Get ready, Britain. The government’s shiny new plan to tax electric cars could turn into the biggest motoring shake-up since speed cameras. Depending on how far ministers push it, drivers could soon find something far more intrusive than a charging cable plugged into our Jaguars.
With fuel duty collapsing thanks to EVs, the Treasury is desperate to claw back billions. Their answer? Road pricing. Sounds simple: tax drivers for the miles they actually drive. But there’s one big problem. How on earth do they police it?
Right now, officials are floating the idea of self-reporting mileage, possibly during MOTs. Lovely—until you remember that if some computer nerds can bring down JLR for three months, then they can easily hack into odometers to wind them back. Insurance firms already catch drivers lying about mileage every day. Now imagine that on a national scale. Then there is the small matter of MoTs. Will this mean a return to the annual MoT for brand-new cars, or will new-car owners have to book an MoT at a station for their annual mileage check? The system would be about as watertight and reliable as a vandalised EV charging point.
The era of tracking and surveillance?
So here comes the worrying part: the “solution” already whispered in Whitehall corridors.
A black box in every car.
Yes, the same telematics gadgets young drivers grudgingly accept to stop their insurance premiums exploding—only this time, compulsory for absolutely everyone. A government-approved device, legally required, sitting in your car, quietly counting every mile you drive. And if it can count miles, it can track locations. Every trip. Every stop. Every late-night detour. All logged.
Once that box is there, the data it collects becomes political gold. Why stop at mileage tax? Why not automatic speeding fines? Congestion charges for every town? “Behaviour nudges” about when and where you should travel? All it takes is one future minister with a bright idea and a pen. Then there are the commercial aspects – could this data be sold for advertisers to capitalise on “hey you drive past us every day at 5, pop it for a new bathroom quote…”
Still think this is far-fetched? CCTV started as a way to stop shoplifting. Look around you now. Also, don’t forget that all new Jaguars already report and store all this data – check your InControl app, you can download all that information and more into a handy spreadsheet. It’s a short step to make that available to DfT or DVLA via a remote login. Throw in AI engines to process all the data and fines, and hey presto – George Orwell’s 1984.
What about miles driven abroad?
Take your EV to France for a summer getaway, rack up 2,000 miles across Europe, and what then? Do you get hit with a bill for driving on UK roads… even though you weren’t? With self-reporting, there’s no way to tell where the miles were clocked. With a black box, there is—because it literally has to track your location to separate UK miles from foreign ones.
So pick your poison: a tax system based on blind trust and easy fraud, or a nationwide tracking network following millions of cars. One is unrealistic. The other is unprecedented.
Ministers insist they have “no plans” to snoop on drivers. Fine. For now. But once the tracking gear is bolted into every car? Plans can change. Governments can change. And mission creep is practically built into Westminster’s DNA.
Why classic Jaguars suddenly look like the last driving freedom we’ve got
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no EV basher. I love the I-PACE, and I own an astonishingly good F-PACE. I’m excited about what Jaguar has coming next and positive about the EV movement as a whole. So, I am not suggesting, for one moment, that we start considering using classic cars as everyday transport or as an alternative to an EV for the daily commute. I’m also not suggesting that driving a classic will be any less expensive or offer any sort of mechanism to save money. This is about those fleeting moments when you want to enjoy your freedom – and how being in search of that brief liberty might make the appeal of owning a classic even stronger in the coming years.
In a world where every new car could end up tattling on its owner, the only thing left offering real freedom might be the old stuff. That’s exactly why the old big cats — the E-Types, XJs, Mark 2s, XK8s and every glorious machine in between — are suddenly looking less like nostalgia pieces and more like the last truly private space left on the road. Even more reason then to add one to your garage, perhaps?
No black boxes. No metadata streams. No shadowy server somewhere logging your route to Tesco. No midnight software update quietly switching on a new “feature” you didn’t ask for. A classic Jaguar only records one thing: the grin on your face.
In a world of monitored miles, prepaid road credits, AI-powered fines and dashboards that feel more like HMRC portals, climbing into a classic becomes an act of quiet defiance. It’s not just motoring — it’s opting out. It’s deliberately not being part of the rolling digital census happening to every modern vehicle.
In the rush to electrify, digitise and monetise every mile, the Government might spark a renaissance in classic car ownership that it never saw coming.
Drivers may rediscover the joy of machines that exist entirely offline.
Classic car ownership may suddenly look less like a hobby and more like a quiet rebellion. A leather-scented sanctuary where the only person who knows where you’ve been… is you.
