Validate my (car) decision.

stick or twist?<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-border-spacing-x: 0; –tw-border-spacing-y: 0; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246/0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’; background-color: #eeeeee;” />you are holding a 10, stick

You’re not allowed to stick on 10. Got to be at least 16 to do that.

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.

So £7200 vs £2500….   £4.8k a year, £14.4k over 3yrs….

There’s another part of thr equation I think nobody else had thrown in yet.

Using your own car, and claiming 45p a mile back.

For 12,000 miles a year that’s £5400 ‘income’.

At 40mph that’s about £2k fuel a year.

So you trouser £3,400 to cover the depreciation, wear etc.

I know someone paid a goodly chunk of their mortgage for a year or two with the the profit of running an old car when having to constantly travel to site [in a job where ‘doing’ was valued above image so nobody given a monkey’s toss about how shiny and new the motor was).

Yeah the all inclusive costs can make a big difference. Also just check on the salary sacrifice calcs. My portal (Tusker) didn’t take into account the additional tax relief savings, or higher tax rates we pay in Scotland (even though it asks for my postcode) which both made a big difference to my take home pay.

Kryton:-

£60 a week is £3120 in petrol. That’s being generous as I have one long trip each month that isn’t included.

I was paying £120 a month for electricity for the family of 4. This is now £80 a month including charging the ev. My “fuel” is free.

£1000 a year for tyres. So that’s £4120 that I no longer need to pay. Maybe tyres could be cheaper.

£650 on insurance is £4770.

MOT and servicing takes this to £5000.

Ive had to do the brakes on the Cupra once, that was costly. Well over £1000.

My Cupra was paid off as it was sold. But prior to that it was £250 a month on HP. I put down a large deposit to help pay for it.

Sounds to me like a cupras a poor car to run for work.

Thanks for the clarification W00dster.   Robertajob makes a good point of course to consider.

Anyway I’ve decided; I like my BM, have it setup exactly the way I want it and its use is totally under my behest, I’d rather keep it and maximise my ROI paying for the other bits with the 45ppm – as I’m contracted from home that’ll rack up even with trips to the office 4-6 times a month.

So you trouser £3,400 to cover the depreciation, wear etc.

minus tyres (£600) repairs (£££) and depreciation (£1000-£2000) for every 10k dependent upon car.

I know someone paid a goodly chunk of their mortgage for a year or two with the the profit of running an old car when having to constantly travel to site [in a job where ‘doing’ was valued above image so nobody given a monkey’s toss about how shiny and new the motor was).

Not if they’re only doing 12k a year they didn’t.  They just haven’t taken full account of the costs.

I had a promotion at work which included a £5k a year car allowance with no stipulation on age/type/appearance so I carried on running my old daily driver ex military overlander Defender 110 and thankfully didn’t have to go anywhere in it. Quids in.

what tyres and miles are you putting on a hatchback that cost 250 quid a corner every year?

my gti runs tyres at around 80 quid a corner and i definitely would not be replacing them every year, despite some ‘spirited’ driving including a track day.

new tyres every year about £1000

what tyres and miles are you putting on a hatchback that cost 250 quid a corner every year?

What I was thinking. The Cross Climates I put on my Ford cost about that, but so far they’ve lasted two and a half years on the front, when I was doing about 11-12k a year. They’re now on the back wheels and I’ve got the Continental equivalent which were about £350/pair on the front, and I’m now doing about 5k miles per year. The original Goodyear tyres that were on the rear lasted over 30k miles, replaced because one had an unrepairable puncture, and the inner sidewalls were cracking.

Pleased to read about you using the train so much, Kryton. Much as I like EVs, in your situation with a low mileage car you like, I’d stick.

Or flog the current car and buy a similar aged electric one instead. No net outlay and cheap(er) travel with the electric car.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/24/spectacular-bargains-why-now-is-a-great-time-to-buy-an-electric-car-in-the-uk

Also how much tax does a salary sacrifice on a car purchase save you? The benefit in kind tax is less than a petrol or diesel but you need to work that bit out.

If it ain’t broke….

Better the devil you know….

etc, etc….

Sounds like it’s close to 50/50 so you should definitely get the new car in that situation. Status signalling in this realm is very important in sales afaict.

Older bmw in good order sounds perfect for the client side in most sectors. Signals a successful salesperson but with a sensible understanding of money – very good. It’s a dangerously low value signal on the company side, though. Your typical junior salesperson has the intellect of a golden retriever, can only be motivated by pictures or clear commands using short words. But they possess a dangerous animal-like cunning and are quick to sense weakness – even now they may be plotting your demise. Picture it now, Kryton the Lion of sales taken down and overwhelmed by a pack of hyenas, all because he drove an old motor.

The new car shouldn’t hurt the client side, either. It’s not like you’d be showing up to meets in a maserati, which could be very bad in some sectors.

lol, my cars in good condition and I keep it very clean on the basis I could take senior management or a client in it at a moments notice.  If it got tatty, my view might change.   Hence, despite being 7yo it still looks “executive” IMHO.

My decision is also based on one of the reasons I took this – challenging – new role, which is to build a 3-5yr nest egg / % company direct share ownership as a Pension contribution / alternative, so as someone mentioned above I’ll stick to my plan and salary sacrifice to the pension instead.  I want to reduce my working hours and stress at 57.

I’ll be able to enroll at anytime so if business goes very well and I end up commission heavy I can change the decision.   Year 1 and my probation period deserves a slightly more cautious Plan A approach!