Job comes with a Prius - am I wrong to discount it?
Poll: Job comes with a Prius - am I wrong to discount it?
Total Members Polled: 245
Discussion
I know, I know - lentil-weaving etc etc.
I'm interviewing for a job role that comes with a Prius as a company car. Initially I was aghast - people would judge me to be a self-righteous prick, and the car seems to lack any redeeming 'PH' features whatsoever.
However, the more I thought about it, the more it seems sensible to have a 'boring and cheap' company car for plugging up and down the motorways. I've worked out that even on the top-of-the-range Prius @ £29k, I'd only be taxed £48 a month at 20% rate. Commission will take me up into the 40% bracket, and even then it's only £96 a month. This seems to compare very favourably with the usual diesels (for example, my 123d would be £101 at 20% and £203 at 40%... Whichever way you cut it, that's a fairly significant saving.
So, would it be wrong to discount a role because I don't like the car? Non-car-people would think it madness to do so, but obviously I'm amongst people here who appreciate the benefits of a car that actually delivers some driving fun. Would I hate getting into a Prius every morning and feeling the burning hatred of fellow road-users? Will its complete lack of any 'driver-centric' abilities infuriate me?
I'm thinking that with the savings I'd make over the course of the year, it could go toward funding something more fun as a second car...
A lot of people will suggest opting out. I've thought about that, and I'd rather not as the costs of things are a) so variable and b) ever-increasing. The cost of things like finance, business insurance and maintenance are unlikely to be fully covered by increasingly-mean car allowances. I'd rather know that I have no hassle with things like insurance etc.
My initial response was near-horror, but should I be considering it from a financial and practical point of view?
I'm interviewing for a job role that comes with a Prius as a company car. Initially I was aghast - people would judge me to be a self-righteous prick, and the car seems to lack any redeeming 'PH' features whatsoever.
However, the more I thought about it, the more it seems sensible to have a 'boring and cheap' company car for plugging up and down the motorways. I've worked out that even on the top-of-the-range Prius @ £29k, I'd only be taxed £48 a month at 20% rate. Commission will take me up into the 40% bracket, and even then it's only £96 a month. This seems to compare very favourably with the usual diesels (for example, my 123d would be £101 at 20% and £203 at 40%... Whichever way you cut it, that's a fairly significant saving.
So, would it be wrong to discount a role because I don't like the car? Non-car-people would think it madness to do so, but obviously I'm amongst people here who appreciate the benefits of a car that actually delivers some driving fun. Would I hate getting into a Prius every morning and feeling the burning hatred of fellow road-users? Will its complete lack of any 'driver-centric' abilities infuriate me?
I'm thinking that with the savings I'd make over the course of the year, it could go toward funding something more fun as a second car...
A lot of people will suggest opting out. I've thought about that, and I'd rather not as the costs of things are a) so variable and b) ever-increasing. The cost of things like finance, business insurance and maintenance are unlikely to be fully covered by increasingly-mean car allowances. I'd rather know that I have no hassle with things like insurance etc.
My initial response was near-horror, but should I be considering it from a financial and practical point of view?
I don't have an 'other half' to consider. The money would be all mine..
you worry to much about things, a free car is a free car. My old company car was a peugeot 306 estate, which started life as 2 other peugeot 306 estates, with a wooden seat frame, A shot rear beam and it cut out if you went over 55mph......
Edited by Noesph on Thursday 26th January 01:37
Brilliant!I dont know anything about the UK tax system so can not really comment there.....but at the end of the day a free / cheap car is a free / cheap car.
Personally I would drive anything if it is free.
A friend of mine had a top of the range Prius, honestly it is not a bad car. Not as economical as they claim but it is still very cheap to run. It is NOT a drivers car but as it was the top of the range model it had all the options and it was actually a nice place to sit. Very quiet, good stereo, icy cold climate control, leather seats, electric everything and wafted along quite nicely.
Consider it a white goods car, it just does its thing so you dont have to give it a seconds though. Just drive it and put your effort in to the weekend fun car.
Personally I would drive anything if it is free.
A friend of mine had a top of the range Prius, honestly it is not a bad car. Not as economical as they claim but it is still very cheap to run. It is NOT a drivers car but as it was the top of the range model it had all the options and it was actually a nice place to sit. Very quiet, good stereo, icy cold climate control, leather seats, electric everything and wafted along quite nicely.
Consider it a white goods car, it just does its thing so you dont have to give it a seconds though. Just drive it and put your effort in to the weekend fun car.
My 2p's worth;
At the end of 2011 my company supplied Octavia VRs diesel was coming to the end of its lease and I've just taken delivery of my new company car which is a Prius and its alright, not brilliant but alright. I've had it about three weeks now and its done 1500 miles, returning an average 54mpg doing lots of mixed driving, the most its cost me at the pump so far is £51 to fill up and you don't so much as drive it but waft along in it. Would I buy one if I had the £23K asking price, no I wouldn't......I'd buy an A8, RR, S Class with all the bells a whistles for a lot less and use the balance to run it
BUT by having a Prius as a company car I am saving myself in the region of £4K a year (back of a fag packet calculations inc; Tax allowance, PUC, Higher fuel allowance and difference between the cost of diesel and petrol at the pump) compared to the Skoda which I'm putting towards the cost of racing my MR2 this year.
If you have to have a company car I don't see how you can afford to not have one in these times of economic hardship.
It does help to have other cars to play in at the weekend though, so there is a great excuse to buy an Elise/TVR/Bentley T/VX220/Monaro.
At the end of 2011 my company supplied Octavia VRs diesel was coming to the end of its lease and I've just taken delivery of my new company car which is a Prius and its alright, not brilliant but alright. I've had it about three weeks now and its done 1500 miles, returning an average 54mpg doing lots of mixed driving, the most its cost me at the pump so far is £51 to fill up and you don't so much as drive it but waft along in it. Would I buy one if I had the £23K asking price, no I wouldn't......I'd buy an A8, RR, S Class with all the bells a whistles for a lot less and use the balance to run it
BUT by having a Prius as a company car I am saving myself in the region of £4K a year (back of a fag packet calculations inc; Tax allowance, PUC, Higher fuel allowance and difference between the cost of diesel and petrol at the pump) compared to the Skoda which I'm putting towards the cost of racing my MR2 this year.
If you have to have a company car I don't see how you can afford to not have one in these times of economic hardship.
It does help to have other cars to play in at the weekend though, so there is a great excuse to buy an Elise/TVR/Bentley T/VX220/Monaro.
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