Classic Car extend the 30 year rule petition

[bob_rich]

Hi Folks

This months Club Lotus mag had an article about a petition to extend the 30 year rule for historic vehicles. Details in the attached article. Could effect quite a few elans and +2's Not holding me breath but I guess its dont ask dont get!!

cheers

Bob

[UAB807F]

Honestly I'm not pouring cold water on the idea as I'd love to see a rolling 30yr exemption limit, but these things have been coming up regularly ever since the e-petition started and sadly they never seem to get anywhere.

IMO it's nothing to do with apathy or the rather strange idea that we shouldn't vote because by raising the issue we run the risk of the whole exemption scheme being scrapped, but simply because I bet there aren't enough UK based internet-savvy enthusiasts to make it. 100,000 is a heck of a number when you consider the sector, I think we'd need everyone in the industry plus a very large percentage of owners to vote and even then, as we've seen with the EU Referendum debate, it's still down to a government policy.

I reckon we'd stand better chance if the industry bodies started to do some serious lobbying of MPs, reminding them of past promises and the contribution to BRITISH industries & jobs that are made by the movement.

Brian

[nebogipfel]

Sadly about the only thing it would achieve is draw attention to it and get the whole thing abolished .....filthy classic cars, how dare they have a tax concession in these times of austerity!

On that basis I pass, I'm afraid

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Sadly about the only thing it would achieve is draw attention to it and get the whole thing abolished .....filthy classic cars, how dare they have a tax concession in these times of austerity!

On that basis I pass, I'm afraid

Yup! quite dodgy ground in many respects, let's hope it doesn't make waves

[billwill]

As far as I am aware the real reason why the exemption was introduced was because it was costing DVLC more to process the cycling of 6-month registration & then handing it back after a few months for a refund than they were achieving in tax. By making it free no=one bothers to send it back for a refund.

Anyway after it was all computerised, processing each change is much cheaper, the original premise no longer holds so it would not take much to tip it over into classic cars having non-zero road tax once more.

[ardee_selby]

Sadly about the only thing it would achieve is draw attention to it and get the whole thing abolished .....filthy classic cars, how dare they have a tax concession in these times of austerity!

On that basis I pass, I'm afraid

+1

...and if it did?

"Cars registered before March 2001 aren't subject to the road tax prices and bands quoted here; this is because there is no accurate emissions data available for these cars. Instead, road tax for cars is priced based on engine size (from April 2011):

Up to 1549 cc: ?130
1550 cc +: ?215"

What's 9cc between friends? Better get your sleeves out!

Cheers - Richard

[Elanintheforest]

There are quite a few countries now that have restrictions on running classic cars, with some planning on banning them from cities.

Some have a scheme where you can run your car as a classic, and only be allowed to drive it to and from a classic event...fairly restricted! Or you can run your classic as a normal car, and pay the appropriate road fund licence, which is a sliding scale related to emissions. The top-end of that scale could make our few hundred pounds a year for a normal car look very cheap.

So there is a huge can of worms that could be opened. I can imagine a scenario in 10 years time when the 'norm' for an everyday car is to get 80mpg and emit the equivalent of one Woodbine every 100 miles. Pay ?1500 (or more!) a year and run your classic as a normal car, or pay nothing and drive it to and from a few events. One thing's for sure; there will be no give without a lot more take!!

Mark

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

There are quite a few countries now that have restrictions on running classic cars, with some planning on banning them from cities.

Some have a scheme where you can run your car as a classic, and only be allowed to drive it to and from a classic event...fairly restricted! Or you can run your classic as a normal car, and pay the appropriate road fund licence, which is a sliding scale related to emissions. The top-end of that scale could make our few hundred pounds a year for a normal car look very cheap.

So there is a huge can of worms that could be opened. I can imagine a scenario in 10 years time when the 'norm' for an everyday car is to get 80mpg and emit the equivalent of one Woodbine every 100 miles. Pay ?1500 (or more!) a year and run your classic as a normal car, or pay nothing and drive it to and from a few events. One thing's for sure; there will be no give without a lot more take!!

Mark

I can confirm some of that Mark.

In Germany there are strict rules about emissions & cars that comply are issued with a suitable windscreen sticker (non-transferable) that permits them to drive into some of the bigger cities.
Cars without those stickers are banned from them.
That would rule out our Elans & I know of someone who lives in Munich who's Caterham 7 is basically marooned in its garage.

I also agree with your statement about the time left for us.
I say let's enjoy what's left for us & don't rock the boat which could possibly forshorten that time.
Some may say that this attitude could be compared to people not using their right to vote, under other circumstances I would feel the same, but in this making waves could be disastrous & I don't want my car being designated for the scrap heap the same way as pistol shooters here ended up with very expensive kit that was worthless.

Our government has proven to us that it is well capable of knee-jerk reactions

Cheers
John

[billwill]

Woo hoo..

How do we retro-fit catalytic convertors to an Elan?

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Woo hoo..

How do we retro-fit catalytic convertors to an Elan?

With massive heat shields & plenty of fire extinguishers

[ardee_selby]

"Cities" London? Brighton?

Get it while you can! ?

http://www.raceclassic.tv/component/eve ... r-run-2011

"Motorail" wouldn't be the same somehow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7GXWuTwkF8

Cheers - Richard

[nebogipfel]

Right, so now having reached what is clearly a sensible concensus we need the club members on here to persuade Club Lotus to drop the idea and NOT rock the shakey old boat that is the good ship GB.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

To be fair there have only been 11 replies on this topic so far.
It would be more convincing if more members expressed their opinion here.

I have already made my stand on how I feel but the nagging thought of not making my voice heard to "the authorities" does make me feel that I'm not doing my bit is also a bit of a problem for me.

Trouble is that I'm not certain if I'm being indecisive or not

John

[ardee_selby]

I have already made my stand on how I feel but the nagging thought of not making my voice heard to "the authorities" does make me feel that I'm not doing my bit is also a bit of a problem for me. John

I see these e-petitions a bit like pushing on a rope. Unless, as Brian has suggested, there is someone with some pull on the other end...it's hard to get anything off the ground.

Cheers - Richard

(BTW...Look up the collective noun for cheetahs! )

[twincamman]

Over ere in the Colonies we. Only have a 12month license so I pay for my cars to sit in the garage for 6 months over the winter . We are exempt from emission tests though after 20 years .and insurance demands the car be used for car shows and club meets ( of which there is large list)and pleasure drives but never to be used to drive to work or used for commerce and never driven in a mall parking lot .....there is lobby group of car clubs who deal with the Feds in Ontario. And they are very helpful when the G government gets the idea to mess with our cars ...votes with held you see...the only thing the stupid politicos under stand.....Ed