Rates and vehicle types
BC vehicle PST rates: 12%, 15% and 20%
For a passenger vehicle purchased privately in BC, PST is 12% below $125,000, 15% from $125,000 up to $150,000, and 20% at $150,000 or more — applied to the value your PST is calculated on, not simply the price on your bill of sale.
Essential facts
- For a private-sale passenger vehicle: 12% below $125,000, 15% from $125,000 up to $150,000, and 20% at $150,000 or more.
- The rate applies to the value your PST is calculated on — not simply the price on your bill of sale.
- A non-passenger vehicle pays a flat 12% at private sale, regardless of value.
- An appraisal never changes a rate. It can only change the value the rate is applied to.
The three rate tiers
These are the current tiers for a passenger vehicle purchased privately in BC:
A non-passenger vehicle (for example, a heavier truck, a motorhome, or a bus) pays a flat 12% at private sale regardless of value — the three-tier structure above applies to passenger vehicles only.
Value first, rate second
Two separate questions
Which of these three rates applies depends on the value your PST is calculated on — not simply the price you paid. That value is established first (see Purchase price and Average Wholesale Value); the rate is applied second. The rate itself — 12%, 15% or 20% — never changes on its own.
Can a supported appraisal move the tier?
A supported appraisal may move the taxable comparison value into a different rate tier when the applicable figures cross a threshold — not because the rate itself changes, but because the amount it’s applied to does. This doesn’t always happen; it depends on where the figures fall relative to the threshold.
Conceptually, not your figures
Say a vehicle has a price paid of $147,000 and an Average Wholesale Value of $151,000. A completed appraisal, backed by evidence of the vehicle’s actual condition, supports $148,000. Both the price paid and the appraised value are below Average Wholesale Value, so the comparison may use the higher of the two — $148,000 in this illustration.
$148,000 falls within the 15% tier. Without a qualifying lower appraised-value comparison, the $151,000 Average Wholesale Value would instead fall within the 20% tier. The percentage itself didn’t change — the taxable comparison value did.
These figures are fictional and rounded. They are not Canadian Black Book lookup data, not an estimate for any actual vehicle, and this example calculates no guaranteed tax result or savings.
Which vehicles this applies to
These tiers apply to a passenger vehicle — a motor vehicle designed primarily as transport for individuals, including trucks and vans ¾-ton or less. Trucks and vans larger than ¾-ton, camperized vans, motorhomes, buses, ambulances, hearses and motorcycles with engines of 250cc or less are not passenger vehicles, and pay the flat non-passenger rate instead.
No tax result is guaranteed. Underbook supports an appraised value based on the evidence you provide; which rate ultimately applies is decided under BC’s tax rules at registration, not by Underbook.
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