Company car or not?? Current car not suitable.

[micawrx]

Hello,

I'm new.

I have had 40 cars, and have fads, I switch between performance and 4x4's quite a lot...
Like to drive something a little different.

I have the option of a company car (A4, 3 series) with 15p mile fuel allowance...
or
A bit more salary and 40p mile (tax man only likes 40p for 10k, then 25p after)

Potentially up to 30k per annum mileage.

My LWB Shogun 3.5 V6 can do 23mpg, does about 19mpg on a decent run. so it would probably cost me at 40p mile (taking into account maintenance, tyres, servicing etc)

So, I am stumped...

What would you do?

I have been thinking mad things like Skoda Fabia VRS or Impreza with LPG... after a year or so the fuel savings would finance a better car maybe....
....but think of the depreciation.. AARRRGGHHHHH..

An economical 318d Sport Plus with the badge off would make me £100 month in fuel expenses.....

Cheers
Mark

[mnkiboy]

If it wre me - something dull but economical for work, then a cheap weekend car for fun.

318d sounds good. Could go even cheaper and get a Focus 1.6TDCi, or some kind of VW Bluemotion.

[Juffled]

i get the 40p per mile one and drive a 3k bora as my work car, pays for itself within a year and then its just fuel, insurance, tax, servicing afterwards which does not cost the 8k+ you will get on the 40p per mile.

[CraigyMc]

micawrx said:

I have had 40 cars, and have fads, I switch between performance and 4x4's quite a lot...
Like to drive something a little different.

If you like changing your cars often, don't get a company car. It's that simple.

[Chris_w666]

I'd buy an economical diesel that was new enough to qualify for an extended warranty and would keep the surplus over running a company car for a weekend toy.

[micawrx]

I am open to change.... getting old now and need to settle down...

If my work depends on my car, I cant be messing around changing it all the time...

The mileage option, as far as I can see, will mean I buy a car and run it into the ground otherwise I will just be buying cars, adding 20k and then selling.

Mark

[coley20]

You mention LPG impreza, if you would like to keep your shougun maybe lpg that?

Also how much £££ have you got to spend?

Edited by coley20 on Monday 13th December 12:18

[5lab]

the key thing here is 30k pa. I'd say company car. If you ran your own (ie buy a 2nd hand bmw) car, you'd be out of warranty in a matter of months, and the depreciation would be horrific. I think if you do the sums you'll find the efficient dynamics beemer (or equivilent saab, audi, etc) the best option financially

[TommyBuoy]

If your work depends on your car then I would be inclined to go with a company car (I am 24 though so insurance is one of my concerns). You'd get the car, a stand in if anything went wrong, tyres, servincing, insurance etc sorted and, assuming you have a normal arrangement, the chance to change at 3 years or certain mileage?

If you have a private car and something goes wrong or have an accident, you are going to be hit with the additonal cost of getting to work.

[sklar]

I've been firmly in the company car camp for over 12 years..

It's a great feeling to know you don't have to worry about the money pit that is driving a car in the daily grind.

4 new tyres for your 18" rims Sir? No problem we'll send the mobile fitter out.
£600 major service? Here's your keys Sir, we've valeted it for you too.
Car tax? New disc arrives on the doorstep every year.
Scrote with no insurance rams into the back of you? Company provide another car to hop into.
Car broke down and can't get to work? Stay at home till company sort you out another.

Many people at my place take the allowance, but even if they told me all I could have on the scheme is a Fiat Panda I'd still do it.

[coley20]

sklar said:

I've been firmly in the company car camp for over 12 years..

It's a great feeling to know you don't have to worry about the money pit that is driving a car in the daily grind.

4 new tyres for your 18" rims Sir? No problem we'll send the mobile fitter out.
£600 major service? Here's your keys Sir, we've valeted it for you too.
Car tax? New disc arrives on the doorstep every year.
Scrote with no insurance rams into the back of you? Company provide another car to hop into.
Car broke down and can't get to work? Stay at home till company sort you out another.

Many people at my place take the allowance, but even if they told me all I could have on the scheme is a Fiat Panda I'd still do it.

^^^ This ^^^


But not this; even if they told me all I could have on the scheme is a Fiat Panda I'd still do it.

[Fox-]

sklar said:

I've been firmly in the company car camp for over 12 years..

It's a great feeling to know you don't have to worry about the money pit that is driving a car in the daily grind.

4 new tyres for your 18" rims Sir? No problem we'll send the mobile fitter out.
£600 major service? Here's your keys Sir, we've valeted it for you too.
Car tax? New disc arrives on the doorstep every year.
Scrote with no insurance rams into the back of you? Company provide another car to hop into.
Car broke down and can't get to work? Stay at home till company sort you out another.

Great - but if you took the allowance instead you could be driving something decent instead of a 1.4 Megane? Thats the thing - unless you are very high up in your company you'll find it quite hard to get a really nice company car. From yoru profile you've not managed it, yet I bet if you had a car allowance you'd be able to drive something much nicer.

[micawrx]

coley20 said:

You mention LPG impreza, if you would like to keep your shougun maybe lpg that?

Also how much £££ have you got to spend?

Edited by coley20 on Monday 13th December 12:18

Unfortunately the GDi Shogun will not take LPG, engine is designed so that fuel cools the GDI injectors, no fuel means they are destroyed

As far as spend goes, it would be the £5 ish k from the Shogun sale....

Other employees have low range A4, so I am imagining £350 contract hire...

