Monday 25th November 2002

Company Car Driver?

Show it some respect you slacker

---

[tvrman]

Totally agree about the service intervals. My Vectra has a service interval of 20 000 miles, as in the first service was at 20 000 miles. No wonder it is suffering now at 58 000 miles by using oil and sounding a bit unwell.....Still going strong though.

Webby

[dennisthemenace]

the ammount of reps etc who dont check tere lights is unbeliveable i was following a 02 reg astra on the way back from nottinghem the only brakelight it had was the highlevel one in the rear window , thing is the car with a spanner through its roof warning light will come on and stay on after the 1st press of the brake pedal , so everytime he is driving the car he is having to look at the light , it doesnt take much to check your lights a couple of times a week especialy at this time of year

[Big_M]

I once had a Vauxhall Corsa as a company car and put 72,000 miles on the clock in 2 years. I did get it serviced when it was required, checked the oil etc - but boy it got a good thrashing.

[broadside]

I Clock a new car in less than two years. I get very friendly with my local dealers who service my cars, they get to do a 10K service every seven to eight weeks. I check the oil and tyres regularly and all the cars I have had have done 130K each with no problems. If your livelyhood depends on your car then you owe it to yourself and the car to look after it. I treat the car as though it was my own, after all we pay enough bloody tax on them !!!

Regards

Broadside

[mattc]

This is just more evidence that company cars are evil.
If the car's paid for by someone else, of COURSE you won't give a sh_t about it. And why not drive 6" behind people everywhere? - someone else will pay for any crash damage.

This attitude clearly filters down to the personal hygiene of the drivers. Despite the fact that they can claim back any expenses, noone bothers to clean the bloody things. I saw loads of cars at my old firm where the outsides AND insides looked like recycling sites.

And I haven't even mentioned how the government bribes them to drive twice as many miles as they would have done otherwise...

[Nightmare]

mattc said:And I haven't even mentioned how the government bribes them to drive twice as many miles as they would have done otherwise...

You should do though....one of the oddest decisions in the world ever. "We are keen to reduce the numbers of cars on our roads", "We are keen to reduce unecessary journeys by car". but...if you own a company car...."please ensure you do AT LEAST 18K miles or we'll tax you to death".

Some of the head office staff where I am currently actually go out and do extra journeys that weren't really needed, just to get above the first tax break!

very strange.....

[thub]

Nightmare, this year's tax rules aren't related to mileage, just the purchase price and CO2, so the need for mystery business trips goes away. More than a bit sh*tty for those who have to do the mileage, but not so bad for those of us with perk cars.

[Nightmare]

good point...! am ranting from a year out of date....... oops

[mattc]

Oh good, at least that's one drop of sanity in the tax-regime.

BTW does this apply to existing "perk users"?

Not that it affects me, just curious...

[kevinday]

On the extra miles front I used to work at B Ae and occasionally had to travel from Farnborough (Hants) to Warton (Lancs). This was usually accomplished by use of the company aircraft that flew each way between the sites every day. Some of my colleagues who were short of miles booked the mileage in the car and then flew. Best of both worlds I think.

[Dan]

mattc said: Oh good, at least that's one drop of sanity in the tax-regime.

BTW does this apply to existing "perk users"?

Not that it affects me, just curious...

I have to dissagree Matt... well maybe not entirely. I do know of sales people who used to do a few extra trips to ensure their mileage topped the 18K per year to save themselves cash, but... My old man who works as a structral safety inspector does nearly 40K a year, and is now getting severly hammered by the current tax. There is no point him opting out of the company car scheme because at that mileage he would loose a fortune on any car he bought. So he is effectively paying for the privilage to do his job.

Oh and by the way I would have no qualms about buying his firms car when he had finished with it despite the miles, it's regularly cleaned and serviced, when his last firms car went back it was in a darn site better condition than many private cars that do th school/shopping run.

[/Rant Off]

Just a different point of view.

Cheers Dan