Are double cab pickups cars or vans for tax?

Since 6 April 2025, HMRC treats most double cab pickups as cars for Income Tax, even with a payload of 1 tonne or more. That changes capital allowances, hire costs and benefit in kind, but not the 55p mileage rate.

A double cab pickup normally has a second row of seats, four doors and an open load bed behind the cab. Payload is the vehicle's maximum gross weight less its kerb weight. The rules below follow GOV.UK and HMRC's manuals as checked on 16 October 2026.

What changed in April 2025

From 6 April 2002, HMRC followed the VAT approach: a double cab with a payload of 1 tonne or more was treated as a van, and one under 1 tonne as a car. In 2020 the Court of Appeal ruled in the Coca-Cola case that a vehicle with no predominant suitability for carrying goods should be treated as a car.

At the Autumn Budget 2024 the government said that, from 1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax and 6 April 2025 for Income Tax, double cabs with a payload of 1 tonne or more would be treated as cars for capital allowances, benefit in kind and some deductions from business profits. HMRC's manual now says most, if not all, double cabs will be cars, because they are equally suited to carrying passengers and goods. Double cabs under 1 tonne were already cars.

The transitional rules

• Buying. HMRC's test is when the cost is incurred, which is usually when you take delivery and must pay, not when money changes hands. Spending incurred before 6 April 2025 keeps the old treatment. If the contract was made before 6 April 2025 and the cost was incurred on or after that date but before 1 October 2025, a double cab with a payload of 1 tonne or more is still not treated as a car for capital allowances. A pre-April 2025 contract with the cost incurred from 1 October 2025 gets the new treatment.
• Hiring or leasing. The same contract-date test applies to hire costs, but HMRC's manual says hire costs incurred from 1 October 2025 are treated as the hire of a car, whenever the contract was signed.
• Employees. An employer that bought, leased or ordered a double cab before 6 April 2025 can keep the old benefit in kind treatment until the earlier of disposing of it, the lease ending, or 5 April 2029.

A worked example

A self-employed joiner buys a new diesel double cab for £30,000 in May 2026, with CO2 emissions over 50g/km. They use it 80% for business, use the cash basis and have a 12-month accounting year. Their profit before any vehicle claim is £45,000, and they live outside Scotland.

The 26% assumes the whole claim comes off profit in the basic rate band, with the standard Personal Allowance and no other income. The car route spreads the rest of the cost over later years instead of giving most of it in year 1. Under actual costs, running costs such as fuel, insurance and repairs are still claimed at the business share either way. This is an example only. Your own figures will differ.

What this means for you

If you use the flat mileage rate, very little changes. GOV.UK's rates cover cars and goods vehicles alike, so a double cab earns 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026-27 and 25p after that. The rate replaces the vehicle's price and running costs. Our guide to van mileage has the full rules.

If you claim actual costs, a double cab bought on or after 6 April 2025, outside the transitional rules, now loses the big first-year claim a van gets. GOV.UK says cars do not qualify for the annual investment allowance, and under the cash basis a car's price goes through capital allowances rather than being an expense. That is the opposite of the rule for vans in our guide to claiming a van as a business expense. You still reduce every claim by your private use.

Benefit in kind is a tax charge on employees, including company directors, who are given a vehicle they can use privately. For a sole trader's own use, GOV.UK instead cuts the claim to the business share. So the car benefit change matters mainly if an employee drives one of your pickups, or if you trade through a limited company.

As the example shows, the first-year tax treatment of a double cab and a van can now differ by thousands of pounds.

Steps to check your pickup

1. Find the contract date and the date the cost was incurred, usually delivery. Spending before 6 April 2025, or a contract before then with the cost incurred before 1 October 2025, means the old capital allowances rules.
2. For an older pickup, check the payload: maximum gross weight less kerb weight.
3. Choose between the mileage rate and actual costs before the first tax return that includes the vehicle. You cannot switch to mileage once you have claimed its price, and once on mileage you stay on it for that vehicle.
4. For actual costs, check the CO2 figure to see whether 14% or 6% applies.
5. Work out your private use and cut every claim to the business share.
6. If an employee drives it, check whether a car benefit charge applies.

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