So, George Osborne’s Emergency Budget has been now been delivered and as the dust settles over Westminster we thought we’d bring you a snapshot of the key announcements for motorists in the UK and we promise not to swear once.
VAT increase to 20% as of the 4th January 2011 – What this means for motorists, and certainly customers wishing to
buy a new car is that from the 4
th of January next year your new car will cost 2.5% more than it would have this year. It’s also worth remembering that VAT is paid on the delivery price of a new vehicle and so if you are looking to beat the VAT price increase then you really need to have your new car
delivered before the 4
th January 2011.
No increase on fuel duties – The government will thankfully not be taking any more money, for now at least, on the price of fuel at the pump.
Investigation of a fuel price stabilizer – Basically a fuel duty stabilizer would link the price of fuel at the pump to the cost of oil on the world market meaning that the price would rise and fall accordingly making the pricing much more transparent for drivers.
What wasn’t mentioned – Electric Vehicle Grants promised by both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives during the election that promised incentives to electricity companies to roll out a UK wide network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The loudest ‘boo’ ever recorded in history was registered today from our Green Corner as news broke of this being missed out.Also not mentioned by today’s budget was the previous governments pledge to offer a £5K incentive to customers looking to buy an all-electric vehicle from January 2011.
What wasn’t mentioned - Road pricing was an area where the Lib-Dem and Conservative policies differed during the election with the Tory’s initially being opposed to roads pricing and the Liberal Democrats looking for road pricing to cover maintenance on major trunk roads.It remains to be seen whether or not either electric vehicle grants or road pricing will make it into the small print of the published budget.And so there it is. If you feel we have missed anything from today’s emergency budget that will affect you as a driver then please get in touch.Andrew BeattieAskaprice.com Head of ContentFollow us on Twitter –
www.twitter.com/askapriceI hope you have found this information useful and if you have any other tips you’d like to share then we’d love to hear your comments.