Am I nuts to go for an E46 M3

[Mr Gearchange]

I really really want an E46 M3 - and with around 10-11 grand seemingly landing you a minter i'm finding it very hard to resist.

I'm about to change jobs and get a healthy car allowance - however from looking at the car tax calculator it would seem that only a utter tomfool would drive a powerful car on a company car scheme due to the arse rapage inflicted by the taxman.

So I'm desperately trying to avoid buying a diesel barge and make a case for the M3.

I'd be doing around 30K a year in one. Am I mental?

Thanks.

[JCHill]

Can you "opt out" of the company car scheme and receive the car allowance directly into your salary?

I did this years ago and haven't looked back since!

[M7RT V]

I opted out of the company car scheme and negotiated a healthy salary bump and I use my E46 M3 for business. I'm doing around 1-2K miles a month for work and i've not looked back since

Will you be claiming 40-45p a mile for fuel or will they give you a fuel card?

[Mr Gearchange]

I'm hoping I can opt out and take the cash - which would be about 400 quid per month after tax.
But if i took the 'company car allowance' I wouldn't be able to claim the mileage allowance for a private vehicle - i'd be tied to whatever mileage allowance I can claim for a company vehicle - which is 26p per mile for anything over 2000CC. Frankly I don't think that will even cover the fuel costs for a 3.2 M engined car. That could get hellishly expensive if I'm doing 30K a year.

I'll try and negotiate my car allowance as additional salary so I can claim the 40p/25p per mile - but they will probably push back on me doing this.

I guess it's going to come down to how well I can negotiate..

[Nedzilla]

30k miles a year is going to cost you a bit in a M3.Two services,two sets of tyres and around £7.5k in fuel each year before you even start!

[AudiSport]

Have you Thought about owning two cars? Keep the M3 for weekends!

[Mr Gearchange]

Two cars isn't an option unfortunately - I'd have to have another 'decent' car for business purposes so it's not as if I can run a knacker to visit customers and have the M3 for the weekend.

Anyway if I was going down the road of 'dedicated weekend car' it's probably be a Caterham.

Sounds like it's just not viable - gutted.

[Fox-]

You wont pay company car tax no an M3 you've bought yourself using a car allowance. You'll just pay tax/NI on the allowance instead.

[gaz1234]

AudiSport said:

Have you Thought about owning two cars? Keep the M3 for weekends!

+1

[ArmaghMan]

gaz1234 said:

AudiSport said:

Have you Thought about owning two cars? Keep the M3 for weekends!

+1

I run an E39 M5 on a car scheme similar to yours.
Thought about a second cart but just knew I'd end up driving the beast anyway.

[krisdelta]

30k miles a year at 40ppm = £12k. 7.5k for fuel, leaves a healthy chunk for servicing / tyres... looks pretty viable to me!

[Frik]

Don't forget the tax relief on the difference between what you can claim and what your employer would be paying you per mile:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-mileage.ht...

[TEKNOPUG]

krisdelta said:

30k miles a year at 40ppm = £12k. 7.5k for fuel, leaves a healthy chunk for servicing / tyres... looks pretty viable to me!

It's only 40ppm for the first 10k and then drops to 25ppm IIRC

[donz29]

Have a look at my profile - I've kept my M3 running costs pretty up to date, however doing about half the mileage you're proposing. Excluding depreciation it's costing me about 50ppm.