Yeah these monstrosities are also gaining popularity in cities in the Netherlands. And for the trained eye you see their license plates containing parts starting with V, meaning they are bought by businesses so they don’t pay BPM (a form of tax for vehicles which is substantial in the Netherlands). They are essentially getting these cars at two thirds of the price and the rest is paid by tax payers.
But the kicker is: the vehicle can be bought by any company. You can just start a business that doesn’t do anything, get a car in that business’s name for a reduced fee, and drive it whenever you want.
And then they drive around streets too narrow for these cars, obstruct vision for other drivers, be a menace to cyclists and pedestrians… I feel we can only fight this if we install a max vehicle size and weight in some urban areas.
Maybe we should tax them a lot. It’s disgusting that these monstrosities are even allowed.
Thanks Rutte!
I’d also add a max vehicle tonnage. I’d not limit it to urban areas but everywhere.
Or easier, prohibit these cars altogether. If I even have to argue it that way, the prohibition would protect the car industry also from those megacars (which take up more parking spaces, leading to fewer car possibilities, and endangering bicyclists and drivers alike).
A max vehicle tonnage won’t work since you need to exempt trucks and delivery vans (or change a couple of things drastically). So you could say that when something is used for work/delivery they are exempt and all others have a max tonnage. But since these guys buy and register it as a work vehicle, they will not be hit by the max tonnage.
Would imposing a limit on the ratio of useable volume/volume be reasonable ? Or hight off the road?
I don’t want fewer of these beasts, I want them gone. They are absurdly dangerous with no net benefit (offroading? Seriously??)
Maybe an easier one would be mandating that cars should not be allowed to have open-air transport areas, for safety reasons such as transport not sticking out, pedestrian safety, and so on. Since it’s possible to stick out with those pickups, that automatically prohibits cars
What also can be added, is abolishing the lease for SUVs altogether, and prohibiting the import and building of those that are taller, longer, wider, and heavier than certain dimensions (say 4 by 1.8 by 1.5 m), even for work.
Mandate that people sell them. Those who bought the SUVs before 1 January 2025, then can get a subsidy of 25% off for the new car, if it’s more energy efficient, smaller and lighter, and doesn’t have an open rear. Or, they can get 50% off for a bike (electric, transport, or whatever, but no fatbike).
But it’s possible to stick out from any car? I think I am not understanding correctly what you mean
With those pickup trucks, they have a large open back. The open back can be considered part of the car itself. If you put a long plank on there, it can stick out, and that’s deadly for other drivers and pedestrians.
With vans, it can only ever be enclosed, and that’s safer.
That would ban all pickup trucks but still allow huge SUVs with similar build. I don’t think that would solve much of the problem
I guess, these things weigh more than 3.5 tons. In Germany that means that you would need a truck driver’s license to drive them. That license alone costs 3000-5000€ and you have to pass a medical test every few years to keep it. You also need a digital driver’s card which, combined with a digital tachograph permanently stores your speed and your driving times. You’ll be treated like a professional truck driver, so you can’t drive for more than 9 hours per day, have to have an 11 hour break every night and at least a 45 hour break once a week. In practice that means that you can’t use your vehicle after 8pm if you drive to work at 7 in the morning and you can’t really use it on the weekend etc.
That’s enough of a hassle to deter most of the people from getting such a car so much that I rarely ever see them here.
For delivery vans that’s no problem because they have to adhere to these limits anyway, because of workers protection rights.
I don’t think these trucks are allowed. They get imported using a law loophole known as Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA). So they don’t have to comply with the normal regulations. It’s absolutely terrible.
That absolutely is illegal, yeah
But the kicker is: the vehicle can be bought by any company. You can just start a business that doesn’t do anything, get a car in that business’s name for a reduced fee, and drive it whenever you want.
This isn’t completely true.
First of all, company needs to pay for the vehicle, so one would have to put the money into the company. This comes with consequences for tax purposes and one obviously needs to have the money ready. A lot of cars are bought on a loan, this won’t work in this setup. Same with trading in the previous vehicle, that won’t work unless the company was the owner of that vehicle as well (and companies usually get terrible trade in prices). Then there’s the issue where the car can’t be used for personal trips, only for trips related to the company. There needs to be an administration and trips need to be convincingly for the company. The owner can opt to use the vehicle for private trips if he wants to, but then needs to pay the taxes, just like anyone driving a car they got from work. A company that doesn’t do anything also can’t exist. At the least there needs to be an administration and taxes. This will have costs attached. It’s also required for the company to pay the primary employee (owner) for the work he puts in, this is mandatory. There are ways to postpone these payments, but at some point they need to get done. A completely empty company that does nothing is usually a vehicle for tax evasion, so it will face frequent inspection.
Now there are workarounds with grades of legality, but overal it isn’t worth it just to prevent the tax on a new car.
The reason for the license plates is the way these are imported. They use the Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) loophole to import the cars. That way they don’t have to comply with normal regulations. It’s a terrible loophole that needs to be closed off asap.
We also need a max emissions, max size, max weight and max noise restrictions on all cars. It’s getting terrible out there. Especially some of those new huge Range Rovers are terrible, those are actual tanks and people inside are so cut off from the rest of the world they don’t even notice how much they are speeding and how reckless they are driving.
I want to make an alt to upvote both you and u/Vinny-93 a second time. This shit is getting out of control.
And I would be surprised if the vast majority of these assholes vote PVV/BBB/VVD.
That happened in the UK too. Vans are differently taxed to cars here for businesses. Vans are defined by the volume of their cargo area, which these just about meet. Thankfully though, the government changed the rules so that for any new leases or on the date of renewal, double cab pickups are considered to be cars for tax purposes.
Cars are taxed on their co2 emissions and on the user it’s given to (ie not the company). This still needs to change as it doesn’t quite work anymore as the massive electric SUVs have taken over. A think tank has recommended a weight and/or price component so hopefully at the next budget they’ll change it.
Maybe you can lobby to get the same?
Y’all need to start fighting against them sooner-than-later.
Owners of these trucks have an over-abundance of entitlement. They go into absolute temper-tantrums at attempts to get these monsters off the road. Nip them in the bud while there aren’t to many of them- they are the urban-planning version of an invasive weed.
The way my US state got around that was that the company had to have a sign on the truck. Name of the owner and a phone number.
Pickup trucks need a yearly inspection for the amount of new dents, scratches and/or poomarks on the bed. If less than ten are found, the truck is to be hit with a wrench until the condition is met.
A big, expensive wrench that’s never been used by a tradesman
It’s very pleasing any time I’m in a bus and one of these tanks actually looks small from my window seat. How do you like it, dillweed.
I don’t wanna judge too much, maybe he use it to take his couch and tv to his friend house every friday. Again, no judgement.
