When are you going fully electric?

Tempted to get a Tesla via business lease. We are in the middle of applying for a mortgage and moving home so had the idea to sell our current car to free up cash towards the move. What I can’t get confirmation of is if we take out a HP via the business (limited company, over 3 years old), does it affect our personal credit? Is it all sandboxed to the business?

If we took out a new credit that appeared on our personal files now then it would cause pain for the mortgage.
Presumably if your main source of income is the business which you are the owner/shareholder of, the mortgage company will want to look at the profitability of said business.

Taking a HP will reduce the profitability and the amount you can withdraw from it as income.

Of course accounts for the current year will be available yet so they may not see it until it’s too late.

Speak to your accountant about the tax benefits between company and personal.
 
Ive been contemplating an EV recently.

I currently get a car allowance from work of £500 a month, so after tax, it pays about £300 a month.

1st car on this scheme was Alfa Giulia Veloce. Bought with no deposit, APR was about 1.something percent, cost me £500 a month. I was happy to pay the extra.
2nd (and current) car on the scheme is a BMW 128ti. I sold the alfa at the peak of the new car shortage thing, so i had a load of money left after all was settled. So i put 8K deposit in, and the BMW costs my just under £300 a month.
I have a year left roughly, then i'll be looking to change. ive been thinking about it for a while now, i'm not going to have a bunch of cash left over this time and i dont want to put any of my money in. Partly, because ive better things to spend it on, and partly because there is no new car that i fancy (thats not way too expensive).

Even a bog standard kia Picanto is over £300 a month on a PCP with minimal deposit once you tick the automatic box.

i barely do any company miles, though its a support role, so i might have to go somewhere with little notice, but the reality is, that i dont. Everyone else does lots of travelling so they are claiming back plenty of miles at 40p a mile, practically nothing for me.

With the increasing costs of cars, the company is considering the move to company cars instead. This only makes sense if its a plugin hybrid or a full EV. I could make an EV work, usage wise, but i cant really charge it at home without chucking a cable over my fence as i park in a carpark at the back of my house. there was mention of getting an EV charger or two put in at work. This would be ideal as i could charge at work, and that would solve my charging issue.

We then had a big and frustrating discussion the other day about potentially having some chargers put in at work. There was lots of "the employee will benefit more than the company" and "i dont know where we stand on employees charging at work as far as benefits are concerned" and "those that work in the office will effectively run their cars for free" like this is somehow a bad thing, and that those that arent based in the office, who have zero commute costs and earn back plenty in mileage claims are somehow losing out. So it was very clear that he doesnt want people charging at work. Which means he probably wont put a charger in, and if he does, it will be one, and he will park there every day.

So now, i still dont know what to do. I really dont like the way new cars are going, very little seem to appeal to me.

I could personal lease a boggo ID3 for £300 a month (works out cheaper than a PCP), or see what the company car options are available to me as they will likely calculate it based on little mileage used. the sales guys have the current milage claims they are making factored in as well, as there new EV milage claims will be lower anyway.

I could go for a plugin hybrid as a company car, the tax numbers are still ok (though ive heard rumours of change which i need to investigate), though i'd probably never charge it as its too much hassle, and if i have to charge it at a public charger, it would be cheaper to do those miles with petrol no?

An EV would be ok, but id have to charge at a public charger, which is a little bit of faff, but sat there watching a bit of TV while the car charges is no real problem, but its quite pricey.

I could ask them to increase the car allowance, but i dont really want another car on £500 a month. If i lose my job, i'd have to find that money.

When the time comes, i'm expecting it to be quite the frustrating experience. I can see me just telling them to poke it, and i'll sort myself out and just buy a piece a crap for a few years and not worry. The problem is, those piece of crap cars now cost four grand...

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a rant

Anyone been in a similar situation?

How is EV ownership with no charging from home?
 
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Yeah and the first thing I did was realise all the car allowance is, is salary without pension/bonus. It is your money to spend as you like. Stop leasing a car you don't need to if your mileage is so low. Go and buy a ~3-5 year old car and stick a plate on it if they whinge about age.
 
Ive been contemplating an EV recently.

I currently get a car allowance from work of £500 a month, so after tax, it pays about £300 a month.

1st car on this scheme was Alfa Giulia Veloce. Bought with no deposit, APR was about 1.something percent, cost me £500 a month. I was happy to pay the extra.
2nd (and current) car on the scheme is a BMW 128ti. I sold the alfa at the peak of the new car shortage thing, so i had a load of money left after all was settled. So i put 8K deposit in, and the BMW costs my just under £300 a month.
I have a year left roughly, then i'll be looking to change. ive been thinking about it for a while now, i'm not going to have a bunch of cash left over this time and i dont want to put any of my money in. Partly, because ive better things to spend it on, and partly because there is no new car that i fancy (thats not way too expensive).

