Gen1 Prius - could it be ULEZ-compliant?

[mshah]

I own an old Gen1 Prius, which is still going strong (relatively low mileage ~165k).
Although it predates Euro4, could it still be ULEZ-compliant?
I haven't been able to find the necessary emissions data to hopefully prove the car is compliant, and so was wondering if anyone here might have experience of this matter, in particular for proving to the ULEZ dept of Transport for London that the car is compliant?
 

[Cyker]

Have you typed the reg into the ULEZ checker? What does it say?

There should be a link there where it tells you what you need to submit to register for ULEZ compliance...

 

[mshah]

14 hours ago, Cyker said:

Have you typed the reg into the ULEZ checker? What does it say?

There should be a link there where it tells you what you need to submit to register for ULEZ compliance...

 

Thanks for this.
According to the ULEZ checker, my gen1 Prius is not ULEZ-compliant, but I believe that's simply based on the car predating Euro4 (registration date is 2001).

The link you refer to states that to prove my vehicle meets the ULEZ standards, I'd need to submit the V5C and also:
"A letter from the vehicle manufacturer's homologation department stating the vehicle's Euro standard or a conformity certificate."

I'm keen to know if anyone here has succeeded in registering a Gen1 Prius with TfL as being ULEZ-compliant, and how they went about doing that.

Otherwise, so far, I've not been able to source the documentation that could serve as the necessary proof, so any advice/tips about that would also be much appreciated.

[Big_D]

6 hours ago, mshah said:

The link you refer to states that to prove my vehicle meets the ULEZ standards, I'd need to submit the V5C and also:
"A letter from the vehicle manufacturer's homologation department stating the vehicle's Euro standard or a conformity certificate."

Have you tried contacting Toyota GB for a Certificate of Conformity? It will cost £75.00. This, along with your V5 may be enough.

[Big_D]

Here is a link for the CoC

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/vehicle-information/certificates-of-conformity

[mshah]

Thank you @Big_D for this information.

Before I take a gamble with the £75, it would be good to know what the CoC would indicate - has anyone here seen a CoC or received one with their car? 

E.g. if the CoC simply confirms that the car is compliant with e.g. Euro3, that would not be sufficient, as minimum for ULEZ compliance is either Euro4, or if you can prove your vehicle meets the specific emissions standards (NOx, CO and THC in this case).
(Note, the V5C doc for my old Prius doesn't indicate any emissions data, so is not sufficient on its own)

Otherwise, if there's anyone here who's succeeded in registering their Gen1 Prius (2000-2003) as being ULEZ-compliant, I'd be really interested to know how you went about proving the compliance.

[Big_D]

I applied for a CoC when I bought my C-HR

Here is an extract which may have the information you need. Obviously this is for a 2.0 C-HR, not a Gen 1 Prius but it might show the type of information which would be on the CoC for your Prius.

[mshah]

Thank you @Big_D for sharing that extract - much appreciated, and an eye-opener for me.

Certainly, in the CoC for your (very new) car, the necessary data is all there.

I wonder though if such emissions data could be accessible elsewhere, free of charge?  At least then I can know the particular emissions values for my specific Prius model and if they meet the ULEZ standards (as I'm hoping), then I could go ahead and order the official CoC to submit to the ULEZ dept.

Many thanks again.

[alan333]

On 6/28/2022 at 6:08 PM, mshah said:

I own an old Gen1 Prius, which is still going strong (relatively low mileage ~165k).
Although it predates Euro4, could it still be ULEZ-compliant?
I haven't been able to find the necessary emissions data to hopefully prove the car is compliant, and so was wondering if anyone here might have experience of this matter, in particular for proving to the ULEZ dept of Transport for London that the car is compliant?
 

It seems you can enter your reg into the Transport for London website and it tells you if you're compliant…

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

[TonyHSD]

It seems Prius gen 1 only needs to pay congestion charge and no low emissions or ultra low emissions zones, pretty much like any other Prius. 👍

[mshah]

Thank you @alan333 and @TonyHSD.

@TonyHSD,
Your finding is very interesting.
When I plug in the reg number for my gen1 Prius, the information that comes back is that I have to pay both CC and ULEZ charges, so I have been under the impression that the particular model is possibly incorrectly registered as non-compliant (re ULEZ), and have had to pay the charge accordingly each time I enter the ULEZ zone.

It's definitely the reg number of a Gen1 Prius that you inputted? i.e. produced between 2000 and 2003?

And does the V5C doc for that car have the exhaust emissions indicated on it?  In my case, those fields in the V5C are all blank.

(My gen1 Prius was first registered in Jan 2001)

[TonyHSD]

3 minutes ago, mshah said:

Thank you @alan333 and @TonyHSD.

@TonyHSD,
Your finding is very interesting.
When I plug in the reg number for my gen1 Prius, the information that comes back is that I have to pay both CC and ULEZ charges, so I have been under the impression that the particular model is possibly incorrectly registered as non-compliant (re ULEZ), and have had to pay the charge accordingly each time I enter the ULEZ zone.

It's definitely the reg number of a Gen1 Prius that you inputted? i.e. produced between 2000 and 2003?

And does the V5C doc for that car have the exhaust emissions indicated on it?  In my case, those fields in the V5C are all blank.

(My gen1 Prius was first registered in Jan 2001)

Is the car grey import? If yes it might be the reason why no information about emissions. 
I just got a picture from the web , Y reg Prius 2001 and shows only cc to pay. Perhaps you may need to go for the documents and only someone who owns same spec car and wants to share data with you from the v5c can answer your questions. 👍

[FROSTYBALLS]

As far as I'm aware, if the car is a grey import (ie imported into the UK as a used car), Toyota GB won't issue a certificate of conformity as the car wasn't produced for the UK/European market.

