A United Kingdom-specific calculator with the official 2026/27 ved + vat rules, registration fees, and trade-in tax treatment. See your true monthly payment, total tax, and first-year ownership cost — then compare trade-in vs private sale.
In the United Kingdom, the cost of buying a car is the purchase price plus Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, commonly called road tax) and the £55 first registration fee. There is no general sales tax or VAT on private used-car sales. New cars bought from a dealer include 20% VAT in the sticker price, and used cars from a dealer are commonly sold under the VAT margin scheme — which taxes only the dealer profit, not the full price — so no VAT is added to what you pay. VED itself is not subject to VAT.
For cars registered after 1 April 2017, the standard VED rate is £200/year. The first-year rate is CO2-banded and ranges from £10 for zero-emission cars to over £5,000 for the highest emitters. Cars with a list price above £40,000 when new (£50,000 for fully electric cars from 1 April 2026) pay an additional £440 expensive car supplement each year for the second through sixth year of registration. Pre-2017 cars use older CO2 bands ranging from £20 to £790/year. This calculator uses the 2026/27 post-2017 bands and applies the supplement when your entered price exceeds the threshold.
Car finance in the UK is typically Hire Purchase (HP) or Personal Contract Purchase (PCP). This calculator models a straight HP/loan using a standard amortization formula. Typical car-finance APRs in 2026 run around 7-10% depending on credit and lender, but representative rates can be lower — enter your actual quote. PCP deals have a balloon payment and lower monthly figures but a large final settlement; this tool does not model PCP, so use it for HP or a personal loan.
Selling privately usually nets more than part-exchanging, but a part-exchange (trade-in) reduces the hassle and, with some dealers, the price of the replacement. There is no VAT or tax saving from part-exchanging in the UK because private used sales are untaxed, so the comparison is purely price versus convenience. The selling-mode calculator shows the gap between a private sale and a dealer part-exchange offer.
No VAT is charged on private used-car sales. New cars bought from a dealer include 20% VAT in the sticker price. Used cars bought from a dealer are commonly sold under the VAT margin scheme, which taxes only the dealer profit rather than the full price — so no VAT is added to the price you pay. This calculator shows the VAT portion of a new dealer price for transparency.
For cars registered after 1 April 2017, the standard rate is £200/year. The first-year rate is CO2-banded and ranges from £10 for zero-emission cars to over £5,000 for the highest emitters. Cars with a list price over £40,000 (£50,000 for electric) pay an additional £440 expensive car supplement for years 2-6. VED is not subject to VAT.
It is an extra £440/year added to standard VED for cars with a list price above £40,000 when new (£50,000 for fully electric cars from 1 April 2026), payable for the second through sixth year of registration. This calculator adds it to your first-year cost when your entered price exceeds the threshold.
The same amortization formula banks use: the monthly payment is the amount financed multiplied by the monthly interest rate, divided by one minus (one plus the monthly rate) to the power of minus the term in months. Enter your actual APR (typically 7-10% for car finance in 2026) and term for an accurate figure. PCP and lease deals differ — this models a straight HP/loan.
Yes — the DVLA charges a £55 first registration fee when a vehicle is first registered in the UK. This calculator includes it in the first-year ownership cost.
No. It uses publicly available 2026/27 VED rates and a standard loan formula to produce planning estimates. Confirm current rates on gov.uk and with your lender or dealer before buying.
Your estimate uses the standard amortization formula for the monthly loan payment and United Kingdom's official 2026/27 ved + vat, registration, and trade-in tax rules, pre-filled into the fields above. Every rate is editable so you can match your actual quote. On the sell side, the calculator compares trade-in against private-sale net proceeds.