Validate my (car) decision.

I’m being offered a salary sacrifice electric car scheme at work.   It’d be nice, but they are spendy – for a salespersons motorway cruiser – even on that scheme, £500-£900 a month!

I’m quite happy to pocket the cash instead run my paid for 43k miles ‘17 plate 320d as I’m quite happy with it but (warning: ego content) as the Team manager I’ll have the oldest car in the shiny shiny sales team.

Im right (sensible) arent I ?  (Smiley winky not too serious a thread emoji)

stick or twist?
you are holding a 10, stick

(and IMO…having the oldest and hence spending the least money marks you out at being the smartest)

Mrchrispy nails it

Yeah, but what bikes do they have?

Best car we have owned from new to 12 years old when the Heathrow Valet parking totalled it.  We had a 320 Touring 2011. We miss it.  We now have a leased Merc EQA which is okay.  I miss the space tbh and the flexibility of a small estate car that handled well and was great on fuel.  My wifes mileage has plummeted now so the EQA is overkill.

Maybe get a private plate on the Beemer? 😉

Shows you understand Total Cost of Ownership

Stick with the BM definitely. Seems outrageously expensive for a salary sacrifice scheme, but ours is just as bad – even something basic like a clio comes in about 550 a month!

you might find if you have a car payment as part of your package there are rules stipulating the age/milage of the car you have (this is common if you actually need to drive somewhere).

If not, an ev lease through salary sacrifice is likely cheaper than a 3 year old car, but may not be cheaper than a 8 year old car to run. over 10,000 miles a year your car might cost £4k (£1k tax/insurance/service/mot, £1500 fuel, £1500 depreciation) after tax, which (if you’re a high rate tax payer) which is about £550 a month pre-tax. If you can get (say) a model 3 for £650 a month pre-tax (with the running costs wrapped in), and spend about £40 a month on leccy, its up to you whether then extra £140 is worth it for somewhere nicer to sit

Maybe get a private plate on the Beemer?

SALDIR 1?

😀

Yes it was a rhetorical question, just being sure I wasn’t missing a gift horse or something, and these Kids aren’t getting any cheaper….

 (warning: ego content) as the Team manager I’ll have the oldest car in the shiny shiny sales team.

Who has the nicest bikes, eh?

as the Team manager I’ll have the oldest car in the shiny shiny sales team

Insecure much?

stick or twist?

you are holding a 10, stick

…until it blows a turbo halfway up the A9 , destroying half the engine and you’re stuck in a layby in the snow for 6 hours, freezing your knackers off whilst contemplating the huge bill.
This can happen. Ask me how I know.

Total cost of ownership includes the unforeseen catastrophes too.  I’d rather pass that risk on to my employer.

a salesperson’s motorway cruiser and a 17 plate 43k miles car don’t exactly stack up? How have you done such low mileage (even if you count 5 io 7 assuming virtually no travel in Covid, that’s still only 8k per year)

When I did my stint in sales it was 20k+

Hang on, aren’t we supposed to be buying a Toyota Corolla?

Very low mileage for a ’17 plate.

Low mileage is because I prefer to use trains, before lockdown was blessed with clients at direct connections (I’m in London), after lockdown my job has been mainly remote, and for bike trips used our older Kuga.    I bought the car as ex demo with 6k miles, so have done 37k in that time.

I’ll continue to use trains where I can, which IMO further negates paying £6k a year for a new car.

Definitely stick then if your mileage is low.

Yeah…but SHIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNYY

(and IMO…having the oldest and hence spending the least money marks you out at being the smartest)

is where im at too.  plenty of new cars at our place, i wince at the monthly costs some of them are paying.  i park our scratched, battered old 06 nissan note which owes us nothing next to them and smile.

We both had a 320d Touring and both did a trouble-free 200k+ miles, (nearly) free motoring! WNTL?

Yeah…but SHIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNYY

Well it will be when Jnr valets it for a contribution his savings fund later this week.

Depends on mileage.

I’ve got a foot in both camps, MrsPaino drives a 320d drive touring (2018) and I’ve got a salary sacrifice Q4. First new car I’ve ever owned and it’s top notch, to the point that I hate getting in the BMW. Its small, claustrophobic and my feet are too big so catch the sides of the footwell. There’s hardly any space for the kids in the back unless the front seats are pulled right up to the dash. I do 10k/year pretty much 95% motorway cruising (but only 60 mile days), and find it so much more comfortable overall. Is it worth the money? For ease of use, removing the faff of tyres, servicing and insurance etc absolutely. If I was doing loads of motorway mileage, probably not.

I think we’ve moved past a time when cars reflected the owner’s wealth or importance, now anyone with a reasonable income and a decent credit score can get themselves into something very flash. Not much of a status symbol if they don’t reflect your status.

Not sure I’d want to keep hold of a modern diesel if I wasn’t doing big miles though, too many things to go wrong.

I’m quite happy to pocket the cash instead run my paid for 43k miles ‘17 plate 320d as I’m quite happy with it but (warning: ego content) as the Team manager I’ll have the oldest car in the shiny shiny sales team.

Spending less on a think like a car marks you out as smarter than the others.

Reinforce your messaging to the sales team with a bumper sticker of some kind “I may drive the oldest car but I sold more than you” or similar should suffice.

and my feet are too big so catch the sides of the footwell. There’s hardly any space for the kids in the back unless the front seats are pulled right up to the dash

Crikey, I’m just off 6ft with size 10 feet and a 5ft 8inch teenager with no issues like that at all.

LOL at MOAB

My 2p worth….

sell the BMW and pocket the cash – likely 2 years free motoring right there.

