Been asked to use my own car for business use

[mrmr96]

Munter said:

Fair enough. I have essentially bought the car solely for business usage, and consider the ability to do some personal miles a bonus. And in my haste didn't consider the monthly payment scenario.

Ah well. If you happen to be me it's useful!

No worries mate - a spreadsheet can be useful or useless depending on what you're trying to get from it. I can see it's useful to you.

[RizzoTheRat]

For use in the UK I don't think the OPs employers are being unreasonable at all. Trips to Europe may be a little different though as insurance an recovery packages will cost more.

I've hit the 10k point today so will be claiming 25p for the rest of the month, but deliberately drive a fairly economical car so I'm not out of pocket.

In a previous role I did 100k miles in 3.5 years and made 10p/mile profit including depreciation, fuel, maintenance, etc. The trick is to use an economical car that's not depreciating much (a ZX for that one), I wouldn't want to do it in an M3 though. Will they consider paying for a hire car for the overseas trips?

[mph1977]

XDA said:

Surely your employer has a fleet insurance policy so I wouldn't have thought age would be an issue?

I'm 24 and I've had a company car since the age of 21.

t i doubt that the insurance doesn't cover under 25s although there's probably a substantially higher excess for d the under 25s

[trashbat]

Worth saying that adding minimal business insurance (i.e. you can travel on business but no taking customers about) to a personal policy typically costs between £0 and £20, so not too big a deal.

[Petrolhead_Rich]

HuntD said:

I've been with at my current employer for a while now but it looks like i'm now needing to commute to more than one place of work, including the continent.

We have boggo 1.6/2.0 diesel company cars but my employer won't pay for the insurance as I am under 25 and so they have asked me to use my own car, even though when I took the job they said they’d take out a new insurance policy if and when I need it, now they are saying its not worth it.

I don’t mind this as such, but they will only pay me 45p a mile and my car is quite thirsty so there is not much leaway. It would also stop me from buying a V8 which was on the cards this summer.

So, what are my options? Is it unreasonable to ask for a fuel card as well as 45p per mile? What about the additional insurance premium for adding business use to my policy?

To be honest I’ve been given a good career opportunity here so I don’t want to blow it, but I can’t help but feel short changed.

I have always used my car for business use, ok so the 40ppm I get paid doesn't entirely cover the cost of insuring & running my car, but it is more of a contribution that it would if I had a company car.

You should easily be able to cover the additional costs incurred with using your car for 45ppm but it's upto you if that is what you want.

mxspyder said:

I think there may be a tax issue with being paid over 40ppm? I think you will be taxed on 5ppm

the limit is 45ppm as of last year, I tried submitting my expenses with the new rate and my company told me to Foxtrot Oscar as they still only paid 40ppm, so if the OP is getting the full rate he will be better off than most!

[bogwoppit]

I don't think the deal is too good TBH. What if you didn't have a car? Would they expect you to buy one out of your own pocket just for business use? Why should you be expected to change your car for the same reason? Remember they are only compensating you for the business portion, you are not getting a car allowance here. Fair enough if the company cars don't include personal use then they shouldn't be expected to give you a car allowance, but equally you should have the company car option available to you just like everybody else. If the company cars DO come with private usage, you're being fleeced.

It's possible that the real reason they are asking this is that they'd rather you take the insurance risk than they. They saw you arrive in your M3 and think you're going to stack it on a business trip.

All this said, if it were me I'd take a look how much I am likely to be out of pocket. If it is not a huge amount, I'd suck it up. They don't have to employ you so no point cutting off your nose to spite your face. After all, the benefit you get is being able to drive the M3 on your business trips rather than bore yourself to death in a 1.6 diesel. Ask yourself how much that is worth.