BIK - help please

ivrytwr3 · 23 Apr 2025 at 19:50

Wifey has started a new role and has been given a company car - Seat Leon petrol.

She has started to see BIK deductions on her wage slip, but neither of us understand BIK

The car is kept at home and she uses it to travel to the office or wherever in the UK they send her. She has her own car and told them that the company car is for business only.

Is BIK payable in this case and any idea what the monthly payments roughly are?

Ta!

lordrobs · 23 Apr 2025 at 20:01

BIK is payable because the car is available for personal usage. Whether she decides to use it for that or not is irrelevant. Also, for BIK purposes travelling to and from the office is considered personal use.

I use https://comcar.co.uk/companycar/tax/select/ for quick BIK checks. They also have a section for older cars should it not be a brand new one.

Company cars can be pretty cheap versus all in costs on your own car so I'd suggest she gets shot of her own car and uses the company car for all her mileage... I am of course a complete hypocrite saying that as for the last 10 years I've had company cars and still kept my old MX5

Begbie · 23 Apr 2025 at 20:08

Yep, though the company can just provide a company car surely?

If I declare I don't need my car for business use, I don't need to pay BIK on mine. Of course it means I can't use it for anything personal.

I'm pretty sure mine is 40% of what's shown on my payslip.

ivrytwr3 · 23 Apr 2025 at 21:10

Frick, that calc says it's £149 per month

I know that's not a lot for a 25 plate, but she's only part time, 2 days per week - so that's a chunk of her monthly take home.

Kenai · 23 Apr 2025 at 21:16

A new petrol Leon will be costing a fortune really, especially if she's foregoing a cash allowance to have it too.

Unless you can get EVs or longer range PHEVs with low BIK (for now...), company cars aren't really the cheap perk they used to be - most people are probably better off taking allowances unless you're doing absolutely silly mileages (or can choose cheap bik options).

lordrobs · 24 Apr 2025 at 08:02

ivrytwr3 said:
Frick, that calc says it's £149 per month

I know that's not a lot for a 25 plate, but she's only part time, 2 days per week - so that's a chunk of her monthly take home.

For context though £149 all in is very cheap motoring. Sure, if it was a PHEV version of the same car it would be half that and some PHEVs would be 1/3 that amount or less but if this was a salary sacrifice we were talking about people would be saying it's a 'no brainer for a brand new car'.

Where it gets more complex is as Kenai mentioned if there is an option for cash instead. My employer doesn't offer cash, it's company car or work somewhere else, which is fine because I do 5 digit business miles every year.

Most employers will allow partners to use the car domestically which would open up using the Leon to cover more of your combined mileage.

jpaul · 24 Apr 2025 at 09:48

won't her expenses be offset by the ~30p a mile she'd get for works trips , beyond the office.

Kenai · 24 Apr 2025 at 10:44

jpaul said:
won't her expenses be offset by the ~30p a mile she'd get for works trips , beyond the office.

Approved mileage payments will probably be nowhere near 30p for a company car - depending on engine size it'll be 12p or 15p for a petrol Leon in all likelihood.

If they pay more than that, it'll be taxable.

Begbie · 24 Apr 2025 at 11:56

ivrytwr3 said:
Frick, that calc says it's £149 per month

I know that's not a lot for a 25 plate, but she's only part time, 2 days per week - so that's a chunk of her monthly take home.

How much will you save or cost you if you sell the other car and use this for everything?

£150pm for insurance, servicing, tyres etc etc is very cheap motoring.

Though I'm still sure you can declare business only and not paying BIK

ivrytwr3 · 24 Apr 2025 at 21:34

Begbie said:
How much will you save or cost you if you sell the other car and use this for everything?

£150pm for insurance, servicing, tyres etc etc is very cheap motoring.

Though I'm still sure you can declare business only and not paying BIK

She's still in her probation period, but yes, we are considering selling her car and using the company car for business and personal.

I said to her £150 for a 25 plate car is a great deal, but she is just seeing the monthly figure been taken from her pay!

lordrobs · 24 Apr 2025 at 23:26

ivrytwr3 said:
She's still in her probation period, but yes, we are considering selling her car and using the company car for business and personal.

I said to her £150 for a 25 plate car is a great deal, but she is just seeing the monthly figure been taken from her pay!

Knock up a quick spreadsheet;

Tax
Insurance
MOT
Servicing
Breakdown Cover
Depreciation / Finance costs

Divide by twelve and £149 a month will likely look cheap.

I find it massively liberating in a way. My two month old car got hit in Stansted car park. Nice gouges in the rear bumper down to the black plastic on a white car. Barely even registered a "huh, would you look at that". If it was my own car I'd be out for blood

Mekrel · 29 Apr 2025 at 05:47

How often does she have to travel for work? It seems strange for a business to give a company car when she's only working 2 days a week unless she's guaranteed to be travelling most of the time?

It's one reason why I exited the company car scheme at work and went the car allowance route. Many moons ago the policy was you're given a BMW 320D and you can only choose the colour, so the company was essentially forcing a set BIK on to you vs having cheaper alternatives available.

As people have said £150p/m is cheap motoring but on the flip side of the coin, means you've got to sell an asset (the other car) that you already own and you'll never own this one.

ivrytwr3 · 29 Apr 2025 at 06:08

As she is in training/probation, she has been working full time, but her contracted hours are 2 days a week - there is extensive travelling involved in her role. So yeah, a company car for 2 days a week

lordrobs · 29 Apr 2025 at 10:04

ivrytwr3 said:
As she is in training/probation, she has been working full time, but her contracted hours are 2 days a week - there is extensive travelling involved in her role. So yeah, a company car for 2 days a week

The BIK element is only for private use so in effect the less days you work the better value (on paper) you are getting from the company car.

Also if there is extensive travelling, you want it to be in someone elses car. Epic stone chips, randoms in car parks, a rock being flung up by a truck, shattering and taking out my nearside front window on the motorway (plus requiring a full side respray), two windscreens, pot hole destroyed tyre... all on company miles for me in the last 5 years and that's before we talk about general wear and tear.

As far as ICE cars go the Leon is a decent company motor as it hits a sweet spot of decent spec and low P11D value. TBH the only negative is that it isn't the PHEV version.

Kenai · 29 Apr 2025 at 10:13

If it's a 'have the car or don't have the car, no other options' situation where the only cost to you is the BIK, then it's absolutely a cheap way of having a car and once her probation period is up, you'd be daft not to use it as your main daily car for everything and get rid of the other car.