What kind of company car do you get?

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worfke

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and how much does it cost you?

I'll start:
I get a A4 avant 1.9Tdi, with some options.
The whole car and diesel is paid by the company, also for private transportation. Maintenance, repairs are also covered but for 'abnormal' costs (accident, car breaks) I have a franchise of about 500£.
Technically I have to pay some taxes (about 30£/month) but my company takes care of that for me through some tax backdoor...
Oh yeah, and I'm limited to about 30,000 miles per year.
 
You're lucky living in Belgium that company cars are not taxed to the limit like they are here in the UK. Leuven is a good location too (great University city with a couple of good Irish pubs!!)

If you want to run a decent car here in the UK many people have oopted out of the company car sceme in favour of a cash lump sum each month. This means they can run more or less what they want (within reason).

It'd be interesting to hear how many on this forum are still running a company car though.





 
I did just that Joshie.

Took the money and ran!!!!

I get £370 per month, which goes some way towards keeping my S4 on the road.

The only appeal of the company car scheme for me was the saving I'd make on insurance (I'm 25)

But when you look into it, you get taxed to high heaven for having a decent company car.

I gave it serious thought, and decided the cheapest way to drive a fast (i.e group 20 car) was to buy a 2nd hand one myself.
 
My Golf GTI Turbo is a company car. Now that tax is calculated on emissions it's not that expensive for me really. About £60 a month. I pay for all my own fuel though and have to claim back for business miles that I do (10p per mile /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif).

I reckon it would cost me at least £500 per month to run the car myself (including lease costs and insurance) so it's a good deal really.

One of the things that discourages me from opting out is the cost of insurance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif.

Christian
 
Did the same myself... Company car my ****!! My grade got a Vectra GSI or similar I think.. Cant remember the list or £560/month + Fuel Card to use as u like! Not hard to figure out which one I opted for is it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.. and I feel much better for it
 
Our company car scheme was frozen, i.e. take-over cars only no new orders, in 2001. At that time I had the A3 1.8T as a company car. When its lease ended in April 2002, I opted out, took the money, and bought the S3.

I get 400 quid a month (b4 tax), which is due to go up this April due to me getting a grade rise, which is nice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

AL
 
10p a mile is not too bad for a diesel though - if you get 40MPG you're into pocket and at 50MPG much better off.

I get 14p per mile for fuel but I can claim the difference (up to 32p per mile) from the IR which is a nice little earner each year when Santa (the taxman) comes!
 
Our car scheme allows you to choose any car. I get approx £19k. If I upgrade I pay the excess, if I downgrade I get the money back. The leasing works in your name with the company as the guarantor (spelling!?). This means that there is no tax to pay but the company makes you pay a contribution.

I have opted out and get £480 before tax per month. I worked out how much it would cost in and out of the scheme, and it is more beneficial for me to be out. I only do 2-3k per annum (business miles), and at the end of the company car lease you get nothing (apart from another new car), but at the end of finance term for your car, it is yours and I will use the ££££ towards my new car.
 
I nearly forgot to ask... Joshie,
I only get 10p per mile for business miles (appalling /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif) and people always tell me that I can claim the difference back from the Inland Revenue, but I just don't understand.

I obviously get cash per month, opting out and I get a personal fuel allowance, but if I only get 10p per mile can I claim? I sent for the forms last year, and there were two methods, one fecking complex and the other seemed to imply that if I get an opt out allowance I couldn't reall claim /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Help!
 
Yeah getting a cheque is really good but for me this is changing with the tax element being built in or added on to the lump sum. Strange system - my monthly allowance after tax goes up to £490 per month but I cannot claim back any tax at the end of the year.

Ergo, I use the train as much as possible which also has the benefit of keeping the miles down.
 
Moff,

It depends on what arrangement your company has with the IR.

If no arrangement is in place then you can claim back a certain amount for the fist few thousand miles and then a lower sum thereafter.
The rates are on the IR website. Best thing to do though is to contact your local tax office and ask them. The bad news though is that if you have failed to claim for previous years you cannot (officially) back claim for years missed but you can appeal.

Good luck.
 
I figured take the money and run.
The S3 would have cost about £900 month all in what with £540 monthly rental, fuel tax and CO2 tax ( is that how it works ? )
So I get the pleasure of paying £32400 over 3 years and then have to give it back and have nothing to show for it.
I suppose if you do lots of mileage there is a much tougher descision to be made, but I don't so it wasn't much of a dilemma. I now have the best of both worlds, a car I own, and Optimax the company pays for /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Thats a problem with our scheme, if you opt out you don't get a fuel card. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif But, we do get an uplift to cover some fuel costs.

AL
 
And there is a major tax loophole with a fuel card which can be considered a genuine perk as the tax payable is a fraction of the benefit.
 
Suppose it that sense we are very luck then, we get three schemes
A Company car (taxable). All fuel covered, considered a taxable befit of x amount ( don't recall what it is though )

B Your own car, with a fuel card. Lose some money off of your car allowance for the fuel card though. Basically works out that if you spend more than £1000 on fuel, for everything after, you are only being taxed on it, so you are getting fuel at 40% ( woo hoo !! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )
C Take ALL the allowance and run
 
I also take the allowance and we get a fuel card. For a company car I would be able to get a 1.8T at most (Golf or A3).
Also the fuel card has changed from this tax year. The taxable benefit is now (I think) £2800 (for a 1.8 engine size), regardless of the amount of fuel you use. So if you didnt do any business miles, it could work out more expensive. Some people at my work are talking about giving them back. Of course company car drivers ahd this flat rate for a fuel card already...

 
My gf gets to drive her own car and gets a fuel card for personal and business. I know she gets taxed quite heavily for it, but we use her car all the time now for long journeys and it works out as a real benefit. Also keeps my mileage lower /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I think it depends on the terms of the fuel card. If it is strictly for business use only then I'm not sure of the benefit - but if it covers private mileage too then for £230 per month (£2800/12) then it is certainly worth having.
 
Wow, those are great tax rate, don't ever come to work in the UK /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I've opted out of my company car scheme because I don't do many work miles.

 
No company car, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Company boats though! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif either the Rib 27ft 70mph /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif or Motorcruiser 44ft 500hp or chartered in boats from SS Hawk 34ft 600hp to the princess 23m with two 1350s, but then the fuel is paid for by myself at 60gph for the rib to over 100gph for the P23m!
On the plus side, no congestion!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Gt.. don't suppose you know a bloke called Matthew Gibson.. used to race ribs.. comes from Sark orgionally ??

Just a long shot?
Dave
 
Name rings a bell Dave, If you want I could try asking some of the other skippers. Very small comunity here, someone is bound to know him /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
He's my brother in law.. had a big rib with twin 250's on the back I think.. they were blue printed the lot...

Unfortunatly he sold it before I had a go /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Dave
 
Sounds like a shame to me, that would have flown nicely!
Next time you are south give me a call, I often take the boats out for a blast, in the interests of removing debris from the injectors obviously! and company is always welcome! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
I take the cash allowance - £650 per month before tax

Any business mileage gets 25p per mile and I can claim the extra 20p per mile from that nice tax man.

This means I can buy whatever car I want, rather than something like a Mundano or Vectra.

sidicks
 
My car scheme is very good (approx. 20 sides of A4 with cars on it),based on a fully inclusive lease cost.

I could "pay extra" and get an M3, or Porker 911, but the M3 would cost me £500 per month!!

I take the £600 per month instead of a car (commuting is no fun where I live )
 
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