Expensive car supplement

The expensive car supplement is an extra £440 a year on top of the standard rate. It applies for five years starting from the second time the car is taxed. Together with the £200 standard rate that means a qualifying car pays £640 a year from year 2 to year 6 inclusive.

The trigger is the car's list price at first registration, not its current second-hand value. Petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid cars qualify when the list price was over £40,000. Zero-emission cars - fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell - have a higher threshold of £50,000 from April 2026 onwards, but only if they were registered on or after 1 April 2025. Pre-April 2025 electric cars never pay the supplement at any list price. The full rule is in the gov.uk rate tables.

The "list price" figure DVLA uses is the published recommended retail price of the car, including non-standard options fitted before the car was first registered, but excluding the first registration fee and the first year's tax. Dealer discounts do not reduce this figure. If you bought a car for £39,500 after a dealer knocked £1,000 off the £40,500 list price, the supplement still applies, because the list price exceeds the threshold.