If you have not yet paid your road tax for this year, it’s important to know that you might be paying more than you did previously, due to new rates introduced earlier this year on 1st April 2025.
What is Road Tax?
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is more commonly referred to as road tax or car tax, and comes with owning or leasing a vehicle. The amount you pay will depend on the age of your vehicle, the type of fuel it uses, and its CO2 emissions or engine size.
By law, you must have valid road tax to drive on a public road in the UK. There are some exemptions, such as if you are taking your vehicle to a pre-booked MOT test or if you have declared it SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification).
If the DVLA system flags up your vehicle as being untaxed and is not declared SORN, you will face a fine.
You can find out more about the consequences of driving an untaxed vehicle here.
Changes to Road Tax
Road tax was recently changed on 1st April 2025, meaning you might be paying more this year than you did previously.
The standard cost of road tax in 2025 is £195 for cars registered from 1st April 2025, where it was previously £190. If your vehicle had a list price over £40,000 when it was first sold, you might also be liable for the luxury car tax fee, which is a supplement of £425 annually (previously £410).
One of the main changes with road tax is to electric cars. Previously, electric vehicles qualified for free road tax but this is no longer the case.
Another major change is to vehicles with low CO2 emissions of 0-100g/km. These vehicles will now pay £20 per year, whereas previously, their road tax was free.
The rest of the road tax bands have either increased by £5-£20 or stayed the same.
Finding Your Road Tax Band
If you wish to find the tax band for your vehicle, you need the year of your car’s registration. You can check that here or by using this guide. Once you know the year your car was first registered, you can find the specific tax band for your vehicle, and the cost attached to this.
Do I Need to Do Anything?
If you pay your road tax by direct debit each month, the adjusted amount will have been taken out since April 2025. For those paying annually, your road tax payment may not have been due yet, but you will be asked to pay your bill by the same date as usual.
You don’t need to take any action, but simply need to be aware that your road tax might be higher than you’re used to.