Recent changes in the ownership and usage of oldtimers in the Netherlands: a summary

Trends in oldtimer usage For many years, vehicles older than 25 years have been excluded from road tax in the Netherlands by means of the so-called “oldtimer exemption”. In September 2012, the new government announced it would cancel the oldtimer exemption as of 1 January 2014. Prior to this decision, the vehicles around the age of 25 years were imported in large numbers. As a result of this, large cities, like Amsterdam and Utrecht, noticed an increase in the contribution to the total emissions from the group of vehicles older than 25 years. Originally representing less than 1% of the total fleet on the road, the group of older vehicles rapidly grew to over 2% of the total vehicle fleet (Figure 1). With tenfold to hundredfold the emission per kilometer compared to a modern vehicle, the contribution of this relatively small group of vehicles to the total emissions was significant.