Hi all,
Wondering if someone can help me out. I am currently considering moving jobs and the new job involves a lot further trip to work, but comes with a company car. If I don't take the new job, i'll need a new car soon anyway so trying to work out the monetary differences:
If I buy a car by myself at aprox £8k over 5 years:
Yearly loan repayments: £1860
Personal petrol costs for year: £1033
Maintenance (tax, insurance): £360
Total yearly cost: £3253 = £271 a month
Company car:
Loan repayments on purchase: £0
Tax paid on BIK: £483 (from 5th April, will be more before)
Personal petrol: £2652
Maintainance: £0
Total yearly cost: £3153 = £262 a month
Can anyone advise if the above is correct or have I missed something?
Obviously there are the benefits that can't be costed such as company car is likely to be a much better car C4 Coupe HDI VTR+ or Focus TDCI rather than a fiesta if I buy myself although obviously Fiesta would be fine for shorter journey to current work and Focus / C4 would be required for longer journeys to new job.
|
I don't think you've missed anything out.
I was in a similar position a few years ago, my personal car was coming up for replacement so I took a co. car option.
Haven't regretted it for a second. I would recommend you pay your own fuel costs and simply claim it back on mileage for business trips, for me that's much more tax efficient.
|
You're going to be doing well to tax, insure, service, maintain and MOT a car for £360 / a year.
Despite this the Co car works out cheaper, even at (in rough terms) 2.5 times the annual mileage. So the question to ask is: do you want the job enough to increase your annual mileage and commuting time to that extent? The Co car is just easing the financial burden of the commuting.
|
Don't forget if you buy your own car there will be the residual value at the end of the 5 years which, on an always in demand Fiesta, will be £3k I would think? (Just sold an 8 year old one for £2k myself).
However there is nothing nicer than the security of having any unexpected repair bill covered on a company car.
A guy who worked for me opted out of the company system, bought his company car from us and ran it as a private car. A few months later the gearbox fell apart (£1,500 repair) and he had some punctures that required new tyres (they had only recently been fitted). A few other problems and he regretted the move. Would the company car be replaced more often than every 5 years?
If I was you I would get the company car, enjoy the better size / spec it gives you and the security that offers (both in unexpected costs but also bigger car = safer car (as a general rule)).
|
Also nice to have a support structure sometimes, especially if you travel far on personal reasons. I have had a couple of occasions over the years where I have had a problem far from home.
With a company car easy option was always available to get car taken home on a low loader and hire car provided to continue trip, all at no expense to me.
It hopefully is a rare occurrence but it does remove hassle if it does happen.
|
|
|
I no longer work but over the last 10+years of working I bought my own car and ran it at a profit.
Paid £10K for old model but brand new Honda. Ran it for 6.5 yrs and did 90K mls
I was paid £350 / mth car allowance (Taxable so I got £210 in my hand) + Petrol at 40p for first 10K & 25p thereafter but I only did less than 10K mls. Sold the car for £2,000 - I reckon the car was paid for 2 x by the company in that time.
My expenses were limited to tyres, exhausts & Servicing 2 x per year - about £600 + RFL (£200) + Insurance £200 + Petrol of course. Repairs totalled £150 for minor items in the 6 years.
|
|
|
|
|
Your figures look odd to me - IIUC. Why is 'personal petrol' so different for each? How do all the running costs for a personal car (tax,ins, service,tyres, wiper blades etc) only come to £360 p.a.?
For me, company cars wins: No hassle at all & nice low BIK. One caveat though, maybe keep your old car for a while, just in case new job doesn't work out as you expect.
|
>>Personal petrol: £2652
Even if that includes your non-commuting personal mileage, you must be looking at a heck of a commute?
Is there any option to have fuel card that includes private and business fuel - you'd pay tax on the benefit of having the card but it would work out way cheaper. Also, if you have a company car, will you be doing visits elsewhere, therefore not have to commute some days?
|
Nothing compares the luxury of having a car and not worrying about to fix it if something goes wrong :)
BTW, in which professions people generally get company cars? Is it always reserved for top managers or sales reps?
|
|
I think these days co cars tend to be much more for people with a genuine need to travel on work business. Certainly when I first worked in insurance in the v early 90s there were massive perk fleets about for banks etc and now almost all have been trimmed hugely.
|
I think the company car fleet size has stayed pretty constant - I guess there must be a lot more sales reps now!
I know years ago the big multi-national companys has many people in company cars - the likes of IBM, ICL, Rank Xerox etc, their office based design engineers had cars but I doubt they do now (many of those jobs have gone anyway).
|
I have a car ownership scheme car (like a company car but avoids the BIK tax).
I have just done 17k miles and need 3 new tyres (one flat, front two worn).
At the tyre depot they are £146 each!!!
This is something you don't have to worry about with a company car (thank goodness)!
Take the company car IMHO.
If you use your own car you can claim back tax on some of the difference between what your company pays per mile and what the tax man says it should be. Because my COS car is my car I can claim this too but to keep the cost down over all I have assigned it to my company and have to report mileage to them monthly.
|
Thanks for all the replies...
In answer to questions:
1. Yes I agree that I have underestimated costs @ £360 - that would just cover my insurance and tax but I would need to add extra for servicing and non warranty repairs, no MOT needed for three years though, after 3 years see below...
2. RE: residual value, I didn't include that as after 3 years I would plan to sell the car on with the sale value hopefully covering the remeining amount on the loan. I could then start over again...
3. Personal miles are much more with company car because my commute would be 100 miles return journey in new job, but if I stay where I am, commute = 40 miles return. The figures therefore assume fuel card funded diesel with me paying back 10p per mile to the company. It is also worst case scenario i.e. having to go into the office every day - in reality there will be days when i'm out and about over two counties, plus visits to Milton Keynes and Manchester head offices.... plus possibility to work from home could all reduce my personal miles (and increase business miles which company pay for so not included in calculations).
|
|
|
|
_COLON_no_upscale()/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/fallback/coming-soon.jpg)