That’s why classic Jaguars could be on the verge of their own renaissance. Not because people want to go backwards, certainly not because it’s cheaper (it’s really not), or because they are viable daily transport, but because owning one lets you keep hold of something precious — the right to get in, turn the key, and disappear down the road without leaving a massive digital footprint.
Britain needs to replace fuel duty — fair enough. But we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our freedom to do it. And if the government won’t protect the last private mile, then perhaps our classic big cats will.
So if you want to enjoy the future of Jaguar ownership and preserve the pure, analogue thrill of real motoring, join the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club today. Because the way things are going, the fight for driving freedom might just be led by the cars that started it all.
9 Responses
You do realise that your classic Jaguar on a classic insurance policy requires you to drive a modern “every day ” car as your main vehicle, so the authorities will always know where your car is. You can’t have a classic policy for every day use.
Not necessarily – I have a pair of X350 ‘Modern Classic’ Jags on a Specialist Vehicle policy which also includes commuting to work as an extra I opted for., as well as annual limited mileage options of 7000 or 10,000 miles. I also have an ancient E34 BMW on an ‘Everyday/standard non classic’ policy for the bulk of my commuting to work. None of these cars communicate with the authorities – although the X350 Jags both had the wiring necessary to have road pricing systems installed as additional options depending on the countries & markets they were sold in outside of the UK.
The easiest way round the problem is to simply get a cheap old reliable previous generation car & run that on a mainstream ‘every day’ policy. It might cost a bit extra but you can then use all the cars without being tracked.
Abolish road tax, put it on fuel and then you pay for the miles you do and the size of engine you choose.
I couldn’t agree more. My XKR attracts an annual road tax of £760 (something like that) because it’s a heavy polluter. Which I believe it is. However, it does less than 3,000 miles a year so that tax is expensive per mile. The irony is that tax gets cheaper per mile the more miles you do! More miles does equal more pollution, and I’m encouraged to do that which is the polar opposite of the original argument. Put it on the fuel, that’s the fair way to do it – but when was any of our Governments fair?
I couldn’t agree more. My XKR attracts an annual road tax of £760 (something like that) because it’s a heavy polluter. Which I believe it is. However, it does less than 3,000 miles a year so that tax is expensive per mile. The irony is that tax gets cheaper per mile the more miles you do! More miles does equal more pollution, and I’m encouraged to do that which is the polar opposite of the original argument. Put it on the fuel, that’s the fair way to do it – but when was any of our Governments fair?
My 2005 white badge XK8 does around 2000 miles annually so the road tax is reasonable and I love it dearly. I only pray that at nearly 80 years I can continue to get in and out of it successfully! My daily driver is a short wheelbase landcruiser road tax of £735. Its a great vehicle, in mint condition now 20 years old and going like a train. I cannot see me going electric and I worry at the prospects for Jaguar with their projected cost when production gets underway.
When the large majority of cars are EVs, how many garages will sell petrol?
Most will go bust: those with enough space will be converted to charging stations, but this will in turn put pressure on land areas near cities and towns.
I foresee a sweeping change in motoring infrastructure which will cost many billions: the days of cheap EV usage are numbered, and subsidised purchase is already threatened. Just a huge pollution cost added to the “solution of pollution” political chaos inflicted on us all.
Unfortunately it is becoming clear that theright hand is not connected to the left hand.
We are told there are not enough homes presently for the inhabitants of this country. Hence the requirement to build in previously green & brown “protected areas”, however, the basic infrastrucure required to exist such as -clean water-water treatment facilities-education-hospitals-transport etc are not given a mention. The number of homes required will only be built as multy floored flats. How does the car owner on the 5th floor park/recharge his vehicle? There is no mention of increasing this infrastructure either. How will the food produced by our farmers (the salt of the earth) get their products to market?
Unfortunately the overall picture for our children riding on electric bicycles to school/supermarkets etc is not the improved standard of living we should expect of educated leaders.
I dont have a classic Jaguar, I don’t have an EV (and will resist to the last moment as the through / full life costs are at least as bad as ICEs were claimed to be). I do have a Jaguar XF ULEZ compliant diesel ICE doing 20K miles per annum with minimal Car Tax annually. If I ever get a classic I don’t want to adulterate it with a black box. I like the argument of spreading my low Car Tax over all those miles driven.
The outlook is patently dismal, but I might be able to get that classic past my wife when she’s feeling kind !!