Classic Cars

[friedgreentomato]

At what age does a car become classic and get free road tax?

Thank you

[tonyav]

Think it's 25 years fgt, how old is zeb lol.

[tonyav]

Actually now I think about it, it could be pre 1972.

[friedgreentomato]

lol 17 you can see where I was going then Tony!! xx

[tonyav]

Yes I could indeed fgt lol.

[friedgreentomato]

lol best answer to you Tony but only because you remembered Zeb's name xx

[tonyav]

Thanks.

[jake-the-peg]

It's one that's manufactured before 1973

That means there are some 1973 registerred vehicles that can be shown to have been manufactured in 1972 that classify for historic road vehicle and free road tax.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-exempt-from-car-tax

Pre 1960 I think you dont now need an MOT either ( a rather contentious issue even amoungst owners of such cars)

[Baldric]

Any help?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_car#United_Kingdom

[friedgreentomato]

cheers so are they saying that cars can no longer be classic if not made before 1972?

Thats terrible poor Zeb!

[ZedBloke]

There are 2 main points here.
1) Age, a car can be a classic pretty well at any age, it depends on the car the prod run the desirability the "coolness" instinct, age really isn't the main factor, for example the new Fiat 500 (as opposed to the old Fiat 500, that was actually 500cc, 498 for the pedants) is pretty well a classic now. My own 300zx is considered a classic as is the BMW 5 series alpina B10, I could go on however the point is that age is not the deciding factor.
2) Free"classic car" road tax. Now in this context the word "classic" is merely a government term whereby, originally at least, it meant any car that was 25 years old. This system was introduced under the Major government as a rolling 25 years and as such if it had stayed thus then cars from 1987 would be qualifying for this year. However, a certain Labour government froze the date in 1997 and thus 1972 remains the cutoff date for free tax.

[jake-the-peg]

Actually the term classic isn't a government one and it's pretty loose.

Insurance companies offer "classic insurance" on all sorts normally about 20 years old but it varies.

The DVLA use the term "Historic vehicle"

The term Veteran car *must* be before 1919 (or 1905 in some rules) and a Vintage car must be before 1930