As far as problems go, this is a fairly good one to have. I’m about to accept a new job, comes with a company car or car allowance, both at pretty rock bottom level: £250/month. As a committed bangernomicer I currently drive a 23 year old Peugeot 309 which has no chance of being considered a suitable vehicle if I take the cash allowance. Mrs unknown has a suitable 1 year old vehicle but needs it for her work. I need a car for daily 20 mile commutes and semi-regular motorway miles.

So do I throw myself at the mercy of the company car list (which I haven’t seen), or see what I can lease, PCP for £150/month, which is what I’ll actually get after tax? Whichever I go for it needs to be good on economy and decent on the motorway (in that order). As you might tell from my current vehicle, I’m no snob when it comes to cars!

Company car means peace of mind with no unexpected costs and no worries about depreciation,loans or being tied into a finance deal.An allowance gives more flexibility on car choice but needs to be generous to beat peace of mind.£150 isn’t going to go far if you still need to pay insurance and maintenance costs. Will you be able to clsim 45p a mile for business use? How many business miles will you cover?
We really need more detail about the car choice though to give meaningful advice.

Company car for sure presuming they will then insure it for you. Bare in mind a car allowance is taxed.

My MK 7 VW Golf is about £225 a month on business lease and is excellent on the motorway, great on fuel on not much company car tax.

Ask for the list before you commit either way.

My former place let me put some extra cash in to get the car I wanted, so I got a passat vs a golf. It worked for me..

Don’t under estimate the value of peace of mind a company car brings, repairs tax insurance etc. secondly if you will need to drive for business factor in the extra insurance. You will be surprised (not in a good way) at the additional premium when you add business use to a standard SDP policy.
Go for peace of mind.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer then company cars cost you twice as much. If you are not in that bracket then you can get a really decent car for about £120/month additional income tax.

What’s on your list?

I’ll see what’s on the list but my thinking just now is to take the car, I’m unlikely to get much decent with the cash left after tax so feels like company car would be worth it for less hassle, so long as the tax isn’t excessive.

Yep, higher rate tax payer. The small print says I don’t get to choose the first company car, I get whatever they have spare with time left on the lease, until its lease is up. That’s OK if it’s a few weeks or couple of months, don’t fancy someone else’s choice for a couple of years!

If I was in your shoes I would go for the company car as if you leave, get sacked, made redundant or promoted and don’t have a car etc you can just walk away same as if the engine cough its guts all over the road as a company car you just pick up the phone and get a replacement instead of thinking how much is it going to cost.

Also as a company car all the cost and hassle is their problem just be careful if they try to screw you for any damage

See what the car is and run it through the comcar calculator. Still worth the peace of mind of having the company car.

Car allowance is good if you’ve already got a reasonable car, but if you need to purchase or lease I’d say go the company car route.

Before you accept the job, it might be worth chatting with the person who interviewed you about the car you’ll be getting. Let them know you are accepting the job based on a low emission, reasonable co.car tax car.

I changed jobs last year and ended up with a Kuga which was costing me lots in tax and lots in fuel. A Golf came free after 6 months and I was allowed to swap to that, as it saved me money on tax and fuel.

I had a similar situation a few years ago – got landed with a Hyundai Tucson or something, which did about 8 miles to the gallon. Awful!