Been offered a company car

Hmm plenty to mull over then - claiming it back would be a faff, whereas all the pool cars have cards in them so its hassle free in that sense.

Having a brand new a3 for the same expense as an old accord seems like a no brainer, but there's a few non financial considerations. The alternative would give me a nicer car for business mileage and leave me free to buy something more interesting when it suits me for personal use.
 
How is claiming fuel back on expenses a faff? It should be far from it, even on a monthly basis. You can easily put the cost on a credit card, never paying interest but claiming back Nectar / Airmiles / Clubcard / cashback - whatever you want.
 
The_Abyss said:
How is claiming fuel back on expenses a faff? It should be far from it, even on a monthly basis. You can easily put the cost on a credit card, never paying interest but claiming back Nectar / Airmiles / Clubcard / cashback - whatever you want.
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If I could just hand over the cc statement then that would be fine, but I need to log every journey and fill out a form with destination, distance etc every month. Not a massive deal, but a faff
 
iaind said:
If I could just hand over the cc statement then that would be fine, but I need to log every journey and fill out a form with destination, distance etc every month. Not a massive deal, but a faff
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I tend to go to the same set of places each month so have done a spreadsheet with drop down boxes to select where you've been and when. This does rely on your finance dept not being precious about which form you use though...
 
monkey_boy said:
I tend to go to the same set of places each month so have done a spreadsheet with drop down boxes to select where you've been and when. This does rely on your finance dept not being precious about which form you use though...
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Yeah I'm all over the place and they're pretty fussy. They're also moving to online expenses claims I believe,

It's not a big deal, just a bit of a pain. If I say no to the company car i can just jump in one of the pool cars which are more suitable for longer trips, with no arsing around with paperwork and be free to get something more fun for me when it suits.

So still not really sure!

Technically, a brand new fully maintained and serviced a3 for 90 quid seems like an absolute no brainer - but in other ways I'm not sure the benefits it gives me outweigh the cons
 
Hi

I have a company car and it costs me £600 a year (Skoda Octavia SE 1.9TDi) but it comes out of TAX relief so approximately £3000 (20% tax bracket) out of my £6000 tax relief.

As regards the fuel I have a company fuel card that is used to pay for all the fuel for the car but I pay them back my personal mileage at 11p per mile. It is worked out by removing the business miles claimed for from the total mileage recorded for the month.

Hope this is of some help.

Thanks

Chris
 
monkey_boy said:
I'm confused now. Does this thread stand as OCUK precedent that company cars aren't just for n00bs?
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Where this situation makes the car worth getting is the fact that it is a weird one. He is being offered a car, but NO cash alternative. This means he in reality is being offered a raise in the form of a car, so it is of course worth it.
 
Have you checked that they will just be giving you the car and not reducing your salary inline with the inclusion of a company car as a benefit?

If you do get it and take no reduction in salary then you are basically getting a package increase worth about £2k per year. You will be paying the BIK tax on it but its still a total package increase.

And if the BIK value of the vehicle takes you into the HR bracket then you will be paying the 40% on the car. Tax calculated on salary inclusive of all benefits. Not just cash.
 
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Have to say I quite enjoy having a company car, it doesn't cost me too much in BIK, and I'm allowed to use it for personal use, heck I'm taking it to France for Christmas!

I actually break even in terms of mileage/diesel I get back and some months I actually make a few quid (literally only a few though! :D). It's great, our bt fleet engineer just does the top up of oil and windscreen wash when I'm on site (though technically he shouldn't shhhhh! ;)), and it's serviced for me and all insured for me. The money I made from the car has been put aside - to which I'm adding to the pot.

I do miss having my own car at times, but at the same time I'd find it hard to go back to one! Yes it means I have to drive from a limited choice of cars - but actually for the amount of driving I do, I'd rather be using a company car than putting wear and tear on my own.
 
I agree ^ examples

i) new tax discs in the post every year :D
ii) they pick it up for a service, drop a hire car off, and bring it back
iii) included insurance, tyres, MOT, etc. etc.

It's £43 a month but that's for everything - you'd probably pay that for insurance on that Audi :)
 
Ste said:
I agree ^ examples

i) new tax discs in the post every year :D
ii) they pick it up for a service, drop a hire car off, and bring it back
iii) included insurance, tyres, MOT, etc. etc.

It's £43 a month but that's for everything - you'd probably pay that for insurance on that Audi :)
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This whole conversation is about why it isnt as simple as you make it out to be. In the absense of a cash alternative obviously he is mad not to take it as it is a package increase. But for most people there IS an alternative, at which point IME company cars rarely make financial sense.
 
Chris said:
Hi

I have a company car and it costs me £600 a year (Skoda Octavia SE 1.9TDi) but it comes out of TAX relief so approximately £3000 (20% tax bracket) out of my £6000 tax relief.

As regards the fuel I have a company fuel card that is used to pay for all the fuel for the car but I pay them back my personal mileage at 11p per mile. It is worked out by removing the business miles claimed for from the total mileage recorded for the month.

Hope this is of some help.

Thanks

Chris
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Do you work for DSGi? Seems how they run their company car scehme or used to anyway.

Claiming fuel back is brilliant OP, get a Tesco credit card and fill up there and watch the points rack up and then double them up when you can - for very little effort your end you can get some decent money back!
 
Shimmyhill said:
Do you work for DSGi? Seems how they run their company car scehme or used to anyway.

Claiming fuel back is brilliant OP, get a Tesco credit card and fill up there and watch the points rack up and then double them up when you can - for very little effort your end you can get some decent money back!
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Its the same way my lot do cars so its not uncommon an approach and I don't work for DSGi.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. It does sound like a no brainer, but as above there are a few non financial aspects at play here.

I probably wont accept it at this stage, partly because I don't like the car that much and it's not saving me any money. Also not being able to walk to work would be depressing.

Mainly though, the company might be changing our contract terms and job descriptions in the new year. After a team discussion, our boss has put forward that we'll only accept the new terms if our packages are improved. The proposal put to management was a significant pay rise and a company car of our choice, so accepting one at this stage would weaken our bargaining position.
 
iaind said:
Mainly though, the company might be changing our contract terms and job descriptions in the new year. After a team discussion, our boss has put forward that we'll only accept the new terms if our packages are improved. The proposal put to management was a significant pay rise and a company car of our choice, so accepting one at this stage would weaken our bargaining position.
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I the only person who read that as

'The company ha realised its close to being financially ****ed in this current climate. As a result they are planning to slash our pensions, pay freeze us, and reduce any other benefits they can. My manager has decided to shoot us in the face by demanding hillariously over the top increases that just wont happen. I'm awaiting the TUPEE paperwork for being outsourced, and then managed out of my job.'

Harsh, but sadly true of the current state of a lot of businesses. Significant pay rise + company car of your choice in the current climate in my eyes is nothing short of a pipe dream. fingers crossed you get a cash alternative if it comes off though.
 
Not at all, the company is doing extremely well. They're in one of the few sectors that is having massive amounts of money pumped into it from the government. Were also outperforming all of our competitors and on the verge of growing massively (like tripling/quadrupling overnight). Huge amounts of money in the bank and international backing.

Take into account that were about to enter the private Market too, it all results in things about to go absolutely mental in the new year - hence they're going to need quite a bit more from the IT team to keep up with things.

So you couldnt have been further from the mark, and I'm exceptionally lucky to have got into it when I did :)
 
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