Most tax efficient company car for top tax rate ?

Most tax efficient company car for top tax rate ?

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Discussion

Prolex-UK

Original Poster:

3,373 posts

214 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Title says it all...........

Caveat is I'll be doing over the minimum miles...........

Any ideas ???

smartie

2,606 posts

279 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Prius? LOL

Probably something like a BMW diesel depending how big a car you need.

Prolex-UK

Original Poster:

3,373 posts

214 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
smartie said:
Prius? LOL

Probably something like a BMW diesel depending how big a car you need.
Prius would be a no no............

1 series 2.3 oil burner better

lexus IS220 d ?

-Pete-

2,907 posts

182 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
The car isn't that important, it's the engine. And there are an awful lot of 2 litre BMW diesels around wink
(Take a look at 320d or 520d)

CinqAbarth

566 posts

171 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Prolex-UK said:
smartie said:
Prius? LOL

Probably something like a BMW diesel depending how big a car you need.
Prius would be a no no............

1 series 2.3 oil burner better

lexus IS220 d ?
Why is a Prius a no?

The new ones are meant to be excellent cars - T-Spirit comes with almost every toy in the book and they will come in at around £70 / month tax.

I have the old shape in T-Spirit spec., having come to it from a B6 Passat 2.0TDI and have been very happy with it - especially with the stupidly cheap tax banding.

If you spec. a BMW 3-series to the same levels, incl. an auto box, it'll cost you close on £200 / month - quite a big difference.

Prolex-UK

Original Poster:

3,373 posts

214 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
CinqAbarth said:
Prolex-UK said:
smartie said:
Prius? LOL

Probably something like a BMW diesel depending how big a car you need.
Prius would be a no no............

1 series 2.3 oil burner better

lexus IS220 d ?
Why is a Prius a no?

The new ones are meant to be excellent cars - T-Spirit comes with almost every toy in the book and they will come in at around £70 / month tax.

I have the old shape in T-Spirit spec., having come to it from a B6 Passat 2.0TDI and have been very happy with it - especially with the stupidly cheap tax banding.

If you spec. a BMW 3-series to the same levels, incl. an auto box, it'll cost you close on £200 / month - quite a big difference.
want a bit of go...............

however as the TOM's dealer for the UK I could add some parts to make it stand out from the crowd.........

tankplanker

2,479 posts

285 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
Depends on what sort of car you actually want out of it, I'm ignoring more obvious cars like the Pious here, is something 3 series sized enough? Or do you hanker for something 5 series sized or bigger? If its the former its hard to beat the specs of the 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition, CO2 of 109 and claimed mpg of 68, so probably around late 50s or early 60s in the real world. I don't think many if any cars in its segment beat the 520d, 129 CO2 and claimed 57.6 mpg (so around 50 for most people).

However there is a fly in the ointment with diesels in a rather hefty 3% bump in tax rate just for being diesels. This means that diesel isn't always the best way to go once you get out of the sub 120 CO2 cars or into the Hybrids. If you get a fuel card or if the vast majority of you mileage is paid (like mine) then again petrol can work out pretty close depending on the difference in mpg as you get substantially more money per mile: anything over 1.4l gets a 4p per mile swing in petrol's favour. At 35 mpg for 10 gallons a >2.0l petrol will earn you £70 in mileage, a >2.0l diesel doing 45 mpg for 10 gallons will net you £72. If you do not get a fuel card or most of the mileage paid then a diesel is nearly always going to be better when paying for fuel out of your own money.

The other thing to watch out for is that the government seemingly adjusts the Company Car tax rates every year, my RX 450h will be 6% more expensive next April compared to when I first had the car as they are scrapping the 3% discount for Hybrids (gone my 6% swing from a diesel with the same CO2) and it has slowly moved up the CO2 bands despite its CO2 of 148 staying the same. This is inevitable as company car owners choose cars with lower and lower CO2 and the government needs to claw back lost tax revenue. So plan for an increase in tax over the duration you are stuck with the car unless you go for something all electric like the Tesla or something quite a bit under the 100 CO2 like the Smart Car, I would put (a small amount of) money on the Golf Bluemotion at 99 CO2 going up in bands by three years time.



Prolex-UK

Original Poster:

3,373 posts

214 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
tankplanker said:
Depends on what sort of car you actually want out of it, I'm ignoring more obvious cars like the Pious here, is something 3 series sized enough? Or do you hanker for something 5 series sized or bigger? If its the former its hard to beat the specs of the 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition, CO2 of 109 and claimed mpg of 68, so probably around late 50s or early 60s in the real world. I don't think many if any cars in its segment beat the 520d, 129 CO2 and claimed 57.6 mpg (so around 50 for most people).

