I am currently supplied a company car and was looking at getting rid of it, partly cause it's a diesel Vectra estate and partly cause I wonder if it's worth my while.
I also get diesel for private use though get taxed to bu**ery on it!
If I do get rid of it presumably I would get an allowance etc, as it's a small company I need to know what to be asking for if I do want to get rid of it.
Any advice and/or websites to calculate things would be much appreciated.
I'd be looking for £5k + to run an equivalent car privately.
Ta that's what I was thinking, currently taxed on about £7000 for the pleasure of it.
and make sure you get a decent mileage rate for any travelling for work you do.
5k?
I've run newish medium size cars for the last 10 years or so for about 3.5K a year (includes cost of car, maintenance and fuel, based on 12k miles a year).
The trick is not to buy brand spanking new, but 6 months or so old, so some other sucker has absorbed 1/3 or the price.
My car allowance is £7k per year
I took the car so I didn't have to give my ex 20% of my allowance (**** CSA bastids)
£5k less tax is about £3.5k in your pocket glenh (less if you pay 40% tax).
Most people I know that get a car allowance instead of a company car get circa £5k per year.
For your £5k, you should be able to run something similar, or better than your current car, and miss out on paying the ridiculous company car tax too.
As glenh says. If you're buying, buy 6 months old so it has absorbed a lot of its depreciation. Though if you get your allowance monthly, it's probably better to get something on contract hire.
Just be sure you work out how much tax you're actually paying (not the benefit itself upon which you are taxed). I'd LOVE a company car - cheap as chips usually!
5-6K allowance. You may make money or you may lose some but you will be able to choose you own car, specification etc. I used to run an Integra Type-R and now run a Mercedes CL. Both are unavailable as company cars. I made money on the Honday and am paying a bit more on the Merc. Both better than waking up with a Vectra on your drive and a 200 mile round trip ahead of you
Just done it, moved to a job where I get a choice of car or cash allowance, rather than just car or 40p per mile. I worked out I'd be almost 7K a year better off with the allowance and not paying the tax, and bought a car that was slightly more than 1 years saving that I plan to run for as long as possible, hopefully 10 years.
I used to get £5k a year allowance before I went contracting. If i was doing that now I'd be buying a 55/06/56 mondeo tdci with 80k ish on it for £5k or less and running it for 2 years for very little money.
I saw a 55 plate with 92k for £2,700 the other day.
I used to get £5k a year allowance before I went contracting. If i was doing that now I'd be buying a 55/06/56 mondeo tdci with 80k ish on it for £5k or less and running it for 2 years for very little money.
I saw a 55 plate with 92k for £2,700 the other day.
Yep, 5k is OK for running some mainstream diesel saloon/hatch. I get a little over that then 20p a mile - as I'm based from home that works out quite well. Generally car allowance works out better for people like me, if you commute to a fixed place of work and just do the odd bit of business mileage a company car can work out better. More so if you don't mind choosing around CO2 emissions and P11D price, and even more so if your insurance is pricey (in my case, moving further into London and parking the street has added a hefty chunk to the cost).
Remember though that 5k car allowance is more like 3k once you've been taxed on it if you're a higher rate taxpayer.
http://www.cashorcar.co.uk/ can do the sums for you, and they hook into various lease/finance price databases so you can do direct comparisons for if you ran a new car over the same term. If you're happy to go nearly-new you can usually run a nicer car for the same budget or make a decent saving each month.
your company don't have to offer you an allowance instead of a company car - depends on their policy, in the UK though it's a prevalent benefit
your allowance is likely to be about 10% of your base salary (or a minimum of 4-5k, whichever is more), or around 1/3 of the full price of the car you are eligible for
Been running my own cars for business for about 8 years now. In fact when I first did it, only a handfull of insurance companies would consider it. Now most do I suspect.
I would never go back to a company car.
Now in a TDCI Mondeo (54 plate) with almost 120k miles under its belt. It does 50mpg + costs next to nowt to service as well. Paid 10k for it when it was 8 months old! bargain.
I'll be sad when it finally has to go. Maybe another 2 years when it will be nudging the 180 - 200k mark.
Don't forget to factor in tax claim back on the difference between the government pence / mile rate and the one you get paid by the company. at around 25k business miles a year, I get back 1000.00 roughly, per year.
should add, I get a (rather mean) 4800.00 in my wages (taxed) and 17p a mile.
It costs 8.5p/mile in diesel so the rest pays for tyres and servicing.
WorldClassAccident - Member
5-6K allowance. You may make money or you may lose some but you will be able to choose you own car, specification etc. I used to run an Integra Type-R and now run a Mercedes CL. Both are unavailable as company cars. I made money on the Honday and am paying a bit more on the Merc. Both better than waking up with a Vectra on your drive and a 200 mile round trip ahead of you
I like my Vectra, it's very good at 200 mile round trips! 
I get an allowance of £5000, taxed at 40%, so it's more than affordable after deductions.
Although, I might get a Chrysler 300C CRD as my next one, they seem to be quite a bargain at the moment...
This topic has been closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
