Are all old (UK) classic cars tax-exempt?
No. Any car built (as opposed to registered) prior to Jan 1 1973 qualifies to be a Historic car in the eyes of DVLA, and as such qualifies for zero rated road tax. Originally the cutoff was meant to be a rolling 25 years, but the current Labour government quashed this, setting the cutoff for Historic status as 01/01/73. You do still need to display a tax disc however, really just to prove that when you applied for the disc you had current insurance and MOT, but you will not have to hand over a single penny. This legislation can have some bearing on values of identical cars that were built either side of the ’73 cutoff – buy a January 1973 build Triumph TR6 and you’ll have to pay up even though the car comes out on sunny days only, whereas your neighbour with his/her ’72 TR6 is in the fortunate position of paying nothing, which, if totted up over a few years, can add up to a significant sum! go back to contents..
