The DVLA has issued a warning to motorists about a deadline in less than a week, which could cost people an extra £2,125. The Expensive Car Supplement adds £425 per year for five years following the initial tax payment on new cars priced over £40,000. This supplement adds a total of £2,125 to your tax bill over the five-year period.

The Expensive Car Supplement was introduced in 2017. In the November 2025 Budget, threshold was been raised from April 1, from £40,000 to £50,000 for electric vehicles registered from 1 April 2025, meaning that buyers of EVs under this price won’t have to pay the Expensive Car Supplement. It means people should make sure to check when their car was registered. From April 2026, the £425 supplement is expected to rise to £440, with the standard rate rising to £200, making the total £640.

In a new post on social media site X, the DVLA said: “From 1 April 2026, the expensive car supplement threshold for electric cars will rise from £40,000 to £50,000. This means the additional rate won’t apply to electric cars priced under £50,000, as long as they were first registered from 1 April 2025.”

The expensive car supplement was an additional fee levied on cars that cost more than £40,000 new. It’s part of the VED, or ‘road tax’, that car owners pay annually. Previously, electric cars were exempt from the £425 flat rate that is levied on all new petrol and diesel cars costing more than £40,000.

Since, then, in a small concession to EV owners, the Government has increased the price at which EVs are subject to the tax to £50,000. This change applies from April 2026, but is being applied retrospectively to cars sold from April 2025 onwards.

Currently, the expensive car supplement rate is £425 a year for the five years following the first tax payment, which is made when the car is a year old, but is set to change to £440 from April, according to experts. That’s on top of the standard second-year-onwards rate of £195 – which means you’ll be paying £620 a year if you buy a car that costs upwards of £40,000, until the car is six years old.

The Budget also means that from April 2028, electric vehicles will be charged a new ‘mileage tax’ to fill in the gap left by no fuel duty being paid for the vehicles. From April 2028, drivers will be charged an equivalent of 3p per mile for battery electric cars and £0.015p per mile for plug-in hybrid cars. The Chancellor says that this will go towards helping road maintenance.

That price will increase annually with the Consumer Price Index. At present, there is no announced framework for how this policy will be implemented or how drivers will pay for it. It would add an estimated £300 per 10,000 miles driven in an EV.

John Cassidy, sales managing director at Close Brothers Motor Finance, said: “A pay-by-mile scheme for electric vehicles risks increasing costs for many drivers, particularly those who rely on their cars for higher annual mileage.

“With energy bills rising and public charging becoming more expensive, motorists will fear that EV ownership could end up being significantly more expensive than traditional ownership.”

RAC head of policy Simon Williams has said: “The Government will be aware that taxing all plug-in vehicles per mile from 2028 could slow down the transition to electric vehicles. This is no doubt why it has expanded the Electric Car Grant.

“With fuel duty revenue set to decline as more EVs come on to the road, this is one lever the Chancellor clearly feels she can pull to keep the money coming in. The implementation will be critical, so the devil is very much in the details.

“We note the Government hasn’t cut VAT on public charging from 20% to 5% to match the rate levied on domestic electricity. This means drivers who can’t charge at home will continue to pay more.”