My limited experience suggests no.
More on that later, but I wanted to get the thread going quickly to split the topic from the snow and ice one.
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Depends heavily on personal circumstances.
If you do a lot of private mileage, including a long commute then an expensed car can be a great deal.If you do a lot of business miles, and have a poor allowance option, then again, it can work out financially.
But with monthly tax bills now into the hundreds, it's not the default no brainer that it once was.
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I always thought it would be a good wheeze, however given the tax claw back and the limiting of choice its not something i would crave, fortunately where i work Prius is an option so if the unlikely ever happened (that i got promoted..;) i could have a car that i would choose to buy with my own money.
Hate to have to ask for things like winter or all season tyres though and they would refuse which would give me the hump.;)
Rather have the extra pay or mileage allowance if an allowed option and run my own probably LPG'd choice as i like.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 5 Feb 12 at 10:28
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Depends how you measure it really. Not a great deal in financially if you are happy to drive a privately run, slightly older car. In fact it can work out cheaper if you're paying 40% tax.
On t'other hand, a company car is a fixed cost (pretty much) with little hassle.
I'd be happy with either arrangement frankly.
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>> Hate to have to ask for things like winter or all season tyres though and
>> they would refuse which would give me the hump.;)
>>
Your blood pressure would go through the roof gb.
Some company car drivers report having difficulty getting replacement summer tyres going into December because they've still got 1.7mm left.
I'd still take a company car as it's still a hassle free way into a new car every 2,3 or 4 years which, even paying a couple of hundred a month tax, is still cheaper than funding and running the equivalent out of your own pocket.
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If you want a brand new 20k+ car every three years, and you don't have the capital to invest in one up front, the company car is the only way you can do it.
If however you are happy to drive around in a nondescript 6 year old run of the mill banger (and your company will let you) the mileage and allowance in lieu of the company car is a no brainer.
You pays (or takes) your money and makes your choice.
The company car is however completely - and I mean completely - hassle free motoring.
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Brother went through a company car phase with NatWest.
Their scheme was rather like the hire companies, the cars were changed every few months.
Drove my brother nuts, getting used to one car, then having to get used to another.
He also lost some personal possessions due to the frequent changeovers - sunglasses, torch, those sorts of things.
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Also depends when and in what circumstances you measure these things. On the level playing field of remaining in the same job for the life of the car it's all a bit marginal. I did the back of an envelope ( note the lack of available fag packets people ! ) excercise on mine.
My employer provided me with a brand new Merc E Class estate. I figured that for what it costs me in tax and the mileage allowance they'd pay me I could fund and run a 3 year old Mondeo estate and have a small amount of change.
I'd be happy enough to do that as either car would meet my practical needs although I don't deny the Merc is a fine thing.
The difference comes if I decide to leave that job or it decides to leave me before the car is "used up". The company car would disappear with the job whereas the private one would still be mine and have at least some value. On the other hand, if the 3 year old needed an unexpected expensive repair or was long term off the road while I was employed I'd have to fund an alternative personally which might skew the numbers in favour of the company car.
As previously stated though, I could live with and make either arrangement work for me.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sun 5 Feb 12 at 10:55
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Limited/no choice was a factor in my short company car period which was many years ago.
Seems to me most schemes today are more user-friendly in that respect.
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Have a friend who works for Pug and has a similar arrangement, but she gets choice of car each time. Think they get returned at 6K or 6 months, whichever is first.
I don't think its strictly a company car - its more of a very cheap, subsidized, lease arrangement. She and her husband enjoy the choice and often opt for something convertible in the spring
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I'm entitled to a company car, but have chosen to opt out. Mainly because I have a caravan, and virtually none of the allowed cars were heavy enough to tow the caravan safely (for non caravanning people, the recommendation is that that fully loaded caravan weighs less than 85% of the kerbweight of the car).
Since opting out I've bought a landcruiser and an MX-5. Neither would have been allowed on the scheme, and both have been reliable - so I haven't missed the scheme benefits. I'm enjoying having cars which are individual rather than look-alike fleet items. Though to be fair, I've had some great company cars - Peugeot 406 3.0v6, Saab 95 Aero, BMW 330d. But my current company has a very restricted list, and my latest car was a Mondeo 2.0 TDCi. Not that that's a bad car - but even that isn't on the latest list!
