Diesel tax, benefits & five other law changes you need to know about in 2018

Here we run down six laws including motoring, tax workplace and home regulation changes which could affect you in 2018.

New rules on road tax

Changes to car tax will make charges based on CO2 emissions, meaning that your tax in the first year of tax could be nothing, or as high as £2,000 depending how much of a pollutin’ gas guzzler or an eco friendly efficient model you drive.

For the second and following years thereafter, the amount of tax paid is a flat £140, or £130 for hybrids of LPG cars, or zero if your car has no emissions (ie fully electric).

These changes came in last year, but this year many drivers who bought new in 2017 will see the new second-year charges apply to them for the first time. New rules will mostly affect drivers of new diesel cars.Diesel changes

Diesel cars will be pushed up a band from April 1, if they fail to meet the latest Euro 6 emissions standards in real-word testing.

The rise for a Ford Fiesta could be as little as £20-30, but a Porsche Cayenne would be hit with a rise in the hundreds of pounds.

The changes don’t apply to commercial vans or vehicles, only cars. Cars with emissions of 1-50 g/CO2/km will pay £10, those with emissions of 51-70 will pay £25, and so on up the brackets.

At the top of the scale drivers will pay a whopping £2,070. Then, everyone will revert to the flat rate of £140 in the second year.

All cars that cost more than £40,000 outright will attract an extra premium fee of £310 for years two to six of ownership, regardless of emissions. Simple, right?...

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