Company cars

[duckers26]

So having a company car or one where you know it will go back in a few years do you treat it any differently? I must admit I don't pay the same attention as my own car and drive it with less sympathy, revving from cold etc. Friends that have them seem to slam them over speed bumps (which I don't) and don't care as once it's out of warranty it's not their problem or the lease company picks up the maintenance. Probably causing pain to ph'ers here now, especially looking to pick up a used bargain!

[Pistom]

I've always treated company cars as if they were my own. It's just a personal pride thing. I don't understand those that treat their cars like a POS.

I'm glad to say I managed to drop the cocar thing a few years ago and get a decent allowance so the car the company pays for is mine. The downside is that so are all the repair bills.

[duckers26]

Pistom said:

I've always treated company cars as if they were my own. It's just a personal pride thing. I don't understand those that treat their cars like a POS.

I'm glad to say I managed to drop the cocar thing a few years ago and get a decent allowance so the car the company pays for is mine. The downside is that so are all the repair bills.

Don't treat like POS but conscious that it's only there for temporary period and anything that goes wrong will be fixed under warranty

[Buster73]

Look after it , get it hand washed every other week during the winter , do it myself during the summer occasional full wax / polish.

Get it serviced when it needs doing , nothing more or less than I would do,if it was mine.

[Rawwr]

I treat all cars the same, regardless of who owns them or holds the V5. I don't get why people treat lease or rental cars badly.

[BFG TERRANO]

I look after mine like its my own. At 3 yrs when it goes back were billed for anything above normal wear and tear.

As for mechanically looked after? Yes. I don't want to rag it over speed bumps and thrash it from cold, I see no point. Did that in my teens much to my expense.

[xRIEx]

duckers26 said:

Pistom said:

I've always treated company cars as if they were my own. It's just a personal pride thing. I don't understand those that treat their cars like a POS.

I'm glad to say I managed to drop the cocar thing a few years ago and get a decent allowance so the car the company pays for is mine. The downside is that so are all the repair bills.

Don't treat like POS but conscious that it's only there for temporary period and anything that goes wrong will be fixed under warranty

Same here, pretty much. I'll admit I'm more diligent warming up my own car than the company car. I don't particularly care much about it compared to my own, but I don't rag it over speed bumps, I still have a sense of mechanical sympathy.

[stemll]

Looked after it as if it was mine insofar as how it was treated and driven. But I never washed or hoovered it myself, went to the local Polish hand wash for that.

It's gone now and I haven't washed the replacement since I got it in October and I paid for that one

[duckers26]

stemll said:

Looked after it as if it was mine insofar as how it was treated and driven. But I never washed or hoovered it myself, went to the local Polish hand wash for that.

It's gone now and I haven't washed the replacement since I got it in October and I paid for that one

Surely services are the recommended washing intervals as well?

[Welshbeef]

Most companies I hae worked for who offer co cars the employee is liable to the excess and if it is returned requiring notable repairs due to poor treatment it can be a HR issue for you to deal with ie dismissal


But most can buy the car at highly discounted values at the end of the term as such yet would be naive to do so. Also why kills car which you have to use for 4 years...

[Small Car]

When I was 21 I got to drive the top man's V70 T5 - brand new and top spec. Used to go all over UK thrashing the guts out of it, I remember being able to light the inside wheel up coming out of roundabouts. Somehow I got to buy it three years later and ran it up to 188k with no detrimental impact on the car. So I can't say that I would treat my car the same as a company or lease car unfortunately...

[Ari]

If I buy a car, run it for three years and sell it, or whether its a company car for three years, its still my car whilst I have it so why would I treat it any different?

I was very fortunate to have nice company cars when I had them though.

[8potdave]

I always keep them clean but do tend to drive a bit harder at times than if it was mine, ie less mechanical sympathy. I do love the feeling you get from a co car that any funny noises, dashboard lights etc wont lead to big bills.

[Deva Link]

I used to work for a company that bought its own cars and everyone looked after them and wasconcerned if there were any issues.

It was a revelation to me when I went to another company and they leased their cars. If you had a problem no-one in the company gave a toss and the lease company did the bare minimum possible in terms of service and repair, the most obvious thing being hassle every time it needed tyres. In the end I thought, if they don't care, why should I worry about it?