Congestion charges

Act now to reduce your exposure to London congestion charging!

Choosing a new car or van

If you need to drive within the London charging zone during weekdays, now is the time to consider one of the alternative fuelled vehicles that will be exempt from the daily £8 charge. These low emission vehicles have recently evolved into serious cars and vans that can perform on a par with the latest straight petrol and diesel offerings. The rationale for this exemption has nothing to do with avoiding congestion. Ken is simply doing his bit to help promote those vehicles that have the potential to be considerably less polluting than "normal" cars.

Potential savings

1. Tot up the number of weekdays per year that you normally drive within the zone and multiply by £8 to get an idea of the potential annual savings.
2. Alternative fuels are cheaper.Whilst fuel economy is noticeably reduced in lpg and cng cars when compared to petrol equivalents, this is far outweighed by the massive price differential.
3. Acquire a Honda Civic IMA or Toyota Prius (both 5 seaters) electric hybrid car and only have to pay £30 a year in annual VED. All cars emitting less than 120 grammes of CO2 per kilometre now benefit from a low level of tax.

Extra considerations for company car drivers.

Drivers will find that alternative fuelled vehicles benefit from useful discounts on company car tax. At the moment the cleanest petrol cars have a taxable value of 15% of full list price (18% for diesel) but for a Honda Insight this drops to just 12% this year. Congestion charges can be treated as part of the normal costs of running a car and are therefore already covered by the car benefit charge. Thus reimbursement of congestion charges by the employer should not give rise to any additional tax on an existing company car driver.

Fleet managers can gain the most

All these savings are available in one way or another to the operators of fleets. Any tax savings made by employees as a result of choosing lower emission cars will also benefit the employer via lower National Insurance payments. One of the effects of the gradual increase in on-line shopping has been a significant expansion in the number of "white vans" to deliver those extra items. No doubt many of these operators should be looking at alternative fuels.

Where to get more information

Transport for London gives the definitive guide to congestion charging at www.cclondon.com. Vehicles need to be registered annually to gain the exemption.

Powershift operate grants for clean fuel vehicles and provide the definitive list for vehicles which are exempt from congestion charges. Details at www.powershift.org.uk

Company car drivers and fleet managers should look at Comcar at www.comcar.co.uk for a guide on company car tax and Powershift status for all new UK cars. The database can be used to find the lowest taxed cars meeting a wide range of selection criteria including, of course, congestion charging.