Company car dilema, what to get?

[stinkysteve]

Welshbeef said:

I don't know of any co car scheme which allows modification of a car. Remember the comp will have a STD fleet INS policy they will not accept the hassle of sorting out modified car INS plus some the the younger drivers who nay have tp drive this car makes it unviable. And as it is a co car your car has to be availabel to all other co car drivers as and when required. Look at your t&c's.

I'm struggling with the you want value from a year old car, why you don't own it you pay tax on the list price so you may as well get the comp to buy you a new one why go old?

Plus will your comp accept you running a co car which will end up being two years out of warranty over the usual one? Plus the higher miles could mean they have to change it sooner plus higher maintence costs for the comp.

You really need to look at the t&c's in detail carefully.

1. If you are owner manager of your own Company you write the car scheme. This can include modifying should you so desire. You can sort out any insurance you want with a quick call to your broker.

2. If you own the company you normally wish to be as frugal with the company's funds as you do your own.

3. An extra £1000 on maintenance of a 1 year old car over a brand spanker is nothing compared to £0000's of 1st year depreciation

4. If you're an owner manager, you write your own T's & C's!

Trust me when i say it's a fair predicament to be in. Doing zero business miles, but having the car as a perk (it's cheaper than buying one and running it yourself), isn't the same as having a work tool. The loopholes that allowed you to just choose what you wanted, and made this a no brainer for many years, are just gone.

As i think the OP already does, just bang every idea into COMCAR and see what suits.

[Welshbeef]

If that's the case allow opt out he'd be miles better off. He is clearly a 40% tax payer possibly 50%.

[va1o]

stinkysteve said:

I've considered a Golf R or Audi S3, but i just don't do German. (see car history above, i like value for money which rules out germans).
S4 just gets a bit too pricey.

This bit makes no sense

The 'German' cars are generally popular as a CC because they are value for money. You need to look beyond the list price. Its the fuel consumption, tax and residuals that count, and they score highly for that.

[maffski]

I'd be looking at the classic route - although the rather nice 964 on your profile suggests you're aware of that one already

15 years old, and worth just over 15k - like a

Porsche -
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C216067/


Waft along Bentley style -
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C216324/


Or old school hot hatch -
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C152416/


Any of these are taxed at their current price - about the same as a BMW 1 series.

Alternatively, go old and cheap:
MGB
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C163459/


All the maintenance costs go through the company and you pay BIK based on the 1960's list price

If you don't actually need to cover big miles in the car then I think the classics can make sense

[Welshbeef]

I'm fully aware that if you are the co owner you can set whatever co car policy you like. However bik doesn't change Surely you'd want the cheapest total cost to have the car you want

[mikey k]

maffski said:

I'd be looking at the classic route - Any of these are taxed at their current price - about the same as a BMW 1 series.

Not for much longer so our accountant advises

OP this is a real minefield and easy to get wrong!
Like I said early on talk to your acccountant for advice on max benefit from least cost

[Welshbeef]

As the op has a nice porche privatly why not sell that car to the company and then use it as your comp car?

Or e type jag not sure why op avoids comment re classics

[Legacywr]

I don't have any terms and conditions applied to my purchase or use of my car. it is basically mine, funded by the company, but with a contribution to the taxman.

My first choice of car would probably be an M3, but as I quoted earlier in the thread that would cost me £200 p/w and that is bit too rich for me.

An aircooled Porsche as a daily? They are soooo far out of date! lol

Bentley? I'm not that old.

Lancia? They really aren't reliable enough.

MG, oh gawd no!

Another thing you need to take into consideration is that i don't need to find the 30k capitol to buy the car either!

[Welshbeef]

You say the M3 would cost you £800pcm in bik tax plus the lease and maintence costs PCM. To lease an M3 lungs cars offered them for what £650pcm 10k a year so I raise the question if that is possible why would you want to put that through the company overall you'd be miles out of pocket.


A guy at work has opted for a 316d es his bik tax is £110 PCM it isn't paid for fuel. If he had opted out net he would have £250pcm.
Therefore if he opted out the max he could spend to be like for like is £400pcm - now I pay around that for my 330d msport auto pro nav leather Bluetooth so quite a difference. And therefore I have a much better car.

If like you I'd choose an M3 it would be say £800pcm bik tax and let's say at that level you'd be on what 800pcm lease hire therefore you have a total pot PCM to spend on a car of £1300-1400pcm. That's huge and you'd get much better than an M3. That's the point were all trying to make yet your just looking at your individual cost.

The STI how much is it? £30k? If so over 3 years that would be with a GFV of say £12k be £600pcm plus your £400pcm bik cost that's mega bucks you could have so much more

[stinkysteve]

va1o said:

This bit makes no sense

The 'German' cars are generally popular as a CC because they are value for money. You need to look beyond the list price. Its the fuel consumption, tax and residuals that count, and they score highly for that.

Let me explain.

Using the VAG example, What i mean is i'd likely go for a Seat or Skoda rather than Audi or VW. Same engines hence fuel consumption, lower tax due to lower list. So i can only Agree with you on the residuals but if you do 100k miles in 3 years you're going to massively devalue a car so that doesn't make so much difference.

I would say German cars are popular, especially amongst your typical middleclass middle manager, because they like the badges. (flamesuit on now i guess!!!! I appreciate Audi's are nice places to be in but are they THAT MUCH nicer than the price suggests compared to a Seat /Skoda?) See the threads on the £40k Golf R's and S3's!

[VeeFour]

Skoda interiors are much improved these days - but Seat interiors are horrible.

I do like what Audi have done with the A4 / A5 - but overall, the car isn't significantly better than the Passat / Passat CC.

I'm on my 2nd Passat now - great cars, but it's a hybrid next time for the tax saving - I just don't like the 3-series and they're expensive to tax with an auto box.

[ZesPak]

Legacywr said:

I really like the look of the DS3 Racing, black with orange roof. It will only cost me £67 p/w, but what will it really be like to live with?

Otherwise the STI looks the best, but the ride is pretty hard. The Golf interests me because of the DSG!

Love the look of the DS3, inside and out, don't know how they would be to live with but would deffo had a look at them!