Who is that Highwayman ?

I am not playing at being a Highwayman (irritation of the eye from my accident 6 years ago) but someone else was a highwayman last year……

Can you remember what George Osbourne announced about car Tax all that time ago, is it highway robbery.

I have been reading up on it, as it’s all change from April 1st and over time this will affect 99% of us who drive a non-electric car as road fund licence changes drastically for cars registered from April 1st this year.

Even our 1.0 Fiesta which has a nil road fund licence now will go up to costing £540 for the first 4 years driving. 

Being as most cars get a hefty hike in road fund licence, Ford have come up with some great offers to incentivise anyone looking to change their car this year to do it early, before March 31st.

For example, we have just advertised a New Fiesta Zetec on Facebook for Just

£9995, It’s been many year’s since we have been able to get below £10,000 on a car that is not a basic model, this example can only be achieved for cars registered before January 31st though, so you must move quickly to get this offer. That’s £3550 saving.

On the Ford Focus we have examples of over £5500 in savings if you take the £4000 deposit contribution into account, I won’t list them all here but there are fantastic offers across the range.

0% finance is also available on most our models now, with threats of interest rates rising in the future, this is a great way to locking your interest rate now for the term of the agreement, once we have agreed the rate it is fixed for the term, so why not benefit from this before March 31st and not only get the low road fund licence but lock your finance to 0%. See the example below.

So far, I have talked about it all happening before the end of March, but now it says January! And I will explain

1. All manufacturers and motor industry bodies are predicting January to March being the biggest new car market ever and this will cause a shortage of cars, so if you want a car for March order now.

2. There is a change to company car tax on April 1st as well as road fund licence so a lot of companies are getting their orders in now, this is not helping stock issues, there is a lot more to choose from in January.

3. We would always like to supply you with what you would like, not what we have available and leaving it until February or March will be too late.

4. We have some extra bonuses in January, so prices are a lot more attractive, for example the Fiesta offer above we cannot do in February or March it will be £400 more if there is any stock left.

So here is the difference that the road fund licence makes

We now have the best SUV line up Ford has ever produced, with the Ecosport, New 2017 Kuga (yes it’s changed) and the Ford Edge, all these cars have up to £1500 deposit contribution from Ford credit and they have a 0% offer available.

We also have some demonstrators of these SUV’s for sale with some great savings available

Ford Edge Sport 2.0 TDci Powershift Automatic with extras of LED Headlights, Front Camera, Panoramic roof Active Park Assist and Blind spot recognition in Ruby Red, the new car price for this is £40,075 we now have this for sale for £32,000

Save over £8000.00

This Kuga 2.0 TDci Titanium X 180ps, All wheel drive when it feels the need, has a wealth of extra equipment Active city stop, Appearance Pack, Convienience Pack, Family Pack, Sync 2 DAB Navigation, 19” Alloys and rear view camera, the price new £32,205 Now just 4 months old £26000

Save over £6000.00

We also have demonstrator Fiesta and Focus (over £7500 savings on some Focus) for sale that must go this January and will all have the benefit of the lower road fund licence, just call in for details.

For more information on any of these offers our phone numbers are at the base of each page, or email Jeff or Scott at Bicester Ford on 01869 323272   jeff@bicesterford.co.uk or James at Buckingham Ford on 01280 812121 james@buckinghamford.co.uk 

We hope to see you really soon.

Regards

   Ian

PS Don’t forget, If you were considering changing your car this year, January could be the month for you.

PPS Your part exchange will be worth more in January than any other time this year.

Do you remember what happened in last summer’s Budget?

No - Nor did I, but the former Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a radical overhaul of the UK’s system for taxing cars, with some going up dramatically, and it all happens from 1st April 2017.

Here’s some of the headlines:
The vehicle excise duty (VED) or road tax or road fund licence, as it’s sometimes called, will still have 13 different CO2 bands for new cars which will determine how much you pay in the first year of ownership.  But going forward only electric cars with zero emissions will qualify for the lowest band therefore being tax free.

Except for these zero emission cars any vehicle costing less than £40,000 will be paying £140 a year after the first year, regardless of whether they are Hybrid, Petrol or Diesel.

Why do you mention £40,000 I hear you ask?  Well over this figure cars will attract a premium fee of £310 a year for years two to five of ownership, regardless of the CO2 emissions, so that is £450 a year for 4 years.

Of course with Ford as a new car we don’t have much to worry about on the £40,000 list price new duty, but these changes still have a relative bearing on some of our range, for example 

Over the first four years of ownership
Example 1: Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost if taxed before the 1st April it will be Zero but after the first of April that will become £540

Example 2: Focus 1.0 125ps Ecoboost if taxed before the 1st April it will be £120 but after the first of April that will become £560.

Although this is a big hike in yearly cost if you are paying nothing at the moment, it will have a bigger effect if you buy a car in excess of £40,000 with CO2 of over 255 as after April 1st you will be paying £2000 in the first year and £450 for the next four years.

What should I do? Well, if you don’t think you will be changing your car soon, nothing, as the tax due on your current car does not change. If you were thinking of changing your car this year act now and get one before the 1st of April 2017, and save yourself some money over the coming years.

The one thing you should do before buying any car though is to make sure you understand the new system.

VED for cars registered after the 1^st April 2017

CO2 emissions in g/km	First year rate	Standard rate
0	£0	£0
1-50	£10	£140
51-75	£25	£140
76-90	£100	£140
91-100	£120	£140
101-110	£140	£140
111-130	£160	£140
131-150	£200	£140
151-170	£500	£140
171-190	£800	£140
191-225	£1,200	£140
226-255	£1,700	£140
Over 255	£2,000	£140

The table below is for all cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017.

VED Band	CO2 Emissions	Annual rate	First year rate
A	Up to 100 g/km	£0	£0
B	101-110 g/km	£20	£0
C	111-120 g/km	£30	£0
D	121-130 g/km	£110	£0
E	131-140 g/km	£130	£130
F	141-150 g/km	£145	£145
G	151-165 g/km	£185	£185
H	166-175 g/km	£210	£300
I	176-185 g/km	£230	£355
J	186-200 g/km	£270	£500
K*	201-225 g/km	£295	£650
L	226-255 g/km	£500	£885
M	Over 255 g/km	£515	£1,120