The lease company that my firm used was one of those which wouldn't change tyres at 2mm. As I run my own cars, I now change at 3mm or so - after all, its my life at stake!
I also use the train a lot more than I used to - I've cut my annual mileage from 30,000 to around 12,000.
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For me as a civil servant it's never been an option. Pool/hire cars provided for occasional trips. A small number of 'essential' users, guys who's duties involve home visits or multi site managers get a lease car.
Don't understand how tax works on co cars. What's tha ball park figure for say a Cit c5 tourer, 1.6Hdi VTR, listed at around £21k? BIK rate according to Cit price list is 18%, I'm not quite in higher rate band,
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Here you go Bromp. You can tap in your car choice and salary here and get a figure.
www.comcar.co.uk/newcar/companycar/taxcalc/g1select.cfm?clk=314%3E
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Also, having the car is treated as income, so part of the BIK on the car could push you in to the next tax bracket making the car cost more to you.
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Yes, if your company has a decent scheme.
I get about £6k cash allowance and work out that it would just about cover the cost of a new Ford Focus (discounted from Drive the Deal) with insurance for business milage, servicing, road tax, breakdown cover and a contingency fund and I would have to contribute about £100. The problem being that the £6k per year is really £3k after tax and NI. Of course you can add back MAP from the tax man at 45p less your fuel rate x your tax rate for the first 10k miles and 25p thereafter.
For about £120 a month in Tax as a higher rate tax payer I could get an Audi A4 or BMW 3 series with no worries.
I do about 20k miles a year so reliability is an issue. If I was in a job where I just commuted to an office a few miles away then I would probably take the cash option and run something smaller.
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I had company cars for many years....for the last 13 years I ran my own. The last car I bought was an outgoing model, brand new.............ran it 5 years and the company paid for the car in full through monthly ££s and mileage. Taxman gave some tax back on the mileage.
When I sold the car with 93K on the clock the depreciation and all running costs - tax, insurance, repairs and business mileage paid - all I paid was private mileage petrol.
The trade-in value was a bonus and a contribution to my new car - funnily enough the outgoing model with some £7,000 off list.
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If someone could get a £29k car and all costs including insurance privately and be better off I would be surprised. Financing the deal (lease, PCP, loan) is part of the problem.
I get similar for an allowance but after tax and NI you see less. But you don't pay tax on the BIK of a company vehicle. So I reckon I'd have a good chunk of money each month for a car if I opted out. But that over 3 years would not finance a £29k car.
I also do little business miles so cannot claim back the tax on the difference of what the company would pay for mileage. And if I do travel on business I would try to use the train (on expenses) anyway.
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I think it depends on your circumstances.
For many years my company insisted on a 4 year lease. this I found irksome as I could easily afford to change my car more often and the BIK is the same as for a newer vehicle whilst I'd argue that the actual benefit is rather less. It also removes much of the lease-cost benefits of leasing a car with better residuals as all cars lose a lot of value in 4 years and 80K+ miles. After one-such lease (of a Vectra) I opted out and ran my own cars for a while.
Then my company changed to a more flexible lease with many cars from VW, Audi and BMW being attractive for shorter 2 year leases (sometimes the monthly lease is actually less over 2 years than over 3 or 4). I opted back in as a company car is fairly hassle free. having said that: I don't recall running my own car to be in any way onerous either....
Now, if you've not got money to tie up in a car or have to resort to financing and the associated insurance and servicing bills put pressure on your disposable income then I suspect that a company car is attractive. It's not difficult to devise a spreadsheet and then make your own value decision.
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Mon 6 Feb 12 at 08:35
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Agreed, and another big factor is your employers approach to company cars and car allowances. We offer pretty high car allowances to actively discourage the take-up of company cars.
As a result, even though I now drive a BIK efficient diesel, I'm better off buying my own car and claiming business miles @ 45p, since the loss of car allowance plus the BIK impact of a fully expensed version of my car is quite a lot more than I estimate it'll cost.
Depsite that, the no hassle factor of a company car is not to be underestimated, even though the BIK rules can change at the drop of a hat. Witness everyone with an efficient dynamics version of the 320d going from a BIK rate of 13% to 17% in 2012/13 because the 10% rate for BIK CO2 is being dropped from 119g/km to 99g/km.
