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quoteGreat news that the Treasury has announced that the Government will “not now introduce a new graduated system of Vehicle Excise Duty for light goods vehicles or new motorhomes first registered from April 2021”.
New motorhomes will continue to be placed and taxed in the Private/Light Goods class.
It said this was to “avoid distracting the automotive sector and businesses more widely from the challenges they currently face in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In his March Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak had already announced that the rise in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on new motorhomes would be reversed from 12 March 2020.
The tax increase of up to 705% had been levied from 1 September 2019 on newly registered motorhomes and campervans fitted with the new generation, greener, more energy-efficient engines.
Earlier this year, we met with our local MP, Holly Lynch (Labour, Halifax), to raise our concerns about these huge increases in Vehicle Excise Duty.
We were worried about the negative impact of this tax increase on the motorhome industry and urged Holly to support the National Caravan Council’s “Fair Motorhome Tax” campaign and to call on Parliament to review the tax in the new budget.
The campaign was backed by 85 cross-party MPs after lobbying by NCC members like us, as well as motorhome manufacturers, such as Swift and Auto-Trail, and motorhome dealerships.
On the latest news, the NCC’s Alicia Dunne said: “The new graduated system of VED for light goods vehicles and commercial vans was due to be introduced next spring as part of Government’s strategy to reduce emissions. This is excellent news for the industry and for the customer too. With increasing demand for holidays in the UK and the surge in desire for owning a leisure vehicle, it is good news for touring parks too. Hopefully the current recent growth in registrations of new motorhomes (+71%, +41% and +55% in July, August and September respectively) can be sustained into 2021.”
Back in March, NCC’s Director General John Lally said: “Alongside the NCC, its members and the wider industry, these MPs worked tirelessly to reverse this increase, knowing the impact it would have on British manufacturing, on jobs and, potentially, on UK tourism. We offer our thanks to all of them and to the media, who highlighted how unfair the tax was.
“We are delighted that our new Chancellor has so quickly understood that motorhomes and campervans should not be taxed as cars, that he has shown concern about the threats to our industry and taken this action to preserve jobs.
“Motorhomes will now return to being taxed as vans, which is logical as the vast majority are based on a commercial vehicle chassis. This is an amazing result for us, for this vibrant manufacturing industry and for the many thousands who take motorhoming holidays – the vast majority in the UK – each year.”
Our Managing Director Ryan Wilby said it was an incredibly important result for our industry and commended the NCC for their effective campaign. We’d also like to thank Holly Lynch and other MPs for standing up for the motorhome industry.
I have just signed the petition, I don’t think we stand a chance 79 signatures. I think all motorhome dealers should be on the case, actively contacting owners to make them aware of this petition. This will also could impact on their sales of these vehicles if traded in before they are 5 years old.
Hi there here is the link for the petition
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/553905
Just another thought and to just illustrate how ridiculous this all is. There is also it would appear an inconsistency on speed limits for two similar vehicles ,it would be interesting to see how this was reflected in a real life situation ?
If I was travelling at 60mph on a single carriageway in my Motorhome unladen weight over 3.05 tons that was registered in Feb 2020 then I could legally drive at the national speed limit of 60mph (below) as it is currently registered and classified as a car , therefore I am not breaking the law . However a similar motorhome driving behind me at the exact same speed and also over 3.05 tons but was registered in March 2020 (and because of the reversal is now correctly classified as a PLG) IS breaking the law and should only be driving at 50MPH ! Exactly the same on dual carriageways where the February registered van can also legally drive at 10 mph faster?
I wonder how the Police would deal with that situation?
I think this is another reason why this needs resolving urgently .
Neil Whitehouse
National speed limitsBuilt-up areas mph (km/h)Single carriageways mph (km/h)Dual carriageways mph (km/h)Motorways mph (km/h)Cars, motorcycles, car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles30 (48)60 (96)70 (112)70 (112)Cars, motorcycles, car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles when towing caravans or trailers30 (48)50 (80)60 (96)60 (96)Motorhomes or motor caravans (not more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight)30 (48)60 (96)70 (112)70 (112)Motorhomes or motor caravans (more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight)30 (48)50 (80)60 (96)70 (112)
I have written to my local MP who is a Minister for Transport Chris Heaton Harris .He passed on my complaint to a Treasury Minister Kemi Badenoch who replied just informing me that there were no retrospective adjustments and just reiterated the policy which I thought was at least condescending and her failure to actually address the issue properly I believe remains grossly unfair .
