Do the people you are dealing with ever even see your car?

It does, sadly. To collect our customers, sorry clients in switzerland it was a Range Rover or An XJ...

go for a jag xf sportbreak.

AB - a good question and one as you know I have been contemplating myself, running a firm of Chartered Surveyors. I think for some types of car it does matter and for others it doesn't.

For instance...You need a large load lugger and decide to get an MPV (say an S-Max) and keep the third row permanently dropped. Does anyone care what you drive - no - because there are no obvious 'premium' alternatives. This is what happened to me.

But you want an estate and turn up in a Mondeo - ooooooh! - a known 'cheap' car; why did you not get a Mercedes?? The only alternative to this is to buy an 'off the wall' brand such as Subaru which no one really recognises (as I also did a few years ago) and it is either a talking point (what's that?) or it is ignored (which is no bad thing either).

An alternative is to run your own car and buy an older but low miles top premium model and get an E350CDi and experience true quality rather than a four cylinder rattle!

HB

A rattle is a rattle to those with trained ears...... ;-)

It's a pity that Saab is no more: Saabs were very good if you didn't want to project too strong an image at all - not too up- or down-market. I suppose Volos and the VW Passat come closest to that now.

When I was in a job where I sometimes took clients in the car, I had a series of big Renaults, two of them 7-seaters, whose only 'projected image' was of the size of my family. But that was before their quality slump (Renault's, not the family's....) in about 2000.

How about a classy, cusp of being a classic, Mercedes W124? Good taste car, but doesn't say 'I charge a lot or have lots of money'. The best of these can be had for c. £6,000 to £8,000. Parts are readily available. The money saved compared with buying a car for £10,000 or £15,000 plus, will cover extra fuel consumption. Tyres are cheap at about £65 for a Michelin/Continental. www.w124.co.uk N.B. I have no connection with Nicholas Froome.

GB, we both have diect experience. Are you really going to sell yours? If so, do you mind me asking how much for?

I thik that it is still an influencing factor but perhaps less so than it was. And of course times have changed. Many companies wish to portray a more "caring" softer corporate image - I've seen a number of hybrids on fleets these days. And the image of German models has altered. BMWs are 2 a penny and all look the same, so I doubt they'd attract a second glance. Audis also, plus extra bling actually look a bit tacky these days, especially with those ridiculous 19 or 20 inch rims. But to me at least, a nice big Merc estate in a Merc colour still has a bit of individuality to it, rightly or wrongly, apart from the hideous A and B class. Plus it does actually get the job done in terms of space and long distance workhorse ability. But if it meant me saving a couple of hundred quid a month, I'd drive a Mondeo estate instead, absolutely! Nothing wrong with one of them.

We live in an image concious society. People often seem to think a BMW/MB/Audi projects success

Unless you own the car - I dont understand how it projects success. It's often owned by the lease company. All it proves is that you can afford a few hundred quid a month.....hardly my idea of success but each to their own I suppose

I am the director of my own company and I drive a Mazda. Nobody has an opinion of them either way - which I like.

I do find this somewhat alien a concept but working for a London based organisation I don't think I've ever driven to a business meeting. I get the train and taxis or walk or take my brompton with me to cycle the last bit as required. In fact I don't even know if many of my colleagues can drive or own a car. About 30% of our office cycles to work.

When would people out of interest find out what you drove anyhow if its parked in a car park nearby?

I thought the whole Company car thing had waned along with all the status demarcations that went with it.

Like IL I worked in Central London. Other than possibly to an airport none of my colleagues, living inside M25, drove anywhere for work. Living further out than most I did drive to odd course and once to a meeting at the British Library. But I only did maybe 500 business miles in 11+yrs.

Outside Lonodn and possibly Birmingham and parts of Manchester it's a different story.