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As was mentioned neat the top of the thread, it is all about personal circumstances.
If I have an accident in the companies car they tow it away and give me another, all I have to do is fill in the claim.
If my wife has an accident in hers we need to worry about a hire car after the 2 week replacement car goes (not necessarily no fault) and cost of insurance after the bump and replacement if it is written off and...
Obviously, when it snows we take my (the company) car.
On 25k a year (mostly private) I don't have to worry about depreciation, service costs, tyre costs, dual mass flywheels, cam belts etc.
Now the Passat coming in April will have a fixed lease cost (actually less than my allowance), a known (but rising) fuel cost and a known, at least for the first couple of years, (but rising) tax cost.
Now if I was only doing 5k a year (but we do than on 2 trips to France each year) I may take the punt on opting out.
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The last time I had one it was an olive green moggie minor with no rear side windows and a ladder rack.
;>)
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Mon 6 Feb 12 at 09:30
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I'm surprised the replies to the thread have focussed on the cost and tax implications.
Proves how out of touch I am, when I had a company car I don't think there were any.
It was just a matter of what you could have, whether you were supposed to leave your own junk in it, and how much private mileage petrol money you could fiddle.
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IF the Co can offer you a car you want, then it's probably a no-brainer (unless you do lots of business miles and they have a generous allowance!). Take a £25k car, at 20% BIK - tax liability is £5k, so you have to pay £1k on normal tax, and £2k on higher rate.
I'm a higher rate tax payer, if someone was to offer me a new every 3 or 4 years, financed, taxed, insured, maintained car for £2k a year each, I'd have 2. My 2 private cars, one 9 years old and the other 11 years old cost more than that to run before we start adding diesel - and neither of them is or has been doing a lot of depreciation compared to a new car.
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I had company cars for years - top spec Mondeos, 406s (loved my 406 Exec 2.0 turbo petrol) then 3 Series, A4's etc.
We were pushed to opt out as the company didn't like being stuck with cars when people left so our offer was good, and the company car tax was getting painful for 40% tax payers especially as they wouldn't let us opt out of private fuel (great for some users, but costing others a fortune).
However I'm a bit of a worrier and I do greatly miss the peace of mind of having a company car - not being overly concerned about leaving it all day in a layby or if it made a funny noise etc. My motoring life is much more stressful now!
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Every time my company car is due for renewal I work out the cost of opting out and getting a car I want and staying in. I'd only go for a nearly new car and at the moment that would be a diesel1 - although a decent turbo petrol would be an alternative.
I have usually worked out I am probably no worse or better off either way - but having a depreciating expensive car might be a millstone if one were to lose a job.
Many I know say you can make it pay because of claiming the tax back on the difference between the mileage rate we get vs the HMRC rates. Note, we can only claim a fixed amount for miles driven if we take the allowance. You get the same regardless of the car you have - it is based on your car grade. I don't do enough business miles these days for that to make a difference.
When trying to get an initial test drive for the Passat CC before getting it via the lease company for 48 hours (we only get three 48 hour test drives) I had to pretend I am going to go the private route. I think the monthly PCP payment for the Passat CC 140PS diesel (not the 170PS GT I got with extras) was about £550pm and there was a deposit of a few thousand. And then insurance and all servicing etc. on top. If you had to borrow money or go down the PCP route then I cannot see how you'd make it pay. On the other hand, if you went for a basic Fiesta or a few years old car then I can see how it will cover costs.
1You'd always wonder if someone had put petrol in some diesels - I know I would. Not for a Ford with the clever fuel flap mind.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 6 Feb 12 at 14:38
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>> Many I know say you can make it pay because of claiming the tax back
>> on the difference between the mileage rate we get vs the HMRC rates. Note, we
>> can only claim a fixed amount for miles driven if we take the allowance. You
>> get the same regardless of the car you have - it is based on your
>> car grade.
>>
Don't understand what you're saying here - whatever mileage rate your employer pays, you can claim the difference between that and the standard 45p rate back as a tax rebate.
>> On
>> the other hand, if you went for a basic Fiesta or a few years old
>> car then I can see how it will cover costs.
>>
It was amazing how many of our middle managers who had 5 Series BMWs opted out and took a BMW 5 Series sized allowance and then bought used Vauxhall Astras etc! Company went mad, but nothing they could do.
