After the Dutch elections on September 12 this year, a new government has been presented today and they also presented their new plans for the next 4 years. Unfortunately there is very bad news for the Dutch classic car and oldtimer-fans: the exemption for the road taxes for classic cars has been banned by the new government! In The Netherlands owners of cars has to pay a monthly fee for using roads . The road taxes in Holland are one of the highest in Europe: the average petrol car pays about EUR 40,– per month and a diesel (and LPG) car about EUR 100,–. Fuel prices in The Netherlands are also higher than most European countries: at the moment about EUR 1,85 for 1 litre Euro95 and EUR 1,55 for a litre of diesel and EUR 0,85 for LPG. Most classic cars can run excellent on LPG which is a lot cheaper than petrol fuel and if the car is 25 years or older the owner of a classic car will save a lot of money per year.

But the new government bans the tax-free oldtimer by withdrawing the tax-free cars, meaning these cars will have to pay the full road tax each month (or per quarter of a year, or yearly: just what the owner want). The new government (with righ-wing VVD and left-wing PvdA) declared the oldtimers will have to pay taxes per 2014 and they made this change due environmental considerations.  It is most likely a lot of oldtimers will disappear the next years.

Youngtimers like the Volvo 240 will gradually disappear from the streets

I have to admit: there are a lot of classic car owners who are abusing the system by driving a rusty Mercedes-diesel which smells terribly, but owners of a nice P1800 or PV 544 (or a nice Ferrari or any other nice classic car) which drive their oldtimer only a few days per year are paying the price of these new regulations. I think the FEHAC (classic car organisation in The Netherlands) will start a lobby, but in the best scenario I think a special ticket system will be introduced to drive a classic car a few days per year.