Vehicle tax (VED) bands explained

Why older cars use a different system entirely

Our other guide on Vehicle Tax covers the system used for cars registered from 1 April 2017 onward — a CO₂-based first-year rate followed by a flat standard rate. Cars registered before that date are taxed under one of two earlier systems instead, based entirely on the registration date, not the car's age today. It's worth knowing which system applies to a specific car, since the older systems can work out noticeably cheaper than the current rules for smaller, more efficient older cars.

Pre-2001: taxed by engine size

Cars registered before 1 March 2001 are taxed on engine size alone, split into two simple bands: at or below 1549cc, and above 1549cc. There's a flat annual rate for each band, with no reference to emissions at all, since CO₂ figures weren't routinely recorded for cars this old. Check the current rates on GOV.UK using the engine size shown on the car's V5C registration certificate or logbook.

Because this system only has two bands, it's also the simplest of the three to check — there's no emissions figure to hunt down, and no ambiguity about which category a car falls into once you know whether its engine is above or below 1549cc.

2001 to 2017: taxed by CO₂ emissions bands

Cars registered from 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017 use a system of CO₂ emissions bands, labelled with letters from A (the lowest emissions, historically £0) through to M (the highest emissions, the most expensive band). Unlike the current system, which only charges a CO₂-based rate in the first year, this older system applies the same emissions-based rate every single year of the car's life — it never drops to a flat standard rate the way post-2017 cars do from year two onwards.

This is exactly why a well-kept, low-emissions car registered in this window can sometimes cost less to tax than an equivalent newer car under the post-2017 rules, which settle at a flat £200 regardless of how efficient the car is.

The three systems at a glance

Finding the right rate for a specific car

The registration date on the V5C (logbook) is the only thing that decides which of the three systems applies — not how the car looks, and not its current condition. For a car registered in the 2001–2017 window, the CO₂ emissions band letter is also shown on the V5C or on the original type-approval certificate; for an engine-size-based car from before 2001, it's the engine size in cc that matters instead. Always check the exact current rate for the relevant band or engine size directly on GOV.UK, since these figures are reviewed and can change each tax year.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every car follows the modern first-year-then-flat-rate system — only cars registered from 1 April 2017 onward do; anything older uses one of the two systems described here, for the whole of its life.
• Guessing the CO₂ band rather than checking the V5C — the emissions band letter (A to M) for a 2001–2017 car is a specific, documented figure, not something to estimate from the car's size or type.
• Assuming an older, low-emissions car is automatically more expensive to tax than a modern one — because the pre-2017 systems don't have a flat year-two-onward rate, a genuinely efficient older car can be cheaper to tax than the current £200 standard rate.
• Forgetting the 40-year historic vehicle exemption — a vehicle built more than 40 years ago and registered as a historic vehicle is generally exempt from VED altogether, regardless of which system it would otherwise fall under.
• Not re-checking the rate every tax year — unlike the post-2017 standard rate, which rarely needs rechecking once you know it, VED bands and rates are reviewed and can change at each Budget.