What semi-interesting car (jumping out of company car....)
What semi-interesting car (jumping out of company car....)
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Discussion

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Gents,

Looking for sensible suggestions....alas no need to use custard, hammer frozen sausages into lawns or seek revenge on a cheating spouse...

Currently running a Mk7 Golf GTI as my company car, i get a fairly crappy car allowance of circa £400 a month, and im taxed circa £240 a month on that car...i.e. to my horror it costs me £600+ a month

So....a dilemma:

I need a bigger car, the wife has gone from an X5 to an i3, needs to carry 2 kids, wife, reasonable amount of kit, do about 15k - 20k a year

1) Opt out, take the money (after tax), save company car tax and buy something interesting (id guess circa £500 a month, assuming £2-5k deposit +insurance etc. etc.)
2) Pay even more company car tax on either a diesel A6 size car or tasty similar car to Golf in estate form (enjoying fact that all expenses are covered, and i have now done 2 sets of front tyres in the Golf in 23k miles)

I quite fancy an Golf R Estate, CLA 45AMG or a nearly new C63 or similar but heart is saying be sensible and go for a 2.0Tdi A4 Avant Sline esque car (yawn and i hear Diesels are about to be taxed more)

What would you do?

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Ive got a Seat Leon Cupra ST 300 AWD DSG coming - im in the same boat. thought id lease myself instead.

15k pa, gonna cost me £388 per month inc VAT.

its very comparable to a Golf R estate but comes better equipped as standard.

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Brabus Jord said:
Ive got a Seat Leon Cupra ST 300 AWD DSG coming - im in the same boat. thought id lease myself instead.

15k pa, gonna cost me £388 per month inc VAT.

its very comparable to a Golf R estate but comes better equipped as standard.
Ok cool thanks that is absolutely worth considering - is that inlc. maintenance & tax? (also avoids £40k+ penalty too i guess...)

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Not Inc maint but does inc Tax.

car was down at £36k

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
This is the demonstrator i took out last month. one of the first in the country. its very understated and you will be hard pushed to see another Cupra on the road.

0-60 in 4.9 sec for an estate is good going.


Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
That does look great - i like the idea of staying sub 40k or going second hand for something lairy but then the finance/lease deals are far worse.

The sales chap at Merc wanted me to sit in a CLS 63 AMG S which was amazing but cant help would bankrupt me


anonymous-user

70 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Brabus Jord said:
This is the demonstrator i took out last month. one of the first in the country. its very understated and you will be hard pushed to see another Cupra on the road.

0-60 in 4.9 sec for an estate is good going.

Hamworthy? Stay away from Turlin Moor, its rough that way hehe

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
DSGbangs said:
Hamworthy? Stay away from Turlin Moor, its rough that way hehe
it was..... i didn't place an order with them. they were just my closest (2 hour drive) SEAT dealer with a ST AWD.



Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
How did you get it to 34k? Looks a lot less than that online? Golf R is similar price from what i can see, did you add options?

stewjohnst

2,479 posts

177 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
You could look at a new Octavia Vrs estate, it's a step down from the Cupra/Golf R but still respectable performance wise and not ruinous.

Boot is cavernous in estate form.

They have just made the front look a bit weird with the facelift though.

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
stewjohnst said:
You could look at a new Octavia Vrs estate, it's a step down from the Cupra/Golf R but still respectable performance wise and not ruinous.

Boot is cavernous in estate form.

They have just made the front look a bit weird with the facelift though.
A lot of car for the money but i work in a very fickle industry and as pathetic as this may sound, I'm not really fancying one. Plus truthfully given the outlay i want something i actually 'want' to drive' hence thirsty v8's etc.

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Chr1sch said:
How did you get it to 34k? Looks a lot less than that online? Golf R is similar price from what i can see, did you add options?
The Standard DSG with no Options starts at £34.4k


Sheepshanks

37,475 posts

135 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Chr1sch said:
Currently running a Mk7 Golf GTI as my company car, i get a fairly crappy car allowance of circa £400 a month, and im taxed circa £240 a month on that car...i.e. to my horror it costs me £600+ a month
I don't follow your maths - how is the company car costing you £600+ /mth?

Having said that, we were pushed to opt out of 3 Series /A4 that were on 3yr 90K mile full maint contracts. A lot of guys jumped at it when we were offered £600/mth allowance. Only to find that, surprise, surprise, a similar car on similar terms left them no better off, and they had all the risk of doing 30K/yr in their own car.

Chr1sch said:
CLA 45AMG or a nearly new C63...
I have a different Merc but surely a CLA won't be much bigger and the C63 will kill you in petrol and rear tyre bills.

Brabus Jord

1,589 posts

223 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
stewjohnst said:
You could look at a new Octavia Vrs estate, it's a step down from the Cupra/Golf R but still respectable performance wise and not ruinous.

Boot is cavernous in estate form.

