The short answer
The expensive car supplement is GOV.UK's additional rate of vehicle excise duty. For the tax year 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 it is an extra £440 a year on top of the standard £200, so £640 in total. It applies to a car registered on or after 1 April 2017 whose list price when new was more than £40,000, or more than £50,000 if the car is electric. It is paid for five years, starting from the second time the car is taxed, and then it stops. The rules and figures are on the GOV.UK vehicle tax rate tables.
The catch for used buyers is the phrase list price. GOV.UK defines it as the published price before the car was first registered and before any discounts. What the first owner paid, and what you pay now, make no difference. A car that has lost half its value still carries the supplement until its sixth tax payment.
What you pay with and without it
| Payment option, GOV.UK rates for 2026/27 | Standard rate | With the additional rate |
|---|---|---|
| Single 12 month payment | £200 | £640 |
| 12 monthly Direct Debit payments (total) | £210 | £672 |
| Single 6 month payment | £110 | £352 |
| 6 month payment by Direct Debit | £105 | £336 |
The first year is different again. When a car is first registered its tax is set by CO2 emissions, between £10 for a zero-emission car and £5,690 for the highest band, and that first payment covers twelve months. The additional rate starts with the second payment and runs for five payments. From the seventh year the car drops back to the standard rate.
Which cars pay it, and which have escaped
Three groups, according to GOV.UK:
- Petrol, diesel and hybrid cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 with a list price of more than £40,000 pay it for years two to six.
- Electric cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 pay it only if the list price was more than £50,000. The threshold moved up up from the £40,000 line on 1 April 2026, and the policy paper says most electric cars registered from April 2025 and listed between £40,000 and £50,000 will not be required to pay the charge from their next renewal.
- Electric cars registered before 1 April 2025 never pay it, whatever they cost new.
Cars registered before 1 April 2017 are taxed under the older emissions-based system and the supplement does not apply to them at all.
How to check before you buy
- Look up the registration. The DVLA vehicle enquiry service shows the current tax rate and the date it expires for any registration number, along with the date of first registration and the fuel type. If the rate shown is the standard £200 on a car registered after April 2017, it is not paying the supplement now.
- Count the tax payments, not the birthdays. The five years run from the second time the car was taxed. A car registered in early 2021 is likely still inside the window in 2026; one registered in 2019 is likely out of it. The enquiry service's first registration date tells you where it sits.
- Ask about the list price. GOV.UK's own advice is to check the list price with the dealer. Options fitted at the factory were part of the published price, so a car whose basic price sat under the line may still have crossed it.
- Budget the difference. If the car is inside the window, the yearly cost is £640 and not £200 until the window closes, and that is a fair point to raise on the price.
- Tax it before you drive it. Tax does not transfer with the car. Use GOV.UK vehicle tax with the new keeper slip.
What this does not mean
This article describes the GOV.UK pages as they read on 29 October 2026. Rates are set each April and thresholds have moved before, so confirm the figure for your car on the official pages before you rely on it. This site does not know any individual car's list price, and nothing here is tax or financial advice. The vehicle enquiry service shows what a car is paying now, which is the most reliable way to answer the question for the car in front of you.
Frequently asked questions
An extra £440 a year on top of the £200 standard rate, so £640 for a single 12 month payment, or £672 if you pay monthly by Direct Debit. It applies for five years from the second time the car is taxed.
Both. Petrol, diesel and hybrid cars pay it if the list price was more than £40,000. Electric cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 pay it only above £50,000, following a change that took effect on 1 April 2026. Electric cars registered before April 2025 do not pay it.
Yes. GOV.UK defines the list price as the published price before first registration and before discounts. The price you pay as a later owner does not change the tax, and the supplement runs until the car's sixth tax payment regardless of how many owners it has had.
Enter the registration into the DVLA vehicle enquiry service on GOV.UK. It shows the current rate of vehicle tax and the date of first registration, which together tell you whether the car is inside the five-year window.
Sources and method
This article contains no MOT statistics. Every rate, threshold and date is quoted from the GOV.UK pages listed under Sources as they read on 29 October 2026. The MOT reliance notice below applies to the MOT history this site shows elsewhere.
- GOV.UK: Vehicle tax rate tables
- GOV.UK: Expensive car supplement threshold increase for zero emission cars
- GOV.UK: Vehicle tax for electric, zero and low emission vehicles
- GOV.UK: Get vehicle information from DVLA
- GOV.UK: Tax your vehicle
About these figures. GOV.UK content reproduced in summary under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not the DVLA, HMRC or HM Treasury; the links above go to the official pages. Where MOT statistics appear on this site they are computed from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Test class 4 only, first tests only; retests are excluded. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. Alias spellings of a make are counted under one make name and all trims of a model under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables.
This article is general information drawn from published test records. It is not professional, mechanical or legal advice, and an MOT pass or a clean MOT history does not guarantee that a car is roadworthy today. If you are unsure about a car, have it inspected by a qualified mechanic. You can check any vehicle's MOT history free on the official GOV.UK MOT history service.
Check a car's MOT history free
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