As per title really, I have just bought (pick up on Saturday) a A4 Avant 2.0
Fsi Sport (registered 28-11-2002) and think the tax bracket is wrong! Parkers and everywhere else have said it’s 170 or 180kg/co2 (£180 or £200 per year tax) but the car has just been taxed for 6 months at a cost of £135! It says its 250kg/co2 on the tax renewal and on the DVLA vehicle info search. Surely it’s wrong?! Other cars the same come up on the DVLA search at 170-180kg/co2.

Is there anything I can do?

Cheers, Jay

Ps. I have posted on a couple owners forums but you guys always reply pretty swiftly!

Is it auto? 4wd?

250 seems high for a 2.0 VAG I must admit.

It depends on the cut off year foe dvlas increase. I.e I thinks its upto 2001 on these to be cheaper. Yours may be the first of the higheer

Is it auto? 4wd?

250 seems high for a 2.0 VAG I must admit.

It depends on the cut off year foe dvlas increase. I.e I thinks its upto 2001 on these to be cheaper. Yours may be the first of the higheer

Had a new engine fitted? It could be taxed at the original rate as this cant be changed.

e.g. take a V12 supercar, convert it to electric, and its still taxed as a supercar, not an electric car.

It costs more than half the 12 month cost to tax for 6 months.

Nope nothing like that, original engine… Parker’s guide says:
Date of Registration 6 Months 12 Months Band CO2 (g/km)
15 Jul 2002 – 16 Dec 2002 £99.00 £180.00 H 170(g/km)
16 Dec 2002 – 25 Oct 2004 £110.00 £200.00 I 180(g/km)

My car is a totally original 2.0FSI (non-turbo) 5speed manual estate (FWD). Registered just at the end of the 170kg bracket…either way it says no where on paper about 250kg!!! As you see above it’s quoted to be much lower than that on the log book.

I did see a similar thing on a jaguar forum where the DVLA got it wrong…they changed it on the guys V5 and gave him the change back from the lower bracket.

Just wondering what you lot thought?

The only thing that I can think of is that while it was registered at the end of the 170 period it was built much earlier and so has an older version of the engine with a higher co2 output.

What does the v5 say? Thats what the dvla will base the duty on, could be worth asking Audi to confirm what it should be. Good luck getting the DVLA to do anything if the v5 is wrong though, tried 3 times to get my old campervan changed from petrol to LPG, each time it came back with a letter thanking me for updating the details but no change was made to the v5.

Steve. This is the first generation of the car/engine so it can’t be older than 2002. Tbh of it was it would be cheaper! My 3litre BMW td was a 2000 and cost 180 a year tax. Its emmisions were way higher.

I have tried Audi but my local dealer was not helpful at all. I am going to try audi uk tomorrow. The chap on the jag forum did get it changed…he sent a letter from Jaguar and his v5 off and a new v5 came back with a cheque for the difference in tax!

Fingers crossed for me!

Either way I did checks on the exact same model and age cars (from reg plates on cars found on autotrader) and they all come back as 170-180kg/co2.

Cheers

Had a new engine fitted? It could be taxed at the original rate as this cant be changed.

Oh it can, you just have to jump through a few hoops. The locost/self built car crowd do it fairly regularly when changing from car to bike engines. But you have to have absolute proof of your engines age and documentation to support it (available from a dealer with your engine code).

Are you sure? I’ve an article about smaller tuned engines in bigger MG’s (ZT etc) somewhere and I’m sure they said you couldn’t change the tax bracket (no the same as what the V5 says which can be changed).

There should be a certificate of conformity with the service gubbins that states the actual CO2, not the theorectical. Are there any options on the car? Leather seats, Body kits, option wheels? Final weight of car plus options influences the CO2, but I owuldn’t think to that degree.

As above, manual or auto? quattro? Turbo?

Your only way around this if the V5 is wrong is to get Audi UK to write to the DVLA confirming the correct CO2 rating for the car.
The DVLA will work with what’s on the V5 and only evidence from the Manufacturer will make them amend this.

Well I went into audi main dealer earlier and they are trying to get me something official from audi in Germany. With that the DVLA should sort it. Hopefully I can go to my local office and get things moving!

Cheers