However there is a fly in the ointment with diesels in a rather hefty 3% bump in tax rate just for being diesels. This means that diesel isn't always the best way to go once you get out of the sub 120 CO2 cars or into the Hybrids. If you get a fuel card or if the vast majority of you mileage is paid (like mine) then again petrol can work out pretty close depending on the difference in mpg as you get substantially more money per mile: anything over 1.4l gets a 4p per mile swing in petrol's favour. At 35 mpg for 10 gallons a >2.0l petrol will earn you £70 in mileage, a >2.0l diesel doing 45 mpg for 10 gallons will net you £72. If you do not get a fuel card or most of the mileage paid then a diesel is nearly always going to be better when paying for fuel out of your own money.

The other thing to watch out for is that the government seemingly adjusts the Company Car tax rates every year, my RX 450h will be 6% more expensive next April compared to when I first had the car as they are scrapping the 3% discount for Hybrids (gone my 6% swing from a diesel with the same CO2) and it has slowly moved up the CO2 bands despite its CO2 of 148 staying the same. This is inevitable as company car owners choose cars with lower and lower CO2 and the government needs to claw back lost tax revenue. So plan for an increase in tax over the duration you are stuck with the car unless you go for something all electric like the Tesla or something quite a bit under the 100 CO2 like the Smart Car, I would put (a small amount of) money on the Golf Bluemotion at 99 CO2 going up in bands by three years time.
Thanks for a very informative post.

The 3 series BMW does look attractive.....

Lefty 200 Drams

16,484 posts

208 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
Company Van Tax is much cheaper than car tax. There are some nice Merc Vitos available - 200bhp and rwd...

Double cab pickup falls in the same category. Top of the line Hilux and L200 are OK. Defender double cab or utility?

"Classic" cars (has to be over 15 years old and under £15k purchase price.) can be quite tax efficient because assuming you meet those criteria you pay BIK on the original list price not a current valuation.

Some Hybrid POS?

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

204 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
BMW 320D ED (Efficient Dynamics)
Its 174bhp
109kg of Carbon so only 13%

Lastinclass

511 posts

186 months

Friday 6th August 2010
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I've just switched to a VW Golf 1.6tdi. I don't do much miles now and the 105hp seems just about enough for commuting.

mattviatura

2,996 posts

206 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
Welshbeef said:
BMW 320D ED (Efficient Dynamics)
Its 174bhp
109kg of Carbon so only 13%
Agreed.

Can't believe more people don't seem to know about these.

CinqAbarth

566 posts

171 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
mattviatura said:
Welshbeef said:
BMW 320D ED (Efficient Dynamics)
Its 174bhp
109kg of Carbon so only 13%
Agreed.

Can't believe more people don't seem to know about these.
Poverty spec at a silly price, and around £500 / year in extra tax over a Prius T-Spirit....

I tried the 320d before going for the Prius and wondered what all the fuss was about.

ringram

14,700 posts

254 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
LCV vs PLG check it out.
Something like a Holden Ute would be good. Reclaim VAT and no tax to pay as its a commercial vehicle.


Nickellarse

533 posts

195 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
I was thinking that taking a car allowance and the mileage rate (40p for the first 10k and 25 thereafter) would be the most tax efficient way of running a car.

If there is a cash alternative then check out www.carorcash.co.uk bung in the parameters and it works out what the best deal would be on a variety of motors.


mcflurry

9,132 posts

259 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
CinqAbarth said:
Why is a Prius a no?
Because this is pistonheads.com smile

tankplanker

2,479 posts

285 months

Friday 6th August 2010
quotequote all
Nickellarse said:
I was thinking that taking a car allowance and the mileage rate (40p for the first 10k and 25 thereafter) would be the most tax efficient way of running a car.

If there is a cash alternative then check out www.carorcash.co.uk bung in the parameters and it works out what the best deal would be on a variety of motors.
Most companies pay you the same mileage rate for your own car brought using car allowance as they would if you had a company car and expect you to claim the difference off the tax man, which never works out as much as getting 40p direct from the company.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

204 months

Saturday 7th August 2010
quotequote all
CinqAbarth said:
mattviatura said:
Welshbeef said:
BMW 320D ED (Efficient Dynamics)
Its 174bhp
109kg of Carbon so only 13%
Agreed.

Can't believe more people don't seem to know about these.
Poverty spec at a silly price, and around £500 / year in extra tax over a Prius T-Spirit....
I tried the 320d before going for the Prius and wondered what all the fuss was about.
that's the ES the efficient dynamics is an SE spec equivalent so basically one down from top of the range