They have just made the front look a bit weird with the facelift though.
I test drove the Seat Leon ST, Golf R Estate, S3 sport back and Skoda VRS estate all over the course of 1 weekend so i could make my choice. the Skoda was nice but you could massively notice the difference in power over the other 3. on its own - it would have been a very capable car.

Costs wise on the lease quotes: (all 3 months down and 15kpa)

Audi S3 - £438 pm
Golf R Estate - £405 pm
Seat Leon ST - £388pm
Skoda VRS - £378pm

Seat came with a good mick of standard equipment which was extra cost options on the Golf and S3. things like, Dynamic Chassis Control, front and rear parking, heater seats, Nav, Cruise Control.

All of the above added £7k to the price of the golf and it was well over £500 a month. The combination of that made the Seat a nobrainer... Interior is lovely too. Ill dig out some real world pics

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Brabus Jord said:
I test drove the Seat Leon ST, Golf R Estate, S3 sport back and Skoda VRS estate all over the course of 1 weekend so i could make my choice. the Skoda was nice but you could massively notice the difference in power over the other 3. on its own - it would have been a very capable car.

Costs wise on the lease quotes: (all 3 months down and 15kpa)

Audi S3 - £438 pm
Golf R Estate - £405 pm
Seat Leon ST - £388pm
Skoda VRS - £378pm

Seat came with a good mick of standard equipment which was extra cost options on the Golf and S3. things like, Dynamic Chassis Control, front and rear parking, heater seats, Nav, Cruise Control.

All of the above added £7k to the price of the golf and it was well over £500 a month. The combination of that made the Seat a nobrainer... Interior is lovely too. Ill dig out some real world pics
Fantastic many thanks mate, really useful

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Chr1sch said:
Currently running a Mk7 Golf GTI as my company car, i get a fairly crappy car allowance of circa £400 a month, and im taxed circa £240 a month on that car...i.e. to my horror it costs me £600+ a month
I don't follow your maths - how is the company car costing you £600+ /mth?

Having said that, we were pushed to opt out of 3 Series /A4 that were on 3yr 90K mile full maint contracts. A lot of guys jumped at it when we were offered £600/mth allowance. Only to find that, surprise, surprise, a similar car on similar terms left them no better off, and they had all the risk of doing 30K/yr in their own car.

Chr1sch said:
CLA 45AMG or a nearly new C63...
I have a different Merc but surely a CLA won't be much bigger and the C63 will kill you in petrol and rear tyre bills.
Well it was basic maths, but the golf costs me all of the £385 a month i get as an allowance, plus i put in an extra £40 or so a month, then in turn i also loose a further £260 (just looked on com car) a month in tax....total is north of £600

I know practically the allowance would be taxed so it costs me less than the full £385 toward the company car, but wither way its a significant monthly sum for a car i dont feel is illustrative of that amount.

Sheepshanks

37,475 posts

135 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Chr1sch said:
Well it was basic maths, but the golf costs me all of the £385 a month i get as an allowance, plus i put in an extra £40 or so a month, then in turn i also loose a further £260 (just looked on com car) a month in tax....total is north of £600
Do you mean you're told you can have a car up to £385/mth? And then you add in £40/mth to bump it up a bit?

I think you're making it look a lot worse than it is. It's not valid to add all those figures up - the £385 doesn't cost you anything.

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Thursday 4th May 2017
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Chr1sch said:
Well it was basic maths, but the golf costs me all of the £385 a month i get as an allowance, plus i put in an extra £40 or so a month, then in turn i also loose a further £260 (just looked on com car) a month in tax....total is north of £600
Do you mean you're told you can have a car up to £385/mth? And then you add in £40/mth to bump it up a bit?

I think you're making it look a lot worse than it is. It's not valid to add all those figures up - the £385 doesn't cost you anything.
My car allowance is on my pay slip and is £385, i then bump that up to £420 ish to cover the Golf.

If I opt out i get the £385 in my salary but will be taxed on it but save comp car tax.

markirl

334 posts

153 months

Friday 5th May 2017
quotequote all
Chr1sch said:
My car allowance is on my pay slip and is £385, i then bump that up to £420 ish to cover the Golf.

If I opt out i get the £385 in my salary but will be taxed on it but save comp car tax.
Sounds like the car is directly costing you £300 then - £40 extra contribution + £260 monthly tax.

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,592 posts

209 months

Saturday 6th May 2017
quotequote all
markirl said:
Chr1sch said:
My car allowance is on my pay slip and is £385, i then bump that up to £420 ish to cover the Golf.

If I opt out i get the £385 in my salary but will be taxed on it but save comp car tax.
Sounds like the car is directly costing you £300 then - £40 extra contribution + £260 monthly tax.
Yes in black and white that's correct, however I would also add the post tax amount of the allowance to that figure as money I could in theory take home rather than taking the company car

Does anyone know what rate of tax I pay on the car allowance? Is it the same as my normal monthly salary?