January 18, 2010
Filed under: Motoring Costs — Alan @ 8:28 am
Margaret Hodge, the culture minister, has given her approval for two Royal Parks to have parking charges within London.
Now motorists that want to park in southwest London at Bushy Park or Richmond Park will need to pay £1.50 if they want to park for an hour. Politicians and residents have fought against the proposals stating that the tax will wrongfully misuse free green space.
Shadow minister for London, Justine Greening, stated that it will ruin the park, as the charge will make it too expensive for families with children that need to bring their cars for prams and to assist pensioners.
The Royal Parks deputy chief executive, Colin Buttery, stated that with a maximum charge of £3 per day at Richmond Park, and £2 per day at Bushy Park, the charges are the same as one might pay for coffee and are favourable to charges at other like amenities.
Additionally, the speed limit within the park will be reduced from 30mph to 20mph and private hire cars will be allowed into the parks.
The parking fees will become active at the end of the year if the parliament approves. The income generated will be used to help maintain roads and car parks.
December 10, 2009
Filed under: Motoring Costs — Alan @ 8:54 am
The pre-budget report 2009 has been released showing that in the coming year there will be much more emphasis and support from the government for those who choose to use low carbon emitting transportation options. It also reports that starting in April; Excise Duty rates will be altered for motorcycles.
Among the expected changes to tax laws made in April of 2010 are a few tax breaks for those that make use of electric transportation.
All electric cars that are used as company cars will be exempt from the normal Company Car tax for the next five years, and all electric vans will also be exempt from paying the standard Van Benefit Charge for the same time period.
Additionally electric vans will come with a 100% allowance when purchased so long as they conform to the State aid rules.
Public transportation options will also be improved with £30m allotted to support better low carbon transport options across the city with the implementation of an expanded Technology Strategy Board low carbon vehicle competition.
Other benefits will also change such as the fuel benefit charge which will increase to £18,000 from £16,000 in an effort to encourage people to become more fuel efficient.
VED rates will also change for those who drive motorcycles with the two lowest bands remaining frozen but the third tier increasing by two pounds and the fourth band going up by four pounds.
November 18, 2009
Filed under: Motoring Costs — Alan @ 5:00 am
Motorists are reducing their driving costs in an effort to reduce overall expenditures by using their car less, according to the RAC. The organization reports that many people are now choosing to own just one vehicle per family, or downsizing their personal vehicle.
The cost of motoring for the average Briton fell by about 5% in 2009 according to the RAC, which averages about to be about a £2.30 savings per week for motorists.
The RAC stated that the savings come from an average drop in fuel prices although it is hard to see the fall as fuel prices fluctuated widely throughout the year.
Since last year the RAC estimates that petrol prices fell overall by about ten percent. In particular, diesel fuel fell about 14%.
However, even though the price of petrol fell, the RAC found when it conducted a survey that most car owners still believed that the cost of owning a car had had actually increased, with 45% of those questioned stating they altered their motoring habits to adapt to the increase in costs.
Out of those who responded in this group, 20% said they switched to only using one car in the household, and another 25% stated that they now drove a smaller car.
The report showed that women were twice as likely to have chosen a smaller vehicle in the last year, which can save a motorist up to £750 a year depending on the difference in the downsize
November 5, 2009
Filed under: Motoring Costs — Alan @ 6:22 am
M&S Money announced that those who are looking to purchase a new car using the M&S Car Buying Plan can now enjoy lowered personal loan rates, from 9.9% APR down to 8.7% APR.
The Buying Plan is a good choice for motorists who want to defer a certain fixed amount of their loan.
After deferring a certain amount of the loan, consumers can then choose whether they would like to make monthly payments on the loan, or pay in back in a lump sum at an appointed time. Consumers can also choose to sell the car after a certain period passes, and pay back the debt.
The new initiative by M&S Money is aimed at encouraging consumers to purchase new vehicles, in the same way that 10% cash back incentive rewards were offered in the past summer of 2009.
After a loan is paid off, consumers are able to receive payment based on how much interest was accrued during the lifetime of the vehicle loan.
October 15, 2009
Filed under: Motoring Costs — Alan @ 8:11 am
The Government climate change advisory body recommended this week that there should be a road pricing charge nationally, on top of the fuel taxes and environmental taxes in existence to further encourage motorists to choose other transportation options.
Until the latest statement by the committee, it was commonly believed that if a pay as you motoring charge was added, the road and fuel taxes would disappear. However, the Committee on Climate Change believes that by adding road pricing, over 5.6m tones of CO2 could be saved per year by 2020.
The Committee stated that the fuel tax should remain, because it gives people motivation to purchase an electric car, versus a traditional vehicle.
On the other hand, the Environmental Transport Association believes that action needs to be taken towards tackling CO2 emissions and climate change, but that it would be better to tax people on the carbon they give off, instead of for road usage.
An ETA spokesperson stated that while people need to take responsibility for the CO2 emissions they produce, it is unfair to tax motorists upwards of £600 for every tone that is produced, while major commerce only has to pay £6 a tonne.
According to the spokesman in this type of unfair system, everyone would lose.
Currently road usage is free, but tax is charged on fuel. On the other hand, those with electric cars are not subject to any taxes, including potential road charges, due to the fact they do not give off any climate damaging gases.
