Cars going back to petrol from LPG after tax hike

More and more classic car owners go back to petrol and remove LPG systems to pay less tax, as shown in the statistical data collected by RDW. In recent years the number of vintage cars which owners have decided to remove LPG has increased in more than four times. The reason for such solution is that since the beginning of 2013 owners of vintage cars running on gas have to pay the full tax while owners of such cars running on petrol still pay only 1/4 of their taxes. It concerns cars which are 25-40 years old. Cars older than 40 years old are spared of any tax. "In 2012, a bit more than 700 vehicles were stripped of LPG system, a year later that number was 1700 and at the beginning of 2014 it was 2900", - said RDW's spokesman. The reason for such tax change is the increased number of so-called "young" classics. The government believes that too many car owners use their vehicles every day. This amendment will help the cabinet to be sure that owners of vintage cars will also pay the tax on motor vehicles. As the result, the export of such cars out the Netherlands has become enormous. "Most classic cars which are from 20 to 40 years old, are sold en masse nowadays. This proves that their owners have not been vintage car lovers but those who just wanted to save money", - says the spokesman of Bovag trade association. Owners of "young" classic cars invent new ways of how not to the full tax. One of them is very simple - they just stop using their vehicles. "The number of cars which are no longer used by their owners gradually increases. In 2012 we had 80 000 such cars and in 2013 their number was 94 000 but it is not the result of new tax rules", - notices RWD's spokesman. The spokesman of FEHAC (the Federation of Historic Automobile and Motorcycle Clubs) admits that. He says that many lovers of old cars have several classics at once and that now they prefer using only one of their cars. FEHAC also asked UNESCO to include some classic cars into their World Heritage list. The federation believes that such measure will help them to cope with "the government's simplistic approach".