To find out what tax band your car is in, enter its registration number at the DVLA’s free vehicle enquiry service on GOV.UK. The page returns the current tax rate and expiry date, along with the CO2 figure, fuel type, engine size, and first registration date that determine which band applies.1GOV.UK. Check if a Vehicle is Taxed2GOV.UK. Get Vehicle Information From DVLA Three separate systems are in play depending on when the car was first registered, so the band your car falls into and what it costs to tax follow different rules for each era.
Checking Your Band Online
The DVLA’s vehicle enquiry service only needs the registration number to get started. Once you enter it, the service shows the current tax rate, when it expires, SORN status, MOT expiry, first registration date, engine size, fuel type, and CO2 emissions.2GOV.UK. Get Vehicle Information From DVLA That is usually enough to answer the question outright: the rate shown is what your car is taxed at now. If you want to understand where that figure comes from, or check whether it is about to change, the rest depends on the car’s registration date.
Cars Registered Before 1 March 2001
For older cars the system ignores emissions entirely and looks only at engine size in cubic centimetres. There are two bands. As of April 2026:3GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars and Light Goods Vehicles Registered Before 1 March 2001
- 1,549cc or smaller: £230 per year
- Over 1,549cc: £375 per year
Paying by monthly direct debit adds a 5% surcharge, and a single six-month payment costs slightly more than half the annual figure.
Cars Registered Between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
Cars from this period fall into lettered bands from A to M based on CO2 emissions in grams per kilometre. As of April 2026, Band A (up to 100 g/km) costs £20 per year and Band M (over 255 g/km) costs £790.4GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered Between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 Most cars from this era sit somewhere in the middle. The CO2 figure the DVLA holds against your registration decides the band automatically, so the enquiry service will show the exact rate without your needing to look up the table.2GOV.UK. Get Vehicle Information From DVLA Band A is cheap but not free, despite what some older guides suggest.
Cars Registered on or After 1 April 2017
The system changed significantly for cars registered from April 2017 onward. There is a one-off first-year rate tied to CO2 output, then a flat standard rate every year after that.5GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered on or After 1 April 2017
First-Year Rate
The first-year rate is paid when the car is initially registered and varies enormously with emissions. For cars registered from April 2026, it runs from £10 for the cleanest vehicles up to £5,690 for models producing over 255 g/km.6GOV.UK. Rates of Vehicle Tax for Cars, Motorcycles, Light Goods Vehicles and Private Light Goods Vehicles April 2026 If you buy a used car first registered after April 2017, the first-year rate was paid by the original registered keeper, so you won’t face it.
Standard Rate
From the second year, most petrol, diesel, and alternative fuel cars pay a flat £200 per year regardless of CO2.6GOV.UK. Rates of Vehicle Tax for Cars, Motorcycles, Light Goods Vehicles and Private Light Goods Vehicles April 2026 From April 2025, the £10 annual discount that hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles used to receive has been removed, so they now pay the same £200 as petrol and diesel cars.7GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax for Electric and Low Emissions Vehicles
Electric and Zero-Emission Cars
The rules for electric cars changed in April 2025. Before that date, EVs paid nothing. That exemption has ended. Electric and zero-emission cars registered between April 2017 and March 2025 now pay the full £200 standard rate. Electric cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 pay a reduced first-year rate of £10, then the £200 standard rate from the second year.7GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax for Electric and Low Emissions Vehicles
If you check an electric car on the DVLA enquiry service and it still shows £0, that reflects the old rate for the current tax period and will change at the next renewal.
The Expensive Car Supplement
Any car with an original list price above £40,000 triggers an additional annual charge on top of the standard rate. For electric cars, the threshold is £50,000. From April 2026, the supplement is £440 per year, payable for five years starting from the second time the vehicle is taxed.5GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered on or After 1 April 2017
“List price” means the manufacturer’s recommended retail price including factory-fitted extras and delivery, not what you paid. This catches out used buyers regularly: even if you picked the car up for £25,000 second-hand, the supplement still applies where the original list price was over the threshold. Across the five years, that adds £2,200 at current rates.
When Your Car Is Exempt
Some vehicles pay nothing, though the owner still has to “tax” the vehicle through the DVLA system for £0.
As of 1 April 2026, vehicles built before 1 January 1986 qualify for the historic vehicle exemption. If the exact build date is unknown, a vehicle first registered before 8 January 1986 also qualifies.8GOV.UK. Historic (Classic) Vehicles – MOT and Vehicle Tax This date rolls forward each April. The exemption does not apply if the vehicle is used commercially or as a taxi.
Free vehicle tax is also available if you receive the higher or enhanced rate mobility component of certain disability benefits, including Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, or War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement.9GOV.UK. How to Apply for Free Disabled Tax The exemption covers one vehicle per qualifying person.