SS is a no up front cost scheme, with all inclusive servicing, tyres plus insurance….. Plus it will include a home charger – get it free now whilst you can.

plus with Octopus electricity your motoring fuel costs will plummet.

43k miles ‘17 plate

*Looks at 55 plate, 120k mile hatchback, and 54 plate, 165k mile van*

I’ll have it if you don’t want it.

I have a 17 year old 330i Touring whilst a very junior member of my team leases a brand new Audi S5 and lives at home with his dad. Pretty confident I am wise with my position in that situation.

£500-£900 a month!

ooff! I’d rather the cash in my paypacket to privatley invest or put into salary sacrifice pension, or whatever, and get yourself your own car that’s not £500+ per month.

I’d rather the cash in my paypacket to privatley invest or put into salary sacrifice pension, and get yourself your own car.

Except you need to then pay tax on that at your highest tax rate and then  out of what’s left still pay for a car that meets the employer’s criteria and also the insurance, maintenance, tyres, road tax and repairs.
It sounds a lot but doesn’t actually leave much. Your £500 becomes £300 net after 40% tax and then £250 after insurance and road tax and then £200 after a full set of tyres  and so on. The £500 a month car is actually a £200 a month car in reality
I’m guessing the OP will be able to ride on his 7 year old car for a year or two at most before he needs to replace it to qualify for the cash allowance.

Hold on. Your employer pays you for the car and then you take the train and I assume claim that back? If I pay for a company car I would expect the said user to use the thing.

I get a ‘status car’ and have always downgraded to the smallest/cheapest car I could. I used to take pride parking a Fabia in a line of BMW’s and Merc’s 🙂

Hold on. Your employer pays you for the car and then you take the train and I assume claim that back? If I pay for a company car I would expect the said user to use the thing.

No, the current car is my car, when I use it I claim the mileage, that’s it.     I understand what your saying about the new car, I’d expect my employer to be telling to make use of it but, being prompted by Danstw above I looked at the schemes and the liability is on me, not the employer.   They do it because it saves them NI which I assume is a bigger saving than administering the scheme costs.

So if it’s my lease and liability, I should be able to do what I want with it.  If I’d rather take a plane / train to say Aberdeen I’d suggest that’s complete justifiable, from London to Southend much less so.

Hold on. Your employer pays you for the car and then you take the train and I assume claim that back? If I pay for a company car I would expect the said user to use the thing

Quite common. I know someone who was/is receiving a car allowance and almost never uses it.  It’s supposed to be a practical maximum 5 years old. He runs a 20+ year old Celica and gets the train everywhere, whilst claiming on expenses. It’s just a salary top up, he works from home now.

An I4 was £530/m for me with a few options.  It’s a lot, but it’s not outrageous when you run the whole numbers.  No insurance (£400), no servicing (£200), no MOT (£60), no tyres (£300), no tax (£190), free charging for 10k miles (£1.3k fuel).

I’d wager in a petrol car, those costs would quickly amount to £2.5k.  Factor in depreciation and repairs at what another £2.5k a year?  You’re not a million miles away if you’re completely honest with what you spend.

I still didn’t (can’t bring myself to) do it.  It seems so much even through I know in reality it’s not when compared to something that’s 3 years old that I would own.  My issue is that my car is 20y old and I do all the repairs.  I’m too (time wise) cheap to make it economically viable to lease.

Hmm, with more detail I’m coming round to the idea of the sale of the BM paying for it and leaving me with a free installed charger.  Mrs K and I want to get to one electric car eventually for ourselves, not negating the fact the Jnr no1 is 18 months away from driving lessons.

I have a salary sacrifice that costs me c£380 after tax and I feel slightly silly and that it’s a pretty daft way to spend money.

How people that earn less than me are happy paying £700-£1000/ month is beyond me.

Perchy has it in my view. I sold my Cupra and now drive an Audi Q4 Sportback…..quite a decent spec.
Monthly payments are £950 gross, comes out to about £600 after tax.

I’ve said this quite a lot on the electric car thread….But my fuel bill has gone from £60 a week to £18 for all my electric (family of 4). My insurance was £650 a year, tax £200, new tyres every year about £1000, MOT, servicing and then odd jobs needing doing (brakes etc).  Now I just email someone and they book my car in, no hassle way to motor.

I get that I’m in a very fortunate position to do this. But I haven’t regretted doing it…..the missus who is very thrifty with money agrees that I’m no worse off now than I was with the Cupra, but now I get a new car every 3 years and no worries about expensive repairs or whether insurance goes up.

a very junior member of my team leases a brand new Audi S5 and lives at home with his dad. Pretty confident I am wise with my position in that situation.n

Depends. Have you met his dad?

I also have the same scheme, but just pocket the car allowance and run a nice older diesel SUV. I may take a new Renault 5 when it comes out next year. I ruled out a Porsche Taycan on the grounds that even tax free, it’s still £1k/mo I’d rather spend elsewhere (e.g., pension). So take the car allowance and teach your team the wisdom of compound interest rather than depreciation.

I use a paid for 108 for work driving

It cost 1 years equivalent lease payments I bought it with 18k on the clock

I’ve had it for 3 years.

It’s got 36k on the clock.

250 quid a year to insure (was 140 the first year )  free to tax and 55 mpg . If/when it dies it owes me nothing

9/10 times only me or me and 1 other going to a meeting. Leasing a bigger cock extension seemed pointless.

Bikes go on the roof on a seasucker occasionally. But mostly I’ll use the wife’s Berlingo (which usually has 3 people in on the school/nursery run).