Old diesels still rising in price despite ULEZ charge

Old diesel cars that will be non-compliant with the expanded ULEZ area in Greater London are still increasing in price, according to Auto Trader. This despite the fact that these vehicles will now incur a daily charge of £12.50.

Auto Trader conducted an onsite survey of circa 1,000 car buyers within the Greater London area (either currently within, or soon to be within the ULEZ) during 5-18th October. 

What they discovered is that a proportion of car buyers remain unclear on some of the key details of the expansion.

When asked whether they were aware that ULEZ was expanding 17% knew it was expanding, but didn’t know which areas it was covering.

12% knew it was expanding, but didn’t know when and only 11% knew which areas it will include and when it was happening.

When asked when the expansion will occur, 61% accurately said it will occur by the end of October, but nearly a quarter (23%) were unsure.

The remaining 16% either said end of November (5%), end of December (4%) or sometime in 2022 (7%). When asked how confident they were about which areas of ULEZ expansion will cover, 61% of on-site users said they were confident or very confident. However, 22% were unsure, and 17% were not very confident or not confident at all.

 When asked whether they knew how much the daily charge would be, 63% correctly identified the daily charge of £12.50 but nearly a third (31%) were not sure, and the remaining 6% were wrong in their answers.

 When asked what changes they’ll make if the area they live or work in falls within the expanded ULEZ zone (which would be all that were surveyed), 58% of on-site users will buy a ULEZ compliant petrol/diesel car. 22% would buy and electric or hybrid and 13% would avoid the ULEZ.