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>> Don't understand what you're saying here - whatever mileage rate your employer pays, you
>> can claim the difference between that and the standard 45p rate back as a tax rebate.
Someone higher in this thread up implied they took an allowance and claimed 45p per mile. They didn't say they only claimed the tax back on the difference between what is claimed and the 45p per mile rate.
At the moment I could get about 19p per mile if I was in this position. But if I got a small efficient car I'd then make money on each mile anyway.
>> It was amazing how many of our middle managers who had 5 Series BMWs opted out and
>> took a BMW 5 Series sized allowance and then bought used Vauxhall Astras etc!
Our company currently seems to be encouraging take up of company vehicles for those able to take an allowance. For those getting business need vehicles the vehicle choice is limited. For benefit cars the choice includes Audi, BMW, Ford, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes, MINI, Seat, Skoda, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo. So quite comprehensive. But if you opt for a car emitting less CO2 they effectively boost your allowance for free. I get a car allowance equivalent to a grade above mine and if I'd gone for a lower CO2 car it could have been two grades.
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>> Our company currently seems to be encouraging take up of company vehicles for those able to take an allowance.
I meant to add I wonder if this is because of the corporate manslaughter angle for starters? But it's also the green angle too for sure. If you opt out and are allowed to use your vehicle and have a bad accident then the company can be held partly responsible/liable can't they.
I think there is a limit to how old a car can be to use on business too.
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And if you do high mileage and use your own car, cost of tyres could be expensive. I think each tyre on mine will be £150+ to replace if you go for a known brand (235/40 R18s).
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>> And if you do high mileage and use your own car, cost of tyres could
>> be expensive. I think each tyre on mine will be £150+ to replace if you
>> go for a known brand (235/40 R18s).
>>
£320 for a pair of Goodyears in that size - bought a couple for the A4 last week!
Mind you, I still think the key factor is the level of car allowance you're giving up when opting for the car. Ours is £750 a month I think at the BMW 3 series/A4/etc level; unsurprisingly, unless you do a high private mileage (or are uninsurable/unfinanceable) taking the cash is the best option for most people - you'd be more than £7k nett better off (and rising as BIK rates continue to escalate), which funds a lot of car
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My car currently has Continental Contiseals on it.... Must be a similar price plus a bit more for the 'sealant' in the tyre.
Our allowance isn't at a level as such. Ours is simply a car grade and you can pay up from it (by 33%) and as I said above you can even get the equivalent of two car grades above the allowance if you get a model emitting lower CO2 levels (120g/km or lower).
For me I do mostly private mileage - over the last 8+ years I have. Could change. Next week I could start a project in the West Midlands for a few months... but then I might take the train instead.
For my next car I'd appreciate someone telling my why I've made my calculations wrong. If I want a brand new (or pre-reg) £30+k car in three year... how do I get that instead of again opting for a company car. Assume 4000 business miles and 12000 (or fewer) private miles per annum. Before tax I think my allowance would be about £6200pa.
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GBP 750 is generous, a 2 year lease monthly cost on our scheme for a 520d or a 6 cylinder 3 series is around GBP 500-600 with 4 cylinder tax dodgers coming in around GBP 400. We only get the equivalent in opt-out cash with no mark-up to counter the tax, the bit about claiming the difference between 45p and whatever the mileage rate is is true - it has NI benefits too IIRC. I think that HMRC / company mileage (fuel only) rates under-compensate for fuel costs these days - especially on diesels. supposedly to encourage the selection of more economical cars....
As to comments about the price of tyres, a new car depreciates at GBP 500 a month for the first year so the cost of tyres / insurance / servicing etc pale by comparison. Hence the reason why many who opt out 'trade down' or get new-ish second hand cars, they make the economics more compelling.
A few years back I did a comparison, I think I concluded that if I was prepared to drive a 4 cylinder diesel I was better off (or neutral) in a company car, if I wanted anything more interesting (with 6 cylinders) then opting out was the way to go. Then the 330d came along, however I might not be prepared to 'afford' that now-a-days.
In the end running a car costs quite a lot of money, you can manage the costs in a number of ways and your choice of car matters very much. surely this is equally true if you're into bangernomics or want to drive a Passat CC ?