[forkingabout]

FWIW I found the certificate of conformity for my C-HR in the glove box in the handbook pack. 

You really need to find out if this is a UK spec / supplied vehicle or one someone has imported from outside the UK. 

[mshah]

Thanks Tony, Mike and Lee for your helpful replies.

I purchased my gen1 Prius in 2006 as an approved used Toyota from a Toyota dealership.  There was no indication of it being a grey import, and I don't believe it is.
Would the V5C document normally confirm this? (I don't see any indication in its V5C of it being an import)

I don't think CoCs were issued at that time with the car - in any case, one wasn't passed to me when I purchased the car.

An interesting finding though:
I note Tony entered the reg number of a Y-reg Gen1 Prius into the ULEZ vehicle checker, and got the result that the car was ULEZ-compliant.

My Gen1 Prius car is an X-reg, and the result is that it is not ULEZ-compliant.
Following Tony's lead, I found 4 different images of gen1 Priuses on the web with their full UK reg numbers:
for the two X-reg and one W-reg Priuses, they all came back as not ULEZ-compliant, like my X-reg Prius.
However, for the Y-reg Prius, it was returned as being ULEZ-compliant (no need to pay the ULEZ charge).

Both the X-reg and Y-reg models are identical, so it seems that the compliance might be granted for Gen1s that are Y-reg onwards?
If that is the case, it would not be right, but I'm not yet sure who I should be approaching about that.

Appreciate any thoughts about this.

[FROSTYBALLS]

We didn't have CoC's for our 2006 Corolla or our 2009 & 2012 Auris - both bought new.

As regards the Y reg Prius, you don't know whether Toyota made changes to the emissions controls on these cars - so it is possible the emissions are different.

[alan333]

Was it around X/Y reg that the road tax rules changed to emissions rather than the fixed rate system?  Could be related?

 

[flash22]

33 minutes ago, alan333 said:

Was it around X/Y reg that the road tax rules changed to emissions rather than the fixed rate system?  Could be related?

 

Yes !!!!

1st of March 2001 before that it was a 2 tier tax, up to 1549cc (currently £180) and over 1549cc (£295) with no alternative fuel tax

2001 up to 2017 it was emissions based

[mshah]

Hi Alan,
My car is actually taxed under the old system, as it was first registered in January 2001.  Had it been registered in March 2001, it would have been under the new system (and I would have benefited from zero road tax at the time, but that was not to be for my Gen1 prius alas!).  At the time, I recall this was simply a matter of registration dates;  even if the emissions levels were compliant to be eligible for zero tax, there was nothing I could do about that.
In fact, originally, the V5C didn't have it categorised as a hybrid, which was an error that I managed to get corrected.

So, maybe this indeed is related.  But surely in this case I should be able to prove compliance by demonstrating that identical models that Y-reg instead of X-reg are considered compliant?  Not sure yet how to go about that though...

[mshah]

I have an update - good news...

I sought help from Toyota Customer Relations (reachable by phoning Toyota UK HQ), who eventually put me in touch with their CoC coordinator.  They said that the only way they could provide the requested proof for my vehicle was via the Certificate of Conformity (I know that was suggested here too).
(Note, the ULEZ department really only requested the NOx value, but it seemed I couldn't get that information without ordering a full CoC.)

Well, that worked out. After completing a form (personal & vehicle details) I soon received the CoC document, and sent it to the ULEZ department. They were satisfied and happily corrected the categorisation of my gen 1 Prius as being ULEZ-compliant.
So I now am not charged the ULEZ fee whenever I drive in London's ULEZ zone.

A point to note re obtaining a CoC from Toyota:
According to the current information on the CoC application form, if one is not the original owner, then a fee of £75 is payable before the CoC is issued.
I'm not the original owner, but I happened to mention to the Customer Relations staff that I purchased my vehicle from an official Toyota dealer. They then said that in that case I wouldn't need to pay the £75 - I just needed to provide them proof (i.e. purchase invoice).  This point is not currently mentioned on their information about obtaining a CoC, so do bear in mind.

I hope the above might be helpful to anyone else who might have a gen1 Prius that is incorrectly registered as being non-compliant vis-a-vis ULEZ.

[Big_D]

Glad to see you got it sorted out in the end.

[Cyker]

23 hours ago, mshah said:

A point to note re obtaining a CoC from Toyota:
According to the current information on the CoC application form, if one is not the original owner, then a fee of £75 is payable before the CoC is issued.
I'm not the original owner, but I happened to mention to the Customer Relations staff that I purchased my vehicle from an official Toyota dealer. They then said that in that case I wouldn't need to pay the £75 - I just needed to provide them proof (i.e. purchase invoice).  This point is not currently mentioned on their information about obtaining a CoC, so do bear in mind.

I hope the above might be helpful to anyone else who might have a gen1 Prius that is incorrectly registered as being non-compliant vis-a-vis ULEZ.

That last point is well worth publicising!

 

[Big_D]

It's on the page https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/vehicle-information/certificates-of-conformity

Click on the "How much does a Certificate of Conformity cost? and you get the following

A CoC is provided to you free of charge when you purchase a new vehicle. This document will be located in the glove compartment of your new vehicle. 

If you purchase a used vehicle from an official Toyota Centre you will need to request a copy of the CoC if it has not already been passed on to you by the previous owner. Owners who do not meet the above criteria will be charged £75.00 (including VAT, administration costs and postage) to receive a CoC upon request.