For years, the popularity of the double-cab pick-up truck has been fuelled by favourable tax legislation, possibly more so than any other type of vehicle on the UK car market. In Febuary 2024, HMRC announced that was set to change and that double cab pick-up trucks with payloads of over 1,000kg would no longer be classified as commercial vehicles for Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) company car tax purposes and would instead be classified and taxed as cars. Outcry from pick-up users ensued and within days HMRC had back-tracked, announcing that the commercial vehicle tax classification would remain afterall.
The appeal of the double cab truck has long been that these five-seat vehicles, often with very well-appointed and car-like interiors, have been classified as commercial vehicles and those using them as company cars have paid the flat commercial vehicle rate of BiK tax. This is in contrast to the company car tax system, which is calculated using the vehicle’s CO2 emissions.
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