Pay Sadiq Khan’s Ulez or buy a new car? Calculate the answer

Sadiq Khan’s Ulez scheme has been expanded from inner London to the boundaries of the M25.

Cars which do not meet the emissions requirements of the scheme will be charged £12.50 for every day they drive inside the zone.

One in five Londoners plans to sell their car to avoid paying the charge, according to used car platform Motorway.

For drivers wondering whether or not to sell their car and upgrade to a vehicle which will not be subject to emissions penalties, the question will be whether they drive enough to make the investment worthwhile.

A driver in an old diesel doing the school run through the Ulez every day, for instance, would pay £62.50 a week to do so, an annual cost of £2,000, assuming the standard 39-week school year.

But how long would it take to recoup the investment with savings on Ulez fines after buying a newer car for, say, £10,000?

The Telegraph has made a calculator to help answer that question.

Simply input the model of your car and how much you wish to sell it for, the price of the car you intend to buy, and how often you take your car into the Ulez every day.

It shows someone selling their old car for £3,000 and purchasing a new one for £10,000 – a net spend of £7,000 – would begin to make an overall saving after two years and two months, assuming they drive in the emission zone five days a week.

Alex Buttle, of Motorway, said second-hand car values were changing rapidly as outer London car owners sought to offload non-compliant cars. The price of compliant cars, he said, was already rising due to demand.

He added: “And while non-compliant cars could see a drop in value, much of the UK still sits outside of clean air zones, so with the UK used car market as strong as it is, there will still be willing buyers for these non-compliant models.”

The Ulez expansion will apply to all cars, vans, motorcycles and minibuses weighing up to five tonnes.

Official guidance states that the Ulez charge does not apply to petrol vehicles that comply with Euro 4 emissions standards, and diesel vehicles that comply with Euro 6 emissions standards.

All petrol cars registered after January 2006 and diesel cars registered after September 2015 are compliant, but some cars dating back to 2001 have been known to meet the required standard.

Outside of the capital there are now so-called clean air zones in Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead), with a further zone in Greater Manchester under review.

Restrictions for each area vary. Only two, Bristol and Birmingham, currently apply charges to privately owned vehicles which do not meet minimum emissions standards.

Have you been affected by the Ulez expansion? Email money@telegraph.co.uk