Your questions answered: will EVs have to pay a road tax soon?

In this edition of Your Questions Answered, Robbo answer the age-old question of resale value, works through a dirty problem and looks at the issues when a new car order goes wrong.

He also discusses the rights and wrongs of a potential EV user charge, something pretty relevant these days!

Got an automotive question but you don’t know where to find the information you need? Never fear, email us here at editor@carsales.com.au

Question: I am looking to buy a used dual cab. Which one of the following three options would it be better to go with in the long run?

Obviously, fuel cost will be less in the 2.2l, as well as insurance etc. But will it depreciate more or less?

An XL Hi Rider cost $6500 less than an XLT Hi Rider and resale will be less, but how much will it depreciate? Will I be worse off in a worse car by going for the cheaper option up front?

Hope that makes some sense. Thanks for your help. - Haigh

Answer: G’day Haigh, that’s a tough question! Let’s simplify things a bit; you’re looking for a used Ford Ranger, around six years old and the budget is between $23,000 and $30, 000.

Tackling your question about depreciation first… like time, it’s a question of relativity. It’s absolutely impossible to give you a hard and fast answer, because it depends on a myriad of factors. How many kilometres will you add to the odometer? Will you keep it garaged? Will you make sure the service manual is complete? Will it have a history of crash damage?

A good rule of thumb to work from is to assume the biggest depreciation hit has already happened and everything from here on out isn’t as bad. The cars you talk about have already lost about 50 per cent of their value from new and the cloudiest of crystal balls suggests you’ll lose around 20 to 25 per cent more over the next three years.

And it doesn’t really matter if you buy cheap or expensive; you’re exposed in the same way. The pain is not as great up front with the XL, for example, but the back end will be ‘worse’.

I put that word in single quote marks on purpose, because I am a big believer in buying the car you want or need now and not stressing yourself about resale. Accept the cold, hard fact you’re going to lose money and buy the car you want to drive.

Sure, look after it and that loss may – may – be minimised, but life’s too short to stress about stuff like that in my opinion.

Let’s assume you’re a pretty average car user, so you’re going to cover 10,000km a year and most will be on-road. Given you’ve got a Ranger, though, let’s chuck in a little bit of off-road touring into the mix.

The Hi Rider is a 4x2, so you miss out on a fair bit of off-road ability and the diesel engine will get you more places than the underdone petrol will.

If you don’t venture into the bush, though, the 4x2 will be lighter and mechanically simpler, which means it’s easier on tyres, brakes and fuel.

Go with your gut, my friend… cars are a terrible investment, so buy the one you really want!

Question: I have been wondering when you wash your car with the wash and wax product… does it mean polishing a car is now not needed or is that just wishful thinking? – Don

Answer: G’day Don, just like our cars, cleaning product technology has come a long way in a few short years. And car owners have also become a lot more aware that looking after the paintwork with the right stuff helps their car look its best for longer.

Conventional thinking is a complete wax and polish of the paintwork is done three or four times a year, supplementing a regular washing regimen. If you have the time and inclination, more is always better!

Funnily enough, I use a locally-made wash and wax product on my daily driver once a fortnight, finishing it off with a drying towel sprayed with a drying aid… and it does a ripper job if the car isn’t too dirty.

If I’ve left it outside or it’s rained a lot, though, I find I need to wash it with something a bit stronger first to really get rid of the grimy stuff. The wash-and-wax then works its magic again.

Ideally, though, I should give it a deep clean, which means stripping back that wax and grime, maybe using a clay bar to get rid of embedded gunk in the paintwork, then using a specific polish product to protect the newly cleaned paint.

The good news is the wash and wax will help to prolong that polish job, if done regularly.

Question: I ordered a Golf R in June this year optioned with the $6500 Warmenau package. It was widely reported these would be available in Australia from October 2025. When I ordered the car, the arrival date in the contract was end of November, which was apparently confirmed with VW.

A couple of weeks ago I rang to check on the car and I was told it was now due the end of April 2026. That’s 10 months from order date and five months after what was in my contract. I cancelled my contract and I have been refunded my deposit.

I am hoping if you can find out from VW when the first deliveries in Australia will be, so I can work out if the dealer either gave someone else my allocation, forgot to order it or VW is taking much longer to get the cars here. I can’t get a straight answer from the dealer.

I have had six VWs so I was pretty disappointed with the outcome. The dealer did not care as they appear to be able to sell the limited quantities they can secure.

I have since purchased a Honda Civic Type R which I am sure I will be very happy with. – David

Answer: Hi David, I have passed your note onto a contact at VW Australia but I’m yet to hear back. It’s disappointing this kind of thing – which was rife in the COVID days – still goes on.

Supplying a new car is a complicated job and there are any number of kinks in the chain that can cause a delay, including allocation changes at factory level, issues with parts supply, shipping delays and more.

I’m with you, though… if you sign a contract (and for not an insignificant amount of money), a little communication goes a long way. For example, tracing your build via the car’s Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) - which is generated before the car is built - and a company app should be a simple process. But it’s just not a thing with most car companies.

As well, the disconnect between customer, dealer and wholesaler is seldom more obvious than when these kinds of issues arise. Customers are left in limbo between the two, who are too busy blaming each other for the problem to focus on the most important person in the triangle. In this case, it’s cost them the sale. If VW gets back to me, I’ll pass it on.

Question: I wanted to ask about a tax I understand may be coming to electric car users for actually driving their cars. Is this correct? It seems a bit odd, given people pay GST on the car itself, then pay GST on the electricity they would put in the car. – Donna

Answer: Hi Donna, great question. You’re referring to a proposal to charge EV users a road user tax, which, as it says on the tin, will charge users of EVs a tax on the number of kilometres they travel.

It’s only at discussion level now; there are a few bumps in the road to navigate before it becomes a reality. The biggest one is probably the fact the Victorian government lost a court case after imposing its own state-level tax on EVs, with the judges in the case deciding such a tax was the federal government’s job.

This means the federal government of the day – Labor for the next few years at least – will be the ones to implement it Australia-wide and who will have to work out how to do it in a fair and equitable way.

It's designed to replace the current fuel excise tax, which currently sits around 58 cents per litre of most fuels, including diesel. This excise feeds into general revenue and pays for – amongst other things – roads, bridges and tunnels at a federal level. Even if a state government announces and supports a tunnel project, it will reach out to the feds for financial assistance.

The Victorian system required EV owners to photograph – yes, really – their odometers and submit them each month for taxation purposes. It was clunky to the point of being unworkable. If such a levy is to be rolled out nationally, it needs to be smarter than that.

The question is how? I wanted to compare our situation to Norway, but quickly abandoned that idea – the Nords are so far up the road and so progressive with the notion of EV rollout, Australia has little to no hope of catching up!

Almost 100 per cent of Norwegian new car sales last year were EVs, thanks in part to generous concessions to owners that include reduced tolls, lower sales tax and, until recently, no luxury tax on expensive EVs.

They do pay a reduced level of road levy, but this is supplemented by a weight-based tax system linked to registration. This, I reckon, makes a lot of sense, combined with a robust app-based kilometre counting set-up and perhaps even a pre-emptive payment system that allows users to estimate their usage over a given period and pay a small amount of tax a week or month. You can then either pay the balance or get a credit when rego time rolls around.

However, given none of our nation’s governments share even the most basic vehicle registration infrastructure, a workable levy on EV owners is a long way off.

And should the tax be even charged? In my view, yes it should. Use the road, pay for the road, right? The only other way governments can make up for the loss in fuel levy revenue is by taxing all of us more and that’s a big no from me.

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