As the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion comes into effect today incorporating areas up to the North and South Circular Roads in London, Caura, the free vehicle management app has predicted that £864 million worth of fines will be issued in the first six months of the expansion’s operation.
Set up to minimise driving admin and mitigate penalty fines by making it easier to manage in one simple app, Caura’s research also indicates 565,000 in a total of 2.6 million (one in 4.6) London-based cars are not compliant with the zone’s emission standards and thus their owners will need to pay the daily fee to enter.
As easy as two taps with Caura’s app, drivers can set up Caura using just a vehicle registration number. Caura’s Auto Pay system covering London’s new and existing ULEZ and Congestion Charge is also going live in November and available free of charge for a limited time for early adopters (normally £10 per car per year set up via Transport for London’s (TfL) online Auto Pay system). Caura can also facilitate the payment of fees for other Clean Air Zones (CAZ) around the country as well as MOT reminders, road tax, toll charges and even FCA-approved car insurance, including leading names such as Aviva, LV= and Premier, too.
Operational 24/7, 364 days a year (excluding Christmas Day), cars that are not compliant to drive in the single, larger zone from the Congestion Charge boundary up to the North Circular Road (A406) and South Circular Road (A205), include all pre-2005 petrol (not classed as Euro 4) or pre-2016 diesel (not classed as a Euro 6) vehicles. To enter the zone, drivers will have to pay the daily ULEZ charge of £12.50 should they enter the expanded ULEZ area or be fined up to £160, if they do not pay by midnight on the third day following the journey.
“The ULEZ expansion is something that will impact one in 4.6 cars currently on the road in London today. That’s huge. We’re here [at Caura] to help motorists cover every part of their car admin and with the new ULEZ zone predicted to bring £864 million in charges in the first six months alone, we want to show drivers there’s an easy way to avoid those penalties. That starts with our simple to use app and our commitment to offer London-based Auto Pay set-up free of charge for early adopters – saving motorists up to £10 per car per year in admin charges,” said Sai Lakshmi, CEO and Founder of Caura. “Caura is the first app of its kind, bringing all aspects of vehicle admin into a single app, allowing drivers to manage a growing number of city, toll and clean air charges across the country, from one place. The ULEZ area sits alongside the London Congestion Charge on the Caura app, to support private owners and fleet managers with one or multiple cars.”
As the UK aims to cut back on its greenhouse gas emissions of 78 per cent by 2035, more areas up and down the country will have CAZs, like the one currently in place in Birmingham. Caura will continue to update and add new zones to its app, alongside its other features including MOT reminders, road tax and toll road charges, in order to help UK motorists avoid unexpected charges when driving non-compliant cars in cities such as Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester, all of which will have active, all-year-round Clean Air Zones in the future.
In July 2021, Caura raised $4.2 million in seed funding, led by TwinFocus Capital Partners, alongside the CVC branch of Jaguar Land Rover; InMotion Ventures, as well as other angel investors including Pareto Holdings, Quiet Capital and Road Ventures, in order to expand its products on the app. With this seed fund, Caura hopes to embed its platform into vehicle infotainment systems alongside communications, entertainment and apps, enabling car owners to manage all car-related payments and administration from the seat of their vehicle, with Land Rover models the first to be fitted with the new Caura system.
Caura will continue to develop its features to better manage parking payments as well as offer electric charging for electric vehicles (EV). Caura is available to download for iOS and Android via the App Store and Google Play. For those looking to learn more about Caura and its growth plans, please contact hello@caura.com. More information on new products featured on the Caura app will be announced in the coming months.
Research from Caura shows via freedom of information acts and new car registrations that:
– The original ULEZ saw 300,000 ULEZ-related fines issued (£48m) in first six months after original launch in 2019, 46,000 of those were appealed, 19,000 successfully
– The second ULEZ, incorporating areas up to the North and South Circular Roads, is 18-times larger than the original ULEZ launched in 2019
– 300,000 (original fines from 2019, in first six months) x 18 (the new area’s size compared to the original ULEZ launched in 2019) = 5.4 million
– 5.4 million (first six months of the new ULEZ launched in 2021) x £160 (maximum fine amount, if paid after 14 days but within 30 days) = £864,000,000
– 2.6 million cars on London roads divided by total number of non-compliant cars (neither Euro 4 if petrol or Euro 6 if diesel) 565,000 on London roads = 4.6
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