Company car choice (and other options) decision
Discussion
I've been entitled to a company car for a while now and have always opted out because of the loss of income from the allowance coupled with the ridiculous BIK tax and have instead either run a second hand car or leased something.
My lease ends in March next year and right now lease deals are all a bit pants. My employers have just released a new company car list which is packed with all sorts of interesting electric models and with the much lower BIK payments this has piqued my interest.
As I see it I have about three choices:
1.) hope a lease deal on something appealing comes up for less than £360 a month
2.) get a loan for a second hand car around £15k and pay off over 3 years
3.) get something off the car list
With option three I have three choices which all cost within £20 of each other:
a.) VW ID3
b.) Tesla Model 3 base model
c.) Polestar 2 base model
Unless someone can convince me otherwise I'd go for one of either the Tesla or the Polestar out of those three. Has anyone been in both and have an opinion either way? I think the Tesla is quicker 0-60 but I've heard the Polestar is nicer inside?
If you were making the decision what would you do?
This will be our second car so range anxiety isn't a concern.
My lease ends in March next year and right now lease deals are all a bit pants. My employers have just released a new company car list which is packed with all sorts of interesting electric models and with the much lower BIK payments this has piqued my interest.
As I see it I have about three choices:
1.) hope a lease deal on something appealing comes up for less than £360 a month
2.) get a loan for a second hand car around £15k and pay off over 3 years
3.) get something off the car list
With option three I have three choices which all cost within £20 of each other:
a.) VW ID3
b.) Tesla Model 3 base model
c.) Polestar 2 base model
Unless someone can convince me otherwise I'd go for one of either the Tesla or the Polestar out of those three. Has anyone been in both and have an opinion either way? I think the Tesla is quicker 0-60 but I've heard the Polestar is nicer inside?
If you were making the decision what would you do?
This will be our second car so range anxiety isn't a concern.
Not driven an ID.3 (yet) - next couple of weeks. But have driven both a Model3 and the Polestar. I'd have a Polestar - feels much better/nicer. Definitely get a test drive booked, they were great with us customer service wise.
We're driving an Ioniq5 next week as part of our "perusals" due to similar Co.Car options.
We're driving an Ioniq5 next week as part of our "perusals" due to similar Co.Car options.
My circumstances are exactly the same as yours. I currently pay c.£360 a month for a Mk7.5 Golf GTi that’s due to go back in March.
Leasing deals seem few and far between mixed with long lead times so I was trying to think what’s best going forwards, take a car via work and have all the BIK payments to contend with or continue to use a monthly car allowance from work to lease something cheaper, or via PCP. EV’s via work did cross my mind due to low BIK and the low running costs and I had whittled my choice down to the same three cars as you so it’d be interesting to see what you go for.
The added complication with me is I’m saving hard for a full house renovation, so the appeal of low running costs of an EV is attractive, but also contemplating getting a cheap lease (when one comes up!!) and skimming some of the excess car allowance to house renovation funds!
Leasing deals seem few and far between mixed with long lead times so I was trying to think what’s best going forwards, take a car via work and have all the BIK payments to contend with or continue to use a monthly car allowance from work to lease something cheaper, or via PCP. EV’s via work did cross my mind due to low BIK and the low running costs and I had whittled my choice down to the same three cars as you so it’d be interesting to see what you go for.
The added complication with me is I’m saving hard for a full house renovation, so the appeal of low running costs of an EV is attractive, but also contemplating getting a cheap lease (when one comes up!!) and skimming some of the excess car allowance to house renovation funds!
It's just a perk car so vast majority of driving would be local and commuting (and less of that than pre covid). I'm going to see if I can get them to test drive.
Also I see your point in relation to the charging network - I might only use it a couple of times a year in which case it probably makes a lot less difference.
Also I see your point in relation to the charging network - I might only use it a couple of times a year in which case it probably makes a lot less difference.
So it turns out that the company car list was wrong and has now been corrected and lots of other interesting models have now been added. Three of them are the same car in different outfits:
Audi Q4 etron
VW ID4
Skoda Enyaq
I can actually get the GTX version of the ID4 without it costing me a bean or I can get the e-tron 50 for the same money.
Obviously being a bit of a snob I might lean towards the Audi over the other two. That just leaves me wondering where the polestar and tesla would sit in comparison?
Audi Q4 etron
VW ID4
Skoda Enyaq
I can actually get the GTX version of the ID4 without it costing me a bean or I can get the e-tron 50 for the same money.
Obviously being a bit of a snob I might lean towards the Audi over the other two. That just leaves me wondering where the polestar and tesla would sit in comparison?
I'm in a similar situation to you. Currently on a bargain lease deal on a Mégane RS going back in the new year. It's a measly £240 so almost nothing that's going to come close!
Don't know if your work have something similar but I'm looking to trade down two grades and get £100 back and then opt for a Mini electric at ~£20/month BIK.
Getting paid to have a fully funded car seems a no brainer to me!
Don't know if your work have something similar but I'm looking to trade down two grades and get £100 back and then opt for a Mini electric at ~£20/month BIK.
Getting paid to have a fully funded car seems a no brainer to me!
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