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A slightly less vague Spec Me

Skeeter

Skeeter

Skeeter

Caporegime
Joined
8 Mar 2007
Posts
37,146
Location
Surrey
So after asking for a very vague spec me, and very nearly buying a couple of Mondeo's, it turns out my new company does have a fairly strict policy for car allowance.

So, I need a car that fits the below:

Purchase price greater than £10,000
Fits the company image in terms of model and colour, which basically means 4 seats and no lairy paint jobs.
No more than 6 years old
Current value no less than £2,000

The 6 years and £2k are bottom limits to qualify for the car allowance. As soon as my car drops below these I should change it or I will loose the car allowance. If I don't have a car which fits the above I loose the car allowance.

I don't have £10k lying around, so I'm looking at loans, leasing, hire purchase, whatever. I'm open to any suggestion for anything. I just need a car that fits the above and will be used for work. No need to it to be sporty, no need for high spec brands. My only critera are cruise control and comfortable.

The fuel expenses I get also mean that small diesels are not worth it unless they produce epic MPG. Sub 2 litre is 15p for Diesel and 18p for Petrol,over 2 litre is 18p for diesel and 25p for petrol.

My mileage is changeable. At the moment I am doing a 140 mile round trip 3 days a week, but I could soon move to a contract thats office based, or one that's 200 miles away, I don't know.

So, suggestions? I'm 6 weeks into my contract so it won't be long before they start asking questions as to why I haven't got a suitable car.
 
You need to buy a >2Ltr petrol then, those are similar mileage rates to what i get and have always driven large petrols as a result.

Questions:
1) How is the purchase price verified.
2) How is the value verified.

The age thing is the real killer here, you basically have to buy something 4 years old at the eldest, which means only absolute junk for a £10k budget :(
 
edit, nevermind I'm with it now

The list of cars look good but the capital outlay for someone originally looking at a £1500 Mondeo, ouch!

E90 325i?

Not the 330, but it'll be cheaper to buy
 
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Tough criteria really, what do they give you per month towards the car?

Basically you will be changing cars every 3 to 4 years with the 6 year rule they have in place. And for £10k your looking at your average Mondeo/Octavias which wont' be worth much at 6 years old...

So you've lost ~£8k in 3/4 years in depreciation which is about £170-220 per month, then you have maintenance on top of that as an additional cost. You are coming very close to lease schemes which may be more beneficial here (dare I say it).

So how much are they going to give you? And what kind of car could you get?
 
I presume by 2L+ it can't be 1998cc? so wouldn't that rule out a lot? Only Deo' over that is the 2.5 V5? most of VAG cars out too?
 
This is actually harder than it seems! It writes off most luxury barges. My first thought was the petrol V6 Skoda Superb but they are 15k plus.

Best option I have found so far is a Focus ST, as they can be bought 3 years old for 10k and are a 2.5L engine. Not sure I would want to do many 200 mile trips in one though!
 
Muffin` said:
I presume by 2L+ it can't be 1998cc? so wouldn't that rule out a lot? Only Deo' over that is the 2.5 V5? most of VAG cars out too?
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I'd imagine they'd class a 1998cc as a 2l seeing as that's technically what it is. If his company stipulated 2000cc as the crossover point then it may have been an issue.
 
Jez said:
1) How is the purchase price verified.
2) How is the value verified.
Click to expand...

They say they can ask for a receipt of purchase. And 2) is from "the current trade value" of the car, which I assume would be just a Parkers query or such like.

I get £450 gross as a car allowance, but I want to spend as minimal amount as possible. Its worth saying I will have 2 cars. My second car may be 'specialized' (current plans are to track strip my Clio), and my GF also has a car, but it means I'm willing to be in a situation where the car relies on the job, and if I leave I give the car back. This, I presume, opens me up to PCP and HP options? My only concern there is the potential for my annual mileage to be anywhere from 5k to 20k.

Car choice is open providing it gets approval. So no chav cars or bright paint. For context, the car park currently contains a few BMW 1 series, a couple of Cooper S's, A4, Polo GTI, QashQuai, X5, Golf.... and an 11 year old Clio 172 on track wheels :)

If I go down the PCP/HP route, wheres good to look? I presume internet companies will be better than anything I could get from walking into a bricks and mortar dealer?
 
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£450 is pretty decent amount. Not sure what that will work out as NET tho...

How about as new as a Mondeo you can get for £10k? I assume they don't have mileage as an issue when purchasing the car?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201306267495111

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201305307030569

Let's assume you can only get £2k for the Mondeo in 4 years time. You've lost £8k (£166pm). I'd say the 0.25p per mile is enough to cover petrol, tax and possibly servicing, provided you do enough miles. Then you have insurance and maintenance on top but you have ~£250 left over each month to cover this from your allowance...

I'd go with the purchase, you should be able to get a decent deal on a loan with interest rates really low at the moment. A brief search brings up £10k over 48 months for £229.36pm.

I think the bonus of purchasing is in 4 years time you have a car to sell for capital. Then you use that capital to put towards the next "Mondeo", and in effect you reduce your initial loan, and the process repeats until you get to the point where you have built enough capital to buy a £10k car outright and save on the interest.
 
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If you buy privately then, thats the purchase price made irrelevant as long as you dont tak it to extremes.

I would very much imagine that as with our company, >2L means no 1998cc "2L" cars, ours have to be >=2000CC.

If it were me i would buy a 2008/2009 BMW 530i, or a 2008/2009 Mercedes E320. This will qualify you for the top rate 25ppm and will work out to be more economical than any diesel or sub 2000cc option.
 
A 2.0 Mondeo is only 18p a mile. I worked out that at the 18p/25p cut over for 2l cars, I'm better off with a larger engine if I do more than 66% of my mileage in the car as business mileage. At the moment its more like 80%, but like I say, I could end up on a contact thats office based meaning none of my mileage is expensed.

Edit, as Jez says, the limit is 2000CC.
 
Jez said:
If it were me i would buy a 2008/2009 BMW 530i, or a 2008/2009 Mercedes E320. This will qualify you for the top rate 25ppm and will work out to be more economical than any diesel or sub 2000cc option.
Click to expand...

But a 2008 is redundant in 1 years time...

Jez said:
I would bet that like in my case, neither of those cars will qualify for the 25ppm option, making them a bad engine choice.
Click to expand...

I guess that would have to be clarified with the company. How anal are they about that?
 
The more I think about this, the more I'm swaying towards just 'leasing a tool' rather than 'buying a car'. The fuel thing is a bummer, but its not the end of the world if I can get the monthly costs down low.

Are there any epic leasing deals about at the moment? They would need to have quite high mileage limits though. Something like Peugeots 'just add fuel' schemes seem tempting, apart from the fact I'd have to have a Peugeot :p
 
rossk26 said:
But a 2008 is redundant in 1 years time...



I guess that would have to be clarified with the company. How anal are they about that?
Click to expand...

Mine are very clear, <2L means <2L. We put our reg on the claim form, and if it is sub 2L then a lower rate similar to skeeters is applied.

To get the maximum rate you need to be looking at cars advertised as 2.2L or above typically. A few of our consultants drive 2.2L BMW's and i believe Honda make a 2.2L petrol for maximum payback.
 
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