Company car help...

[KerryMc83]

Hi

Hoping someone can give me some advice.

I have just got a new job with an option of car allowance of £4k pa, or a company car worth up to £310per month.

I have been looking at the guilietta vs golf vs fiesta vs A1. Anyone have any advice on these or suggestions of other cars in the £15-£20k price range?

I'm trying to decide whether to go for a car at the top of my range (just because I can- bit of luxury after not having a car for 4 years!!) or whether to try and save some money to use as a salary top up.

Any advice/ suggestions welcome!

Cheers

[wemorgan]

If you want to know what £310 gets you then this thread is worth a read:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

For info. a Golf 2.0 TDI GTD is £280 (3+23, 10k). BIK = £79/month @ 20%

IMHO your cash allowance looks less generous than the company car offer - ie. take the company car.

[xRIEx]

It depends what you want out of a car - I have the option of a company car, but I don't want to be spending thousands of miles in a dull hatchback, so I take the car allowance and run a 14 year old barge.

I was in the situation of having my own cars anyway when I moved from a company car so I didn't have to worry about purchase price - mileage allowance covers fuel and car allowance goes towards the maintenance fund.

I don't see the point of 'trying to make a profit' by running the cheapest car I can get my hands on, just because I'm driving for work; if I'm spending four hours behind the wheel on a journey I want a car I can enjoy. I don't stop being a car enthusiast when I start working.

[jkh112]

Have a look at comcar.co.uk as the tax liability (P11d) values vary according to price and emissions. Choosing a slightly different spec in a range can give you quite large tax savings on a company car.

Before you decide whether to get a company car also consider what mileage rate does the company pay if you took the cash allowance. Mileage rates for company cars are set at a maximum by HMRC at a level which covers fuel costs but for private cars you may get up to 45p per mile and this can make quite a difference.

Edited to add: If the employer is offering a company car up to a certain monthly lease price then why are you looking at cars based on list price? Find out who they lease through and get a copy of their lease prices, sometimes there are cars with a high list price but a low lease cost (maybe due to high retained value or manufacturer subsidy).

Edited by jkh112 on Monday 23 March 07:58

[AWRacing]

xRIEx said:

It depends what you want out of a car - I have the option of a company car, but I don't want to be spending thousands of miles in a dull hatchback, so I take the car allowance and run a 14 year old barge.

I was in the situation of having my own cars anyway when I moved from a company car so I didn't have to worry about purchase price - mileage allowance covers fuel and car allowance goes towards the maintenance fund.

I don't see the point of 'trying to make a profit' by running the cheapest car I can get my hands on, just because I'm driving for work; if I'm spending four hours behind the wheel on a journey I want a car I can enjoy. I don't stop being a car enthusiast when I start working.

I'm guessing your company doesnt stipulate that your car has to be under a certain age then?

My company say that if you take the cash alternative then the car musy be under 6years old.