Free Car Tax Check by Registration

This is an example of the free report, not a live registration. Status, the due date and the MOT come from DVLA. Road tax prices, when the report has them, come from the car’s specification data and may be older than this year’s published rates. The figure on the right is the published 2026 to 2027 rate for the same sort of car.

For this example, 124g/km is band D, so the published 12-month rate is £170. A real report can show a different price, because that number is the one stored for the car rather than a fresh calculation.

The comparisons below look at about 30,000 car versions from 2002 to 2015, when the annual rate still followed CO2. They are versions of cars, not sales and not the number of cars on the road. Exact counts are in the tables and in the notes at the end.

• A typical car in that group emits 150 g/km. Among later versions with a usable CO2 figure, the typical figure is 126 g/km. Lower CO2 does not cut the renewal on those newer cars: from the second year they pay the same standard rate.
• All 30 model ranges in the comparison have more than one annual rate. The BMW 3 Series runs from £20 to £790 a year, because its versions emit anything from 104 to 297g/km. The model name alone does not tell you the tax.
• The fuel mix has changed. Electric versions are under 1% of the older group and about 7% of versions from 2018. Hybrids move from about 1% to about 12%.
• about 3,300 versions sit on the lowest annual rate here, £20. about 910 sit on the highest, £790. The expensive-car supplement is not included, because list prices are not part of this comparison.

The bands themselves are in the car tax rate table. To check one car’s emissions, use the CO2 check.

These are the 30 makes with the most versions from 2002 to 2015, when annual road tax still depended on CO2. A make is rarely one price. The range in each row is the cheapest and dearest 12-month rate among the versions compared.

Cars from 2018 onwards renew at £200 before any expensive-car supplement. That extra is not added here, because list prices are not included. The last column is only a count of those newer versions.

These are the 30 model ranges with the most versions from the same years. Each row shows the lowest and highest 12-month rate, and one real version at each end. A Focus, a Golf or a 3 Series can still cost very different amounts to tax.

The rate depends on when the car was first registered. These are the published 2026 to 2027 rates, from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. They are not the stored price on a free report, which can be from an earlier year.

Registered from 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017

Annual road tax follows the CO2 band. Petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric cars use the same table this year. The old £10 discount for alternative fuels has gone. Band K also covers cars over 225g/km registered before 23 March 2006.

First registered on or after 1 April 2017

CO2 only sets the first year’s tax. From the second year, petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric cars pay £200 for 12 months. If the list price was high enough, an extra £440 applies for five years from that second year, taking the 12-month total to £640.

Registered before 1 March 2001

Tax follows engine size, not CO2. Among versions from before 2000 that include an engine size, 665 are not over 1,549cc and 2,811 are over 1,549cc.

Petrol and diesel

If the car was registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017, petrol and diesel share the same CO2 bands. If it was registered from 1 April 2017, both renew at £200. Diesel only changes the first year, and only when the car misses the latest emissions standard, RDE2. If you are not sure, the calculator shows both first-year figures rather than picking one.

Hybrids, LPG and bioethanol

The old £10 discount has gone. A hybrid registered before 1 April 2017 is taxed on its CO2 band. A later hybrid pays the £200 standard rate from the second year. The expensive-car test for a hybrid is a list price over £40,000, not the £50,000 figure used for electric cars.

Electric cars

Electric cars have paid vehicle tax since 1 April 2025. In 2026 to 2027, one first registered this tax year pays £10 for the first 12 months, then £200. The extra £440 applies only to an electric car registered on or after 1 April 2025 with a list price over £50,000, and only from the second year. An electric car registered between March 2001 and March 2017 is on the CO2 table, at £20 up to 100g/km.

Newer versions are much more likely to be hybrid or electric. The counts below are versions, kept separate so the two eras are not mixed together.

Typical CO2 is 150 g/km for 2002 to 2015 and 126 g/km from 2018. The later figure is not used to set the renewal. Those cars pay the flat standard rate.

These are 2026 to 2027 rates for cars from 2002 to 2015 only. Bands A and B are both £20, so they tie. Each name is one version, not every car of that model. Cars registered from April 2017 are left out, because their renewal is £200 unless the expensive-car supplement applies.

£20 a year — 3,279 versions

• Volvo V40 D2 Cross Country Lux Nav, 2013, Diesel, 99 g/km. Band A, £20 for 12 months.
• Toyota Aygo D-4D +, 2006, Diesel, 109 g/km. Band B, £20 for 12 months.
• Audi A3 A3 S Line TDI, 2014, Diesel, 108 g/km. Band B, £20 for 12 months.
• Ford Fiesta Edge Econetic II TDCI, 2012, Diesel, 87 g/km. Band A, £20 for 12 months.
• Fiat 500 500 BY Gucci Dualogic, 2012, Petrol, 110 g/km. Band B, £20 for 12 months.
• Skoda Fabia Elegance TDI CR, 2010, Diesel, 109 g/km. Band B, £20 for 12 months.
• Peugeot 208 208 Access, 2013, Petrol, 99 g/km. Band A, £20 for 12 months.
• Citroen C1 Airdream Airscape Flair, 2014, Petrol, 88 g/km. Band A, £20 for 12 months.

