Road tax (VED) bands explained: what you'll pay in 2026
Road tax — officially Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) — is one of those costs everyone pays but few people can explain, largely because the rules depend heavily on exactly when your car was first registered.
Why registration date matters so much
VED isn't one system — it's several, layered on top of each other as rules changed over time. Cars registered before March 2001 are taxed by engine size. Cars registered between March 2001 and April 2017 are taxed by CO2 emissions band, with lower-emission cars paying less. Cars registered from April 2017 onwards use a different structure entirely: a CO2-based first-year rate, followed by a flat standard rate from the second year onwards regardless of emissions (with a small discount for hybrids and alternative fuels).
The "expensive car" additional rate
Cars registered from April 2017 with a list price above a set threshold when new pay an additional supplement on top of the standard rate, for a set number of years starting from the second year of registration. This applies based on the car's original list price, not what you paid for it — so a heavily discounted or used "expensive" car can still attract the supplement, based on what it cost new.
VED enforcement has been fully electronic since 2014 — there's no paper tax disc any more. Vehicles are checked automatically via Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) against the DVLA database, so an untaxed car is flagged without ever being physically stopped.
Electric vehicles and VED
Electric vehicles previously benefited from a VED exemption, but that exemption has ended — EVs registered from April 2025 onwards are now liable for VED under broadly the same structure as petrol and diesel cars, including the expensive car supplement where applicable, closing what had been a significant incentive gap.
How to check what you actually owe
Because your rate depends on registration date, emissions figure and original list price together, the fastest way to get an accurate figure is to check against your specific vehicle rather than a general rule of thumb — a few years' difference in registration date can put two visually identical cars in completely different VED bands.
A quick note
VED bands, rates and the expensive car supplement threshold are reviewed periodically by the government — always check current gov.uk figures against your specific vehicle before budgeting. See our full disclaimer.