaction.

For the benefit of anybody who might be unsure as to whether they have been correctly invoiced, the online Directgov site provides a full car tax guide giving full details of every band and classification. All the information one needs is easily accessible in one handy place.

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