Company car - what's it worth?

[acme]

Not sure if this is the right area, and this may be a difficult one to definitively answer, but what's a company car worth salary wise?

We don't get a choice of taking cash in lieu so I can't evaluate that way, it's fairly typical company car fodder, the 'best' available being Golf GTD/320D.

Any ideas? I'm trying to work out what I'd need salary wise to move, most jobs in my industry don't come with a car as it's not normally required/industry standard.

Thanks for any info

[JM]

Try www.comcar.co.uk, see if that's any use.

[fatjon]

minus some percentage of it's new value multiplied by your higher tax rate. IE less than zero unless you are being compensated for taking the hit of having it.

[Shirt587]

£5-6k, depending on the breaks.

[UpTheIron]

The HMRC answer is what you get charged as a BiK - check ComCar as already suggested.

But it might be worth more or less to you.

If you leave your company car parked in some awful areas, do 50k year and view it as a tool rather than car to cherish then it would surely be worth more to you? Some years ago I was in exactly that situation, I had a company car and it got broken into and vandalised whilst I was at a customer site. Minimal hassle for me compared to it being my own car.

If you do zero miles personally or professionally then the 'perk' is costing you money - if you handed the car back and got no allowance you would still be better off as you would pay less tax.

[acme]

Thanks for the replies. As ever with these things it's hard to quantify exactly, I do a national role so 25k per annum, probably half personal/half business, and it allows me to spend cash on more interesting cars. These days I do indeed view it as a tool.

If I purchased my own car it would likely be some kind of hot hatch, so arguably not that much better than the current one.

I tend to add on the car to my total salary to analyse any jobs that come up to see if it's worth moving, though this possibly isn't the best way of doing it....

[48Valves]

Just be mindful of the tax implications and future BIK imcreases

[TwigtheWonderkid]

We can see the BIK value, but what a company car is worth to you is personal to you. If you're 19 and live in Liverpool, then it's worth about £5K is not having to buy your own insurance before you even start! The same car might cost someone else only a few hundred quid to insure if they had to buy their own.

[Sheepshanks]

acme said:

Thanks for the replies. As ever with these things it's hard to quantify exactly, I do a national role so 25k per annum, probably half personal/half business....

You said most jobs in your industry don't require the use of a car - would you be going for one of those roles?

It's surely pretty easy to work out the approx cost to buy and run a reasonable car yourself? Then deduct that tax saved. It gets a bit more complicated if you're doing significant business mileage.

[acme]

Thanks again for the replies so far.

I should clarify, most jobs in our industry do require a little bit of travelling, but typically this would be in your own car. Current employer has hundreds of sites and lots of travelling is required hence the car.

As I say I'd suspect 50/50 personal & work, with about 25k per annum.

[Condi]

The value of a new 320d for example, fully maintained and insured, is circa £500-£600/m after tax depending on age/location/accident history etc.

[Nickbrapp]

Condi said:

The value of a new 320d for example, fully maintained and insured, is circa £500-£600/m after tax depending on age/location/accident history etc.

Jesus, I have a focus estate, fully maintained with a fuel card etc, it takes £4300 from my tax free allowance but costs something like £76 a month?

I then pay 16p per mile of private usage.

[Sy1441]

Nickbrapp said:

Jesus, I have a focus estate, fully maintained with a fuel card etc, it takes £4300 from my tax free allowance but costs something like £76 a month?

I then pay 16p per mile of private usage.

You're mistaking the £500-600 of real world cost with the BIK. BIK on a 320d for someone earning circa £45k woukd be around £245 pcm.

[Silenoz]

Depends upon how much value you place on someone​ else sorting out insurance, tax, maintenance etc. I would love to have a no hassle commuting car where if something goes wrong someone else sorts it out.