Older cars with these number plates face £600 car tax bill

Older cars with these particular number plates could be slapped with a hefty £600 bill this spring, according to experts. 

Leasing experts at said models registered between 2001 and 2017 will be affected under new hikes set to come into effect in April. 

Cars manufactured over the 16-year period are charged VED emit instead of a flat fee. 

Motorists are placed into bands based on emissions levels

It means cars producing a low number of emissions could pay just £20 while the dirtiest petrol and diesel models are hit with fees of more than £600.

Revealing what the new changes mean for each vehicle on UK roads, Car2Buy stressed older vehicles were set to be

They explained: “Cars registered between 2001 and 2017 will continue to be taxed based on their CO2 emissions, with rates ranging from £20 to £600 per year depending on the vehicle’s environmental impact.”

VED fees are uprated every Spring in line with Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation with 2025 no different.

Number plates usually correspond with the date vehicles were first registered making it easy to quickly identify a car’s age. 

Models manufactured between March and August usually correspond exactly with the year of production.

Meanwhile, those built between September and the following February use a number 50 years older than the current date. 

The current system was put into place in 2001 with ‘01 and ‘51’ pate vehicles introduced that year. 

A year later, ‘02’ and ‘52’ plates were launched, followed by ‘03’ and ‘53’ 12 months later. 

From 2010, models registered in the second half of the year took on the number ’60’ while it ticked over to ‘70’ in 2020. 

With vehicles between 2001 and 2017 affected, it means anyone with a ‘17’ or ‘67’ design will also be impacted by the new tax rates. 

explained: “For cars registered between 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017, the rates are split into different CO2 bands – the lower the tailpipe emissions, the lower the vehicle tax.

“In order to tax a vehicle, suitable car insurance cover must be in place, while the vehicle must also have a valid MOT if it is over three years old (four years in Northern Ireland). Both are checked electronically when you apply for car tax.”

Full list of number plates possibly affected 

• 01/51
• 02/52
• 03/53
• 04/54
• 05/55
• 06/56
• 07/57
• 08/58
• 09/59
• 10/60
• 11/61
• 12/62
• 13/63
• 14/64
• 15/65
• 16/66
• 17/67