New Carbon Dioxide Certificates for Used Cars

If you buy a new car today, the manufacturer and dealer provide a great deal of information about its fuel usage, its energy efficiency and the carbon emissions it produces. This is great, but what if you are buying a second hand car?. Are you compromising on your wish to have an ecofriendly car, or is your purchase a good deal environmentally as well as financially?

Until recently, you didn't get much direct information about this and it was a matter for guesswork. It is possible to look up the energy efficiency and carbon emission levels of new models of the car you are intending to buy, but these do not reflect the used model. From the end of 2009, people buying a second hand car get the advantage of a new carbon emission certificate specifically for cars that are not new. Car dealers can show this certificate to potential buyers to let them know more about the emissions produced by that particular vehicle.

Recommended by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership

The guidelines on issuing updated carbon emissions certificates have come from the LowCVP. The certificates are issued by the HPI, an organisation that is well known for producing reliable information for the motor industry in Britain. The actual documents will list information relevant to the car's potential future effect on the environment and also its likely fuel costs. At the moment, the only cars that are covered automatically are those under two years old but it is possible for dealers to apply for certificates for used car models registered as far back as 2001.

What Information is on a Carbon Emissions Certificate?

A carbon emissions certificate tells you what the fuel usage of the car is and the level of emissions it will produce over the next 12000 miles, putting it within a particular band on the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) scale. This is the banding system used to allocate the road tax that you have to pay on the car each year. The most efficient, green cars, which are usually the newest cars available, are in band A and attract no road tax duty at all. They emit less than 100 grams of carbon for every 1 kilometre they are driven. At the other end of the scale are cars put into band M, which emit over 255 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometre driven. These are the most expensive to tax and will set you back £405 per year.

Taken in isolation, the figures don't mean as much as if they are compared for different cars. If you shop around for a second hand car, the new carbon emission certificates will provide useful data to help you in your comparison. As an example, a fairly standard saloon car made in 2003 would typically be in band H – so would cost £175 per year to tax and would produce between 266 and 175 grams of carbon per kilometre. If you come across a second hand car in a band higher than this, it probably isn't worth buying.

Maintaining a Second Hand Car

One way of making sure any car that you buy produces as few carbon emissions as possible is to do some basic maintenance and have it regularly serviced. A car that is not properly topped up with oil and that does not have regular oil changes will produce more carbon emissions. You also need to change the oil filter at the time points recommended in the car manual. This should come with the car if you buy it from a reputable dealer.

Just by inflating the tyres to the recommended levels can save on carbon emissions and driving the car without any undue loads is also more environmentally friendly. The way you actually drive can also make a big difference. If we all drove our second hand cars as if they were new out of the showroom, the more smooth and careful driving style would release far less carbon dioxide over the time that we owned the car.