Every coming year we see new changes for driving laws. We’ve put together the ones that specifically could apply to Private Hire Drivers.
Electric Cars to pay Vehicle Tax (also known as Road Tax)
Many existing Private Hire Drivers made the move to electric vehicles in the last few years and all new drivers must have zero emission vehicles, which means many more had to start their Private Hire career in London with an electric vehicle. One of the benefits of owning an electric vehicle was that you did not have to pay any vehicle tax, or road tax as its more commonly referred to. Starting from 1 April 2025, all electric vehicle owners, whether they own an old or new electric vehicle will have to pay the vehicle tax.
The charges differ depending on when you purchased and registered your vehicle.
New cars (Electric, Zero Emission or Low Emission):
Registered from 1 April 2025
Will get a discount for the first year and will only need to pay £10. From the second year, they will need to pay £195 per year.
Other cars (Electric, Zero Emission or Low Emission):
Registered between 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2025
Will need to pay £195 per year.
Older cars (Electric, Zero Emission or Low Emission):
Registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
Will be required to pay £20 per year. No other increase is planned for the future.
For Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles
There used to be a £10 annual discount, but this will now be stopped and vehicles in this category will be taxed based on when the vehicle was registered. For vehicles registered on or after 1 April 2017, this will be the same £195 per year.
If your vehicle doesn’t fall into any of the above categories, then you will need to check online to see how much you will need to pay. Here is a link https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-for-cars-registered-on-or-after-1-march-2001
Further Road Tax Increases for high emission vehicles
If you happen to be a PHV driver who drives a high Co2 emission vehicle, then it could cost you £5,490 per year to tax your vehicle from 1 April 2025. Currently the highest Co2 vehicles already pay a steep £2,745 per year.
We don’t think there are that many high emission Private Hire vehicles on the road these days, so hopefully this insane tax will not affect many PHV drivers.
Saying this, many of the more high-end vehicles driven by executive and chauffeur PHV drivers that cost more than £40,000 will be required to pay £590/600 per year as tax. This only applies to non-zero emission vehicles.
Sight Tests for PHV drivers over 70
This next rule applies to a very small percentage of PHV drivers. TfL recorded that around 500 drivers fall into the age group that will be required to undertake a yearly eyesight test to continue to be licensed to drive a vehicle.
A few other changes are coming in 2025 that will affect drivers, one of these is the introduction of AI-powered speed cameras. We will discuss more on this in the next blog.
We hope drivers have a great end to the year and an even more beneficial year ahead.
