Time to buy affordable luxury – without the LCT
In the coming financial year, new car prices have to be around $70,000 or higher to incur the luxury car taxAussies hate paying tax when it’s not necessary. But it’s hard to escape paying luxury car tax (LCT) once the price of the car reaches a certain threshold.
Fortunately, the threshold for the next financial year (2021/22) has risen to $69,152 for conventional cars and $79,659 for fuel-efficient vehicles.
What can that money bring you – without spending 33 per cent more for LCT? For $69,000 you can buy some pretty well-specified MINI models, including the Countryman SUV.
A real prestige badge is by no means out of reach either, although you may have to settle for smaller passenger cars or SUVs, such as the BMW X2 M35i. Up to $70,000 will put you in the driver’s seat of a couple of mid-size Audis (A4 and Q5) as well.
And if you do need space for seven or eight without the prestige badge, there’s the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Carnival in high-spec form.
You could even pick between some convertibles – like BMW 220i M Sport and MINI JCW – if open-air driving fun is more your bag.
In other words, there’s plenty of scope for buying a car that will fulfil almost all your needs.
If your heart is set on a fuel-efficient vehicle – one with a fuel consumption figure of 7.0L/100km or less – there are more options still, and you can buy something priced a little higher at $79,659, although the recently announced Victorian government subsidy for electric cars only applies to vehicles priced at or below $68,740.
How can you tell whether the car you want is subject to LCT?
The simplest way is to search the online price and specifications data at RedBook.com.au. Hit the ‘Search’ button in the ‘Research & Value Cars’ section of the home page, in the top left corner.
Then filter on a maximum price of $70,000 (or $80,000 for fuel-efficient vehicles), change to the current year and sort in descending order for results like this. Scroll down for any vehicle priced below the threshold ($69,152 for 2021/22) to find a car free of LCT.
And the RedBook database offers other ways of filtering the data – if you know you want a sedan, for instance, or an engine above 3.0 litres displacement.
Play your cards right and maybe you can buy a nice car at the end of this financial year and take advantage of the higher LCT threshold in the next financial year…
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