Yes sonflowerinwales, it’s probably because it’s based on emissions, chances are your car & bike are less efficient with the exhaust fumes compared to the truck. I’m not going to go into the “road tax” thing again.
Slackbladder:
Or if you wanted a new car with no vehicle tax you could buy an electric or hybrid car, there are plenty about. VW 1.6 bluemotion, Volvo V40 or the Toyota Prius to name a few. There are over 2 million vehicles on the road now that don’t require tax, worse thing is they still need tax discs therefore taking money out of the system due to admin costs.
The sensible way to combat this unneccessary waste would be to issue a lifetime tax disc, 
I have in my possession a 1980 tax exempt Landrover and a 1978 tax exempt Landrover
Both if these vehicles are MOT exempt
One is currently sporting a 110 hardtop body and everything above the chassis
The other is in it’s work clothes.
There’s also a very interesting series 2a in a fetching pink colour which is also MOT and tax exempt
Tom re-body them and bang a V8 in them 
same chassis numbers for the DVLA 
I am pre 1945, and I still pay tax 
Classic car insurance is great. I pay £75 pa fully comp for my Citroën BX Gti 16 valve which has 160 bhp.
Drift:
Tom re-body them and bang a V8 in them
The 2 that are “mine” are pretty standard
The 110 is on a 1972 chassis (well chassis plate) and has a 300 tdi in it.
The other one is completely standard as a said with a 2.25 lump in it.
The pinkie has a TVR engine in it and will pick the front wheels off the ground (assuming the crane is on the back). With a car on it it would be fair to say you have to careful
For a second I thought you had a really Pinkie military then I reread your post
The old LR go for good money even if thrashed but I bet you know that
Tipper Tom:
I have in my possession a 1980 tax exempt Landrover and a 1978 tax exempt LandroverBoth if these vehicles are MOT exempt
One is currently sporting a 110 hardtop body and everything above the chassis
The other is in it’s work clothes.
There’s also a very interesting series 2a in a fetching pink colour which is also MOT and tax exempt
Why are they tax and mot exempt ?
Because the chassis age makes them tax exempt and because they are used as recovery vehicles makes them MOT exempt owing to their age.
Tipper Tom:
Because the chassis age makes them tax exempt and because they are used as recovery vehicles makes them MOT exempt owing to their age.
Oh right I see, thanks.
Here you go
gov.uk/vehicle-exempt-from-car-tax
It used to be a 30 year rule but they stopped that, my 4x4 had 12 years to go 
green456:
Sir +:
mrpj:
Santa:
And don’t forget that pre 1974 cars get a free tax disc too.Being pedantic it’s 1st Jan 1973. Also that date refers to the date of manufacture not registration.
Santa,you will be correct as from 1st April 2014
Being pedantic again but I am afraid that Santa will never be correct on this one
All vehicles upon attaining 25 yrs from year of manufacture used to become tax (VED) exempt and V5 stamped historic vehicle but this was scrapped by the government in 1998. Any vehicle already classed as historic retained the historic vehicle status. the last date of manufacture to be classed as historic is therefore 31-12-1972
Owners of these vehicles must still apply for and display a disc but the amount shown is £0.00
Forget that Torygraph link.
The position as of today, is that vehicles manufactured before 1st January 1973 fall into the historic tax class. So everything registered up to the 7th January 1973 gets the concession (it’s written on the DVLA form ), anything registered after that requires further proof of date of manufacture.
The position planned from the 1st April 2014, it that the fixed date moves to “before 1st January 1974”. (It’s likely that the previous system of treat registration dates up to 7th January 1974 automatically being considered manufactured the previous year will apply.)
So without getting too pedantic about the wording…
Santa isn’t correct…yet, but will be come April next year (providing the government doesn’t go into meltdown and not get round to the paperwork)
mrpj is currently correct. When one-eyed Gord stopped the rolling 25 year concession in 1997 (I’m fairly sure it was done in his first Budget and not 1998) that Mr Clarke introduced 4 years previously (1993 (or was it 1994?), either way I remember automatically getting my rebate cheque in the post!). It changed from registration date to manufacture date.
