Company car choice conundrum?
I have had a promotion at work and been offered the choice of a company car or a car allowance of £350 per month. The stipulations are that the car must be a diesel (as my estimated yearly mileage is going to be around 30,000 mostly company miles) and be no higher than group 20 insurance.
Am I correct in thinking that the company car is the better option? I have test driven the new Ford Mondeo and the 2015 version of the Mazda 6 and was impressed by both, but unfortunately the 2.0 TDCi Mondeo is above group 20 insurance so i would have to settle for the 1.6 TDCi. The Mazda is group 19 for the lower powered 2.2 diesel manual. Is this a sensible choice and am I making the correct decision to opt for the company car rather than taking the allowance? My workings seem to suggest that I would only be paying £989 in the 20% tax band or £1979 in the 40% band plus personal fuel costs. Am I missing anything here as it seems a no brainer to opt for the company car. Are there any other cars that I should be considering that offer a similar level of space, performance and economy?
Am I correct in thinking that the company car is the better option? I have test driven the new Ford Mondeo and the 2015 version of the Mazda 6 and was impressed by both, but unfortunately the 2.0 TDCi Mondeo is above group 20 insurance so i would have to settle for the 1.6 TDCi. The Mazda is group 19 for the lower powered 2.2 diesel manual. Is this a sensible choice and am I making the correct decision to opt for the company car rather than taking the allowance? My workings seem to suggest that I would only be paying £989 in the 20% tax band or £1979 in the 40% band plus personal fuel costs. Am I missing anything here as it seems a no brainer to opt for the company car. Are there any other cars that I should be considering that offer a similar level of space, performance and economy?
Asked on 2 June 2015 by Simpo
Answered by
Honest John
You don't want to get involved in buying or leasing anything that after three years will have 90k miles on it and if it's a diesel will be on the verge of needing a new DPF and clutch, new turbo, new EGR, new or cleaned out DPF, plus all sorts of work on the AddBlue system or whatever it has to meet EU6. So make all of that someone else's problem and simply get something that's comfortable and hits you the least on BIK.
The lower powered Mazda 6 Skyactiv D is fine. I did 14k miles in one in a year. It's also very strong. But you may find you need to jack up the front of the driver's non adjustable seat squab a bit to lessen fatigue on long runs.
The lower powered Mazda 6 Skyactiv D is fine. I did 14k miles in one in a year. It's also very strong. But you may find you need to jack up the front of the driver's non adjustable seat squab a bit to lessen fatigue on long runs.
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