DVLA gives April 1 warning to avoid extra £2,125 | Tech News

The DVLA has issued a warning to motorists about a deadline in much less than a week, which might price people an extra £2,125. The Expensive Car Supplement provides £425 per yr for 5 years following the initial tax cost on new automobiles priced over £40,000. This complement provides a complete of £2,125 to your tax invoice over the five-year period.

The Expensive Car Supplement was launched in 2017. In the November 2025 Budget, threshold was been raised from April 1, from £40,000 to £50,000 for electric autos registered from 1 April 2025, that means that consumers of EVs beneath this price received’t have to pay the Expensive Car Supplement. It means people ought to make sure to verify when their car was registered. From April 2026, the £425 complement is predicted to rise to £440, with the usual fee rising to £200, making the entire £640.

In a new post on social media website X, the DVLA mentioned: “From 1 April 2026, the expensive car supplement threshold for electric cars will rise from £40,000 to £50,000. This means the additional rate won’t apply to electric cars priced under £50,000, as long as they were first registered from 1 April 2025.”

The costly car complement was an extra price levied on automobiles that price more than £40,000 new. It’s half of the VED, or ‘road tax’, that car house owners pay yearly. Previously, electric automobiles have been exempt from the £425 flat fee that’s levied on all new petrol and diesel automobiles costing more than £40,000.

Since, then, in a small concession to EV house owners, the Government has elevated the price at which EVs are subject to the tax to £50,000. This change applies from April 2026, however is being utilized retrospectively to automobiles bought from April 2025 onwards.

Currently, the costly car complement fee is £425 a yr for the 5 years following the primary tax cost, which is made when the car is a yr outdated, however is set to change to £440 from April, in accordance to specialists. That’s on prime of the usual second-year-onwards fee of £195 – which implies you’ll be paying £620 a yr in the event you buy a car that prices upwards of £40,000, till the car is six years outdated.

The Budget additionally implies that from April 2028, electric autos shall be charged a new ‘mileage tax’ to fill within the hole left by no fuel responsibility being paid for the autos. From April 2028, drivers shall be charged an equal of 3p per mile for battery electric automobiles and £0.015p per mile for plug-in hybrid automobiles. The Chancellor says that this may go in the direction of serving to street upkeep.

That price will increase yearly with the Consumer Price Index. At current, there’s no introduced framework for how this coverage shall be applied or how drivers pays for it. It would add an estimated £300 per 10,000 miles pushed in an EV.

John Cassidy, gross sales managing director at Close Brothers Motor Finance, mentioned: “A pay-by-mile scheme for electric vehicles risks increasing costs for many drivers, particularly those who rely on their cars for higher annual mileage.

“With energy bills rising and public charging becoming more expensive, motorists will fear that EV ownership could end up being significantly more expensive than traditional ownership.”

RAC head of coverage Simon Williams has mentioned: (*1*)