car use

This article instinctively feels like bad news for me. With rural dwellers more dependent on the private motor car than their urban counterparts I wonder what its impact on our kind of folks will be? The paper tax disc is being scrapped after 93 years on 1 October, although tax will still need to be paid, and it will no longer be transferred when buying a second-hand vehicle. A poll of more than 1,000 drivers by a financial advice and comparison site found that 40 per cent were completely unaware of the impending changes and of those who were, half were unsure when they were coming in and many were not planning to find out more. And one in three drivers claim they struggle to pay for their vehicle tax and many resort to overdrafts, borrowing from family friends or payday loans. Among the more welcome changes is the ability to pay via direct debit instead of the year or six-month options currently available. But drivers selecting monthly payments will pay 5 per cent extra each year on top of the average annual cost of tax and the millions of people who pay with a credit card will be hit with a £2.50 surcharge.