Toyota Hilux D-4D 170 (2007) CAR review

I thought this was CAR? Looks more like a truck to me.

A truck it is and it’s here on CARonline because the British tax loophole is closing up. For the past five years or so sales in commercial vehicles have boomed in the UK as company car drivers took advantage of the special dispensation given to pick-ups and vans.

What dispensation?

While cars are taxed according to their list price and the volume of CO2 they emit, until now commercial vehicles were only taxed on a flat rate of £500. Take a Mondeo TDCi that costs £19,300 and emits 159g/km of CO2. Under current rules 159g/km attracts a 21 per cent tax rating and 21 per cent of £19,300 is £4053. Then you calculate 22 or 40 per cent of that figure depending on your income tax situation. But for trucks you simply calculated either 22 or 44 per cent of the £500 flat rate and didn’t even get taxed on your free fuel. Until now.