"KatzManDu" (KatzManDu)
09/08/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: None
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"KatzManDu" (KatzManDu)
09/08/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: None | 2
| 5 |
I’ve griped about taxes here before, but this takes it to a new level.
Belgium has a tax bracket for vehicles called “utilitare” which basically lets vehicles with a “service bed” be expempt from carbon taxes and hold fairly low annual fees for plates. This is designed so that people who work in trades and have pick-ups and vans and such do not get hit with heavy taxes when their work requires a vehicle with horsepower or is not that green.
The rules for utilitare are pretty simple. Either you have one row of seats up front and an empty bed behind you, or you have an exposed bed behind the cabin (that way 4-door pick-ups count.)
Enter a 2008 Audi RS6. You know, the one Hamster raced down the Swiss alps against a skier?
If you take out the rear seat and set up a bed, it now becomes a utilitaire. People do this with SUVs (Touareg) and other “hot hatches” (I saw a Megan RS set up as a Utilitare recently.)
This takes it to a new level...
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Brilliant.
For me to register this as a “voiture” or “auto” (with all seats intact) it would be 2500 Euros in carbon tax, 3500 in annual road tax, and probably 2700 in initial registration tax.
Take out rear seats and put in a divider and that fee drops to under 300 Euros and around 150 annually. And 0 carbon tax (ecomalus.)
And this guy “added lightness” by taking out the rear seats and airbags plus added horsepower via MTM. This car is a beast, just by looking at it.
iSureWilll
> KatzManDu
09/08/2015 at 09:52 |
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What a gorgeous car!!! This looks like one smart guy.
Can you remove the rear seats when you license the car and then put them back in if you ever need them again?
Since it’s a wagon, Couldn’t you leave the rear seats in and set up a “bed” in the hatch area and still be considered a utilitare?
Cé hé sin
> iSureWilll
09/08/2015 at 11:06 |
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Nope. Seats have to come out.
kanadanmajava1
> KatzManDu
09/08/2015 at 11:11 |
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Finnish people have long history making van conversions to avoid certain taxes. But at some point a small law change was made that limit the maximum power for vans (I don’t remember what it is). So that could have done in Finland too 5 years ago but not anymore.
A performance van isn’t very sought after thing here as the maximum speed for vans is 100 km/h.
desertdog5051
> KatzManDu
09/08/2015 at 11:17 |
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Don’t let Tom McParland see that.
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KatzManDu
> Cé hé sin
09/08/2015 at 11:56 |
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When a co-worker was planning on modding up a BWM 540i Touring he was told that he would have to weld over the seat bolts and seat-belt receptacles. Then again, I’ve seen other “utilitaires” for sale with all the original rear-seat kit so you could convert it back the 364 days of the year the car is not at CT (MOT/annual inspection/APK)