I wrote to John Lally at the NCC in April asking for his support but he didn’t reply , however I did get a response from Louise at the NCC just this week apologising for their lack of response who said that the Government has no plans for either a retrospective adjustment or to enable those disadvantaged to reclassify their vans as a PLG. So in summary everyone including the NCC are continuing to celebrate the reversal and those of us who have been impacted are it would appear seen as unimportant . The victory has been only won in part and could it be that the organisation that is supposed to fight our corner seems to have lost the will to finish the job? ‘Meaning Fair Motorhome Tax’ is not intended for everyone.
There is a petition on the Government Petitions website which talks to this issue but as there is a need to gain 10,000 signatures before May 2021 its an uphill challenge . Unless of course all interested/ impacted people sign it and if the industry reconsidered their position of course and ‘got into the fight’ then we may stand a fighting chance!
We understand how frustrating this is for owners and have passed on your comments to the NCC. Thanks for letting us know about the petition. Do you have a link to it that you could share?
Our van is November ’19 and we are still in the very high tax bracket. I believe this applies to vans bought new Sept 19 to March 12th 2020. At the time we ordered the tax rate was only a proposal and I do feel fed up the reversal was not retrospective. I did consider up plating it but I am told this wouldn’t make any difference. Is the NEC aware of this and could they press the government to address this anomaly?
I purchased a new motorhome at the NEC show in February 2020 but was in no rush for delivery before Easter. However, because the dealer registered the vehicle from 1 March we ended up in the very unfair tax hike (which I knew nothing about, despite being assured by our dealer the tax would be the same as my 10 year old motorhome … which it isn’t!). It seems we will have to pay the excessively high rate for the next 5 years!!
Due to the pandemic lockdown the dealer closed mid-March until 1 June so we could not collect the vehicle until then. I tried to contact DVLA to point out the problem and see if I could SORN a new vehicle (to gain some tax back) but they would only answer calls to hauliers and key workers. So I ended up writing to the DVLA who eventually wrote back saying they would only consider a refund from the date of my letter not from first registration date. The contact telephone number they gave me to ring to discuss the matter was not DVLA but the Volvo garage in Swansea!
Because of the unprecedented circumstances and the government enforced restrictions preventing us from taking possession of the vehicle, our dealer has made numerous efforts to get DVLA to alter the taxation class/re-register the vehicle from 1 June but DVLA refuse to budge and I am not sure yet if they will now even honour their commitment to refund me two months tax. At the very least, everyone in this high taxation class should have their tax brought into line with the new rules and take us out of this five year rule, which is grossly unfair!
Very pleased that this was campaigned for but I totally agree with Neil Whitehouse, we purchased our vehicle on 11th March, no compensation for those of us who purchased between 1st September 2019 and 11th March 2020, not only that from what I can gather we are still in that ‘bracket’ and will be paying large amounts of tax for the next few years. I get quite a sick feeling when I think about the injustice.
There is still an injustice for those who purchased a van between 1st September 2019 and March 11th 2020 as currently there is no retrospective adjustment how can this be fair ?Two exact same vans one purchased March 11th 2020 one on March 12th both with different VEDs how can this be right?
Very pleased with the tax decision and hope it stay this way, my next comment is drivers over 70 having to have a medical to drive a vehicle over 3500 kg, although it doesn’t affect me but the reason I mentioned it is that on some Motorhomes nothing changes other than a new Vin Plate and ability to carry some extra equipment but as for as driving the vehicle nothing changes, taking the Tribute 715 as an example it is already capable without modification to upgrade the Vin plate without and mechanical modification.
This is great news am delighted. Nearly all motorhomes only do limited mileage per year and they stand still more often or not, so to slap enormous tax on them was wrong. And the damage to the industry would have been enormous. It is bad enough being hit by this latest virus Covid 19.Thank you to those who supported and stood strong.
It is great news for those buying a new Motorhome but mine is six years old so not affected. However in these strange Coronavirus times what is affecting me however is not being able to take my Motorhome out even for maintenance runs, tried the other day and was verbally abused as a gypo and virus spreader and was then threatened to be spat upon which is ironical considering I’m the one who’s supposedly spreading the virus, how things have changed but hopefully not a sign of the future.
That’s very sad to hear Barry. Hoping you’ll be able to get back on the road soon. Stay safe.