(offer letter stuck in snail mail! so can't be more accurate)

[Chris_w666]

Fox- said:

sklar said:

I've been firmly in the company car camp for over 12 years..

It's a great feeling to know you don't have to worry about the money pit that is driving a car in the daily grind.

4 new tyres for your 18" rims Sir? No problem we'll send the mobile fitter out.
£600 major service? Here's your keys Sir, we've valeted it for you too.
Car tax? New disc arrives on the doorstep every year.
Scrote with no insurance rams into the back of you? Company provide another car to hop into.
Car broke down and can't get to work? Stay at home till company sort you out another.

Great - but if you took the allowance instead you could be driving something decent instead of a 1.4 Megane? Thats the thing - unless you are very high up in your company you'll find it quite hard to get a really nice company car. From yoru profile you've not managed it, yet I bet if you had a car allowance you'd be able to drive something much nicer.

But I can see his point. Imagine you need a car to be 100% reliable and capable of taking you to work and meetings, sites, etc etc etc every single day of the year, you want to know what your costs are from one month to the next, and you are not fussed about image/quality of drive/economy etc.

In an ideal world we would all be driving older but better cars, but the world isn't ideal and some people prefer the easy life that the company car obviously provides.

[sklar]

Fox- said:

Great - but if you took the allowance instead you could be driving something decent instead of a 1.4 Megane? Thats the thing - unless you are very high up in your company you'll find it quite hard to get a really nice company car. From yoru profile you've not managed it, yet I bet if you had a car allowance you'd be able to drive something much nicer.

My last company car was a Golf GTI Edition 30. I got a cheaper car this time round and am taking £125 a month back off the company. The Megane was my choice and decided to be a bit leftfield. But it's awful so in a week a Polo GTI is coming to replace it and am passing down the Migrane and I still get the same money back.

The biggest annoyance is the 160 CO2 limit we have in our company that came in this year, so to avoid the usual suspects of diesel VAG stuff we have to be a little inventive.

[micawrx]

Company MD drives a 7 series, and essentially I will be taking over from him over the next few years as he retires.

I thought he would be funny about the car choice, ie turning up at the customers in a 1992 SWB Pajero Diesel.. but if he is making the cash offer... I dont know.

A diesel eurobox would be the most sensible answer... but I suppose the choice is Eurobox and expenses = weekend toy, or BM/Audi means theres a decent place to be when stuck on the M42...

I really really dislike diesel cars too just to bugger the thing up completely.

It think the figures work if you can get a petrol that does 40mpg...

Mk.2 16V Golf it is then

[itz_baseline]

If I was in your exact position of doing 30k a year I'd be taking the company. I have a similar choice to make, but probably only do about 4k a year company miles, so when I start adding it up, to take a company car I'd have to give up my £270 cash allowance (that's £270 after the tax man has had his mits on it), plus pay probably around £50 per month benefit in kind tax.

I'd only be able to take at best a Twingo 133 and not have to contribute (I'm sure I could run a Twingo all in for less than £320 a month!). As soon as I want something bigger the contributions goes up a lot, plus so does the BIK tax. So for me it's not worth it, but as I say if I was in your position of doing 30k miles I'd be very tempted to take it.

[Marcellus]

The key number is annual business mileage not total mileage as you'll still be paying for that.

Mrs M and I just had this discussion for her where the choice was C Class or opt out... her total annual mileage is about 20,000 with business mileage being about 5,000 of that.

She was running an X Trail doing 30mpg and we worked out that the cost of her keeping the car on the road was c£1800pa.

If she took the company car the cost to her would be c£3700pa. (reduced fuel but increase in tax)

If she continued to opt out but change the X Trail for a 1.6TDCI Focus her annual costs would be c£2300. (reduced fuel, road tax, maintenance and insurance but increase in Finance costs)

Therefore the cost of upgrading the car from a 5year old X Trail to a 4month old Focus is £500pa BUT this exlcudes depreciation.

There are benefits of the peace of mind of having a company car but also the downsides of they have control over your mobility.... her company rules were that I couldn't drive her company car overseas unless she was in the vehicle!!

[micawrx]

From a Tax point of view, you are allowed 10k @ 40p and 25p thereafter.

Any on top goes on your income and therefore maybe at 40%.

I think a 320d is doable, but the 318d is a fair bit more economical.

I have a bike for releasing speed cravings....

Its a shame the STi Diesel isn't out yet!

[micawrx]

Marcellus said:

The key number is annual business mileage not total mileage as you'll still be paying for that.

Mrs M and I just had this discussion for her where the choice was C Class or opt out... her total annual mileage is about 20,000 with business mileage being about 5,000 of that.

She was running an X Trail doing 30mpg and we worked out that the cost of her keeping the car on the road was c£1800pa.

If she took the company car the cost to her would be c£3700pa. (reduced fuel but increase in tax)

If she continued to opt out but change the X Trail for a 1.6TDCI Focus her annual costs would be c£2300. (reduced fuel, road tax, maintenance and insurance but increase in Finance costs)

Therefore the cost of upgrading the car from a 5year old X Trail to a 4month old Focus is £500pa BUT this exlcudes depreciation.

There are benefits of the peace of mind of having a company car but also the downsides of they have control over your mobility.... her company rules were that I couldn't drive her company car overseas unless she was in the vehicle!!

Interesting....

It is 30k business, pay your own private mileage... So I would see a benefit from using this at home (newer, economical, serviced etc)
The company is tiny and has no corporate like policies as such on usage.

I think the mileage amount is screaming company car.

Using my own car I would be worrying about how much I lost in depreciation.