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>> In the end running a car costs quite a lot of money, you can manage the costs in a number
>> of ways and your choice of car matters very much. surely this is equally true if you're into
>> bangernomics or want to drive a Passat CC ?
I agree - if I wanted to run a banger I could be quite a bit better off per month if I opted out. If I wanted to drive an Octavia I'd also be a reasonable amount better off each month (well over £100 per month compared to the Passat CC probably, even for a top end Octavia estate). But I didn't want an Octavia. I also was willing to pay up a little to get the more powerful CC and also add bi-xenons, climate seats and a few other options. I could have saved a bit if I got the base model CC with a 140PS engine.
... Compared to the Mazda6 the Passat CC is costing me about £50/month more. But the Mazda6 was a £19k car and the CC a £29k car. Mostly down to the good deal on the CC and lower emissions.
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I always thought it a no brainer that company cars were a nice perk of the job, but this thread has been very enlightening for someone such as myself who has never had a company car. A succession of VW Transporters when I was self employed but no cars!
SWMBO has a company leased Insignia Ecotec. Over her 3 year lease period she will drive circa 120k, 35k on business, 5k private mileage annually.
Could anyone please give me a back of an envelope calculation as to whether I should find out whether it would be worth running her car privately? She dislikes the Insignia, and I'm sure I could get her a nice 520d a few years old. Obviously servicing, parts, tyres & insurance come into the equation, plus the big one, depreciation, with the mileage she covers.
My gut feeling is that she is better off keeping the company car and paying BIK, if only for the hassle free motoring.
A shame because I quite enjoy buying & selling privately, and going to the auctions.
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>> Could anyone please give me a back of an envelope calculation as to whether I
>> should find out whether it would be worth running her car privately?
I wouldn't even begin to think about it with that kind of annual mileage. That's hard on a car, and you don't want to be picking up the tab yourself, especially when the car can't be off the road while you shop around for parts and to get work done cheaply.
BMW520d's have issues with turbos and can have recurring dpf failures that are expensive to fix.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Tue 7 Feb 12 at 17:05
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I'm with Bill. Cash instead of car only really works for lowish private and business mileage. Even though our car allowances are pretty generous, if I was putting even half that number of business miles on it it'd be company car all the way
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Back of a fag packet?
BIK about £2k a year (assuming higher rate).
Lease cost - probably £600 a month. Plus insurance, servicing and tyres.
Like I said above, if anyone can offer me a fully expensed car, bar fuel, for £2k a year, I'll have 2!
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When comparing having the car I currently have as a company car and taking the allowance, I worked out the difference as about £420/month for take home pay. This figure takes into account BIK, pay up etc. Sounds a lot but over three years that comes to £15k to pay for a car and all running costs. If you need finance to buy a car that certainly skews the figures back towards a company car.
If you go for an older car and/or a smaller one (especially not new) then it will pay.
The actual BIK for my car is £5132 for this year so ~£2050 for a higher rate tax payer. But what you have to also consider is you're not getting the ~£6000 allowance before tax either.
Over the years I've had accidents and breakdowns and got hire cars to replace them within 2 hours of asking. Once had an Alfa 156 for close to three months when my Passat was being repaired. Previous to that had Audis and VWs when my Golf was stolen. And when an alternator for my Vectra was being sourced I ended up with a Vectra V6 for months (part on back order). So I also factor in the hassle factor...
... now if my allowance was higher I might think differently.
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Thanks for your replies. As expected really, but in a selfish way I was looking forward to going down the auctions or sourcing a tasty mile muncher (or at least something not as boring as the Insignia).
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With the miles your wife does I am surprised she gets to keep a car for so long. With our deal I get the car for 3 years because my mileage is low enough. But they don't want cars going above 80000 miles (actually might be lower than that). If you do those sort of miles you'd have a shorter lease.
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Some of her colleagues do 60k a year, so before the 3 year lease period is up they have to swap with colleagues who have lower mileages. Otherwise they incur additional costs from the lease company...Black Horse last time I asked.Exit mileages at 3 years are always over 100k, nearer 150k in some areas of the UK.
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My car is likely to go back after three years with no more than 40k on it. Possibly less. It all depends on projects. I might get involved soon with one in Birmingham and if I drove that for a few months the miles will add up. But currently working on one in Scotland and tend to work from home.