Sir + makes a good point about Santa’s crystal ball and it not being enacted yet.
green456 is also currently correct.
I 'ate all this forward announcing that governments do these days. This change was in the back of March 2013 Budget document FFS. Tell us when you are ready! Not 3/6/12 month before it happens.
Anyway, getting back to MOTs. The official stats say the highest failure rate occurs for vehicles 13 years old, after that age, the pass rate goes up. By the time we get to Pre-1960 cars, the initial MOT pass rate is over 90%. More blurb here: gov.uk/government/speeches/h … ion-review
The other thing about this was that non-commerical pre-1960 heavy vehicles were already exempt from testing.
Drift, it was 25 year rolling, not 30.
Cheers, Interesting reading 
mrpj:
Santa:
And don’t forget that pre 1974 cars get a free tax disc too.Being pedantic it’s 1st Jan 1973. Also that date refers to the date of manufacture not registration.
Being even more pedantic, there is no such thing as vehicle tax, it is vehicle excise duty
trubster:
mrpj:
Santa:
And don’t forget that pre 1974 cars get a free tax disc too.Being pedantic it’s 1st Jan 1973. Also that date refers to the date of manufacture not registration.
Being even more pedantic, there is no such thing as vehicle tax, it is vehicle excise duty
I thought it had changed to Road Fund Licence?
Like it’s ever used to pay for these ■■■■ roads
I’ve only just noticed this thread; I was actually involved in the consultation process before the MOT exemption became law.
Originally three cut-off dates were suggested; 1920, 1945 and 1960. We were asked to nominate one and explain our reasons for doing so.
I voted for 1945. My reasoning was, that virtually nothing manufactured before World War 2 is in use today as a “daily drive”,especially in its original form, and furthermore todays MOT testers would be unlikely to cope with the relatively random position of controls etc before everything was virtually standardised by mass production as we know it today. I know this from experience, having had to explain the vagaries of 1940’s Harley controls to a baffled young man who could not for the life of him understand how pulling the “clutch” in stopped the bike from moving… till he traced the cable from the lever and found that it ended at the front brake!
My local MOT tester also told me that he actually enjoyed testing older vehicles, firstly because it tested his skills and also because it made a refreshing change from what he called the routine of “plug-and-play” modern cars. Furthermore, the annual pilgrimage to the MOT station is a rite of passage to many classic vehicle owners.
I’m not wholly comfortable with the pre-1960 exemption and for two reasons. Firstly, an MOT may be basic, and in practice only confirms a standard of roadworthiness at the time and date it was issued; but it IS a second pair of eyes giving the vehicle a once-over underneath and in all the nooks and crannies where a loving but elderly and less agile owner might not spot that crack in a spring, the missing split-pin in a ball joint or the patch of terminal rot which threatens to allow the chassis to collapse.
Secondly, there’s the potential for abuse. As has been said above with Land-Rovers, so long as you’ve got the chassis numbers (you don’t even need the original chassis, just the plate) you’re pretty much legal and can re-body the beast with a modern cab and running gear whilst still retaining the exemption. Most do it for practical reasons but once the street-racing youngsters get wise to it, there’s nowt to stop them banging together an absolute Frankenstein with a modern engine and transmission but 1950’s safety standards… no seat-belts, steel dashboard, the list is endless. I’m aware that it already goes on to an extent but the application of an MOT allows a certain policing of the less sensible extremes. Whilst the vehicle is still required by law to be roadworthy, it can now be legally on the road showing a VED disc and having insurance, without any need to check that it is safe for it to be there.
Over-reaction you may think? Wait till it happens, and the consequences are that us classic vehicle owners get restricted to using our cars and bikes only on certain days, only in daylight, restricted mileage etc.
You get nowt for free off any colour of government.
As a sidenote: In Ireland, motorcycles/tricycles are not tested (but will soon be) and cars first registered before 1st Jan 1980[/] are exempt from testing. I own three pre-1980 cars and maintain them well. I’m also free to drive these around the EU (I’ll be over in a few days for a week). They have no restrictions on use. I don’t see any classic car carnage happening there…
A volutary MOT is still permitted if one wishes.
A MOT is still required for a registration transfer.