£790 a year — 912 versions

Band M, over 255g/km. These versions tie on the annual rate. A brand-new car can pay more in its first year, but that is a one-off registration charge, not this renewal.

• Bentley Continental Continental GT Auto, 2010, Petrol, 396 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Porsche 911 911 Carrera 2 S Tiptronic S, 2007, Petrol, 283 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Jaguar XK Artisan Special Edition, 2012, Petrol, 264 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Aston Martin Vantage N430, 2014, Petrol, 296 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Audi R8 GT Soyder Quattro, 2012, Petrol, 332 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Porsche Cayenne Cayenne V6, 2013, Petrol, 263 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Volkswagen Touareg Altitude TDI DPF, 2007, Diesel, 275 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.
• Land Rover Defender 110 County Station Wagon, 2007, Diesel, 291 g/km. Band M, £790 for 12 months.

It depends on the registration date

Three sets of rules run side by side. Before 1 March 2001, tax follows engine size. From then until 31 March 2017, it follows the CO2 band every year. From 1 April 2017, CO2 sets the first year and later years use the standard rate. A car built before 1 January 1986, or registered before 8 January 1986 if the build date is unknown, can move to the historic class from 1 April 2026. It is not treated as free here until that class has been granted.

The first year and the expensive-car supplement

The first-year table is only for a car first registered between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027. It is not applied to an older car. The supplement is an extra £440 for five years, starting in the second year. Petrol, diesel and hybrid cars qualify only when the list price was more than £40,000. Exactly £40,000 does not count. An electric car registered on or after 1 April 2025 qualifies only above £50,000. Dealer discounts do not lower the price. Factory options do. If the list price is unknown, it is left blank.

Six-month and monthly payments

Bands A, B and C cannot be taxed for six months. Where a six-month price exists, the tables use the published amount. Paying monthly costs more than paying for the year up front. On the standard rate, 12 monthly payments come to £210.

SORN, and taxing a car you have just bought

SORN means the keeper has declared the vehicle off the road. It is not a tax band, and the car should not be used or parked on a public road. Tax does not transfer when a car is sold. The new keeper taxes it in their own name, on GOV.UK, with the V5C or the green new-keeper slip. See taxing a car without the V5C and whether you need an MOT to tax a car.

What has already changed this tax year, and what is still unpublished for the next one.

Use the same registration on these VehicleScore tools.

• MOT check for test status and history.
• ULEZ check for clean-air compliance.
• CO2 emissions check for the emissions figure used in the older tax bands.
• EV check for an electric car.
• Specification check for the vehicle details behind the tax prices.

The pound figures in the rate tables and the calculator are the published 2026 to 2027 rates. The make and model comparisons count versions of cars. They do not use the tax prices stored on those records, because a stored price can belong to an earlier tax year. Exact counts are listed below.

• Tax status and the due date on a live check come from the DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service. One Auto MOT history is only a fallback when that service rate-limits. Neither of those calls returns a tax price. The free report can still show 12-month, 6-month, first-year and premium prices when the UK Vehicle Data specification record holds them. Those are the supplier's stored prices, and the research tables do not treat them as the current 2026 to 2027 rate.
• Dataset: 71,715 passenger-car rows in the UKVD collection ukvd-bhp-normalized. Snapshot taken 7 October 2026.
• Tax year: 2026 to 2027, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Rates last checked against the GOV.UK pages on 7 October 2026.
• The snapshot is rebuilt by a read-only maintenance script. It is not queried for each visitor. The rate module has to be replaced when the next V149 rates are published. Until then, figures are hidden after 31 March 2027.
• Included category: UKVD vehicle type Car. Motorcycles, vans, trucks and buses are not in the counts.
• Manufactured year 2002 to 2015 inclusive. These years sit inside the 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017 CO2 regime without using 2001 or 2016, which can fall either side of a regime change.
• Manufactured year 2018 and later. Counted separately. The 2026 to 2027 renewal rate for these cars is the flat standard rate, so it is not averaged with CO2-band rates. 21,246 specifications fall in that window.
• Manufactured year 1999 and earlier. Engine-size counts only. 2000 is excluded because a car of that year can be registered on either side of 1 March 2001. 3,490 specifications.
• 2000, 2001, 2016 and 2017 are excluded from every rate. 9,385 rows.
• A record is used only when the UKVD excise CO2 figure and the emissions CO2 figure agree, or only one of them is present. Disagreements are excluded. 6,193 disagreements were dropped from the 2002–2015 rates, and 300 rows had no usable CO2 figure.
• CO2 over 225g/km in manufactured years 2005 and 2006 is excluded. Those cars can fall either side of the 23 March 2006 band K rule. 806 rows.
• List price is not held on these records. The expensive-car supplement is not applied to any specification in this snapshot.
• Manufacturers and models need at least 150 comparable 2002 to 2015 records. The tables show the 30 largest groups. This is a count of specifications, not UK sales or the cars currently taxed.
• Rated 2002–2015 specifications: 30,264. Missing or unreadable year: 31.

Sources

• Vehicle tax rates: cars registered on or after 1 April 2017
• Vehicle tax rates: cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
• Vehicle tax rates: cars registered before 1 March 2001
• Vehicle tax for electric, zero and low emission vehicles
• Historic vehicles