I assume her job is sales and therefore travelling to different places all the time. If I have far to drive on a project it tends to not mount up as I'd have to stop over. The difference for me I'd do a full day's work at a site. Sounds like driving is a big part of her job to visit customers.
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Yep.
She knows the N of England motorway network better than I know my local pub. And she hates middle lane hoggers and mimsers in lane 3 who dawdle along at an indicated 80.
She also hates small cars and longs for an Aston or XKR. Fat chance of that from Black Horse leasing.
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>> She also hates small cars
The Insignia isn't a small car. It's longer than both the XKR and all Aston Martin's apart from the Rapide. A bit narrower but not by much.
If I am in lane three then I tend not do more than an indicated 83mph for any length of time these days (a true 79mph). A compromise on speed, mpg and not getting any points. If someone is behind wanting to go faster than I move over. And I'd only be in lane 3 rather than 1 or 2 if I am passing other cars going even slower than me.
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What I meant to say rtj was that she hates being given small courtesy cars...her 3 previous company cars were Mondeo, Passat & current Insignia. When you drive around with a car full of bulky samples, they wont fit into a Polo or Meriva. Nor does driving 200/300 miles a day in the latter two seem much fun.
Her main gripe with lane 3 drivers are those who insist in staying in lane 3 when lane 2 is empty, and I for one am very wary of undertaking such drivers as their action shows a lack of awareness.
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I did say it a bit tongue in cheek. If my cars goes in for a service or whatever and I have some miles to cover (so not working from home) then I request a Mondeo sized car and insist it's a diesel too.... don't want to be out of pocket.
I've not had to get a hire car since getting the Passat CC and its now with a difference lease company. I'm not sure I'll be able to request anything as big... time will tell.
I'm with you on awareness of lane hogging like that - who knows what they will do. But sometimes you have to be wary of someone in the middle lane too and anticipate. I tend to get past them as quickly as possible - one reason I prefer the car with the 170PS engine because it accelerates well in top gear. Unlike the 140PS variant I tried.
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>> Over the years I've had accidents and breakdowns and got hire cars to replace them
>> within 2 hours of asking. Once had an Alfa 156 for close to three months
>> when my Passat was being repaired.
One thing that was amazing as more and more of our people opted out, was the number who had a big (vehicle undriveable) crash within a few weeks of getting their own car. We had people running around the UK in Ford Kas etc, sometimes for months. One guy had got a policy that didn't provide a courtesy car at all and he had to hire one.
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The thing that amazes me is how some people who opt out don't factor in their allowance needs to cover them for transport even if their car is off the road. So one person's old Mondeo would not start so didn't turn up for a meeting citing the car broke down. Well if he'd had the company vehicle and it broke down he could get a hire car.
Obviously we can all also use public transport too. But if your car is business need you need to at least do fair mileage or you risk losing the car and they have no option for an allowance either.... mine is benefit so I don't need to do any miles.
The last three times hire cars were provided quickly and were necessary:
- Golf stolen from outside house - hire car there before the police turned up (about an hour)
- Passat damaged in crash and by the time I walked back from the local body shop the hire car was there... Focus was close to mileage limit so I got an Astra. Astra windscreen cracked so I got the Alfa 156 2.0JTS.
- Mondeo broke down (failed EGR) and it was after 9pm on a Friday night - taxi sent to take me to Manchester airport to collect a car... if it was later they'd have got someone to open the local hire car office out of hours.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 7 Feb 12 at 23:38
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The thing that amazes me is how some people who opt in don't factor how much it's costing them to cover them for transport when their car is off the road.
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If you opt in for the company car, you never worry about transport if the car is off the road, a hire car rocks up in no time.
If you opt out of the company car, then yes Hire car costs can be a killer if your car is off the road, and will easily wreck your years financial calculation.
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>> The last three times hire cars were provided quickly and were necessary:
>> etc
A counter point: the ONLY company car I ever experienced any significant unavailability with was my dire Vauxhall Vectra, this once spent 12 weeks off the road due to it's appalling unreliability and inept dealers. The leasing company did not provide hire cars all of the time, taking it to the dealers was a hassle, collecting and moving my stuff to hire cars was a hassle, keeping the awful pile of automotive rubbish for 4 years was a hassle - and as a lease car I HAD to keep it, as a solvent private motorist I would have rejected it when it broke down (for the first time) with 44 miles on the clock, the leasing company have no such concerns.
Cars cost money, company cars (often) tie you to an inflexible lease contract, leasing companies have such tight margins they offer little flexibility and show no discretion. in my experience cars don't go wrong that often either.
If you do a high mileage then get a company car, if funding (or maintaining) your car is such a trauma to you then get a company car. If you want flexibility and not to be a sitting target for HMRC then don't. In the end it's just money / maths and YOUR value judgement - either way it is still costing you money to fund your car and I contend that the costs are comparable.
If you've never been offered a company car, you ain't missing much - really you aren't.
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In current economic climate, no job is too secure. If you have a company car and lose job, you lose the car as well.
I have seen people coming to work in company car, made redundant/fired and went back home in cab.
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Indeed, but if you go the other route, and take out an expensive PCP or loan, then lose your job, you're stuck with an expensive car you can't afford. Swings and roundabouts!
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But if you have your own car and finance on it... lose your job and you cannot afford to pay for the car... so you lose the car. Or might have to sell it to tide you over until you get another job.... so depreciation is a big hit.
You can use the scenario to argue a company car is better than your own. If I was made redundant and I didn't have to work the notice period, not only would they pay for that but also pay for the benefit that was the car.
EDIT: Snap
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 8 Feb 12 at 14:53
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Sorry, don't follow the argument.
Whether you have an expensive car on PCP that you can only afford while in a job, or a company car, then if you lose your job in both cases you will have to give up your car and replace it with a mode of transport - whatever it may be - that you can afford.
Do the maths for the two options (company car vs PCP) and see which option is cheaper based on the possibility of losing your job.
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>> Sorry, don't follow the argument.
>>
>> Whether you have an expensive car on PCP that you can only afford while in
>> a job, or a company car, then if you lose your job in both cases
>> you will have to give up your car and replace it with a mode of
>> transport - whatever it may be - that you can afford.
You can hand back a company car no problem, you cant hand back a car on PCP or other personal lease without financial penalty. A car you had costed based on your large fat - now gone - salary.
Its better to take your redundancy and buy a 500 quid shed to see you through to the next job.
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>> you cant hand back a car on PCP or other personal lease without financial penalty.
So you can hand it back, with a penalty.
>> A car you had costed based on your large fat - now gone - salary.
Silly stupid moo, if moo had not factored in the costs and bought a car he/she really could not afford to keep in the event of the chop.
Hence my post "Do the maths for the two options (company car vs PCP) and see which option is cheaper based on the possibility of losing your job."
FWIW, if given a choice, my solution is always take the cash allowance and buy the cheapest second hand car that the company policy allows you to use, assuming they enforce a minimum standard. (I guess another forum contributor, Mapmaker, also does exactly that.)
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>> take the cash allowance and buy the cheapest second hand car that the company policy
>> allows you to use, assuming they enforce a minimum standard
I personally prefer to be in a big, reasonably new car with most/all the safety features including xenon headlights. Adaptive in the case of my current car. But that's my choice.
Could I afford to run a £29k car if I was made redundant? Well even if I used spare cash to buy it, if out of work I'd not need a £29k car.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 8 Feb 12 at 20:56
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> you cant hand back a car on PCP or other personal lease without financial penalty.
Yes you can.
There are some companies who will supply just about any car you want on PCP terms without penalties for early termination.
A friend uses these folks:
www.vectura.uk.com/index.htm
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>> Its better to take your redundancy and buy a 500 quid shed to see you through to the next job.
Totally agree and indeed if I opted out I wouldn't borrow money to buy a car. I'd buy whatever was suitable and only what I could easily afford from saved money so that in the event of a sudden cessation of income I'd still own my car outright and have the option to either keep it or sell it to help tide me over.
I've lurched from relative comfort to financial discomfort several times over and no doubt will see examples of that situation again. Doesn't need to be too much of a problem if you ensure you are prepared.
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yup if your job is insecure its company car every time.
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I wasn't arguing a company car was better - only the view a private car was better has flaws. Each has to decide on their own situation.
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Is having a company car all it's cracked up to be? - DP