Even a bog standard kia Picanto is over £300 a month on a PCP with minimal deposit once you tick the automatic box.

i barely do any company miles, though its a support role, so i might have to go somewhere with little notice, but the reality is, that i dont. Everyone else does lots of travelling so they are claiming back plenty of miles at 40p a mile, practically nothing for me.

With the increasing costs of cars, the company is considering the move to company cars instead. This only makes sense if its a plugin hybrid or a full EV. I could make an EV work, usage wise, but i cant really charge it at home without chucking a cable over my fence as i park in a carpark at the back of my house. there was mention of getting an EV charger or two put in at work. This would be ideal as i could charge at work, and that would solve my charging issue.

We then had a big and frustrating discussion the other day about potentially having some chargers put in at work. There was lots of "the employee will benefit more than the company" and "i dont know where we stand on employees charging at work as far as benefits are concerned" and "those that work in the office will effectively run their cars for free" like this is somehow a bad thing, and that those that arent based in the office, who have zero commute costs and earn back plenty in mileage claims are somehow losing out. So it was very clear that he doesnt want people charging at work. Which means he probably wont put a charger in, and if he does, it will be one, and he will park there every day.

So now, i still dont know what to do. I really dont like the way new cars are going, very little seem to appeal to me.

I could personal lease a boggo ID3 for £300 a month (works out cheaper than a PCP), or see what the company car options are available to me as they will likely calculate it based on little mileage used. the sales guys have the current milage claims they are making factored in as well, as there new EV milage claims will be lower anyway.

I could go for a plugin hybrid as a company car, the tax numbers are still ok (though ive heard rumours of change which i need to investigate), though i'd probably never charge it as its too much hassle, and if i have to charge it at a public charger, it would be cheaper to do those miles with petrol no?

An EV would be ok, but id have to charge at a public charger, which is a little bit of faff, but sat there watching a bit of TV while the car charges is no real problem, but its quite pricey.

I could ask them to increase the car allowance, but i dont really want another car on £500 a month. If i lose my job, i'd have to find that money.

When the time comes, i'm expecting it to be quite the frustrating experience. I can see me just telling them to poke it, and i'll sort myself out and just buy a piece a crap for a few years and not worry. The problem is, those piece of crap cars now cost four grand...

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a rant

Anyone been in a similar situation?

How is EV ownership with no charging from home?

How far is your commute and personal usage day to day?
 
My commute is about 8 miles each way, though that is subject to change as we will be moving offices at some point soon. It shouldnt change much though. At the moment, i pretty much only use my car for work, and the occasional personal trip out. we use my wifes car for the family stuff. this is largely because the kids car seats were in there. only one of them needs a car seat now, so is the new car was more family orientated, it would get a bit more use.

I like a nice car, so i havent minded paying the extra up until now, but new there is nothing that takes my fancy at all really, so naturally i dont want to put my cash into a car that i have no real interest in.

The car allowance is just paid as salary, so its subject to pensions contributions etc.

The rules have been must be less than 5 years old, and must be appropriate for business, so i might have to pick colleagues etc up from the airport with luggage etc. there was some suggestion of relaxing the rules, prior to the suggestion of company cars.

When i first started, there was only two of us, now there are seven. The likelihood of me needing to do any of that now is less.
 
My commute is about 8 miles each way, though that is subject to change as we will be moving offices at some point soon. It shouldnt change much though. At the moment, i pretty much only use my car for work, and the occasional personal trip out. we use my wifes car for the family stuff. this is largely because the kids car seats were in there. only one of them needs a car seat now, so is the new car was more family orientated, it would get a bit more use.

I like a nice car, so i havent minded paying the extra up until now, but new there is nothing that takes my fancy at all really, so naturally i dont want to put my cash into a car that i have no real interest in.

The car allowance is just paid as salary, so its subject to pensions contributions etc.

The rules have been must be less than 5 years old, and must be appropriate for business, so i might have to pick colleagues etc up from the airport with luggage etc. there was some suggestion of relaxing the rules, prior to the suggestion of company cars.

When i first started, there was only two of us, now there are seven. The likelihood of me needing to do any of that now is less.

With that usage, you’d get away with using a granny plug. Going to an EV tariff will save a bit during the night but even at 32p per kWh for the rest Of the day you’d still save money over ICE.
 
My commute is about 8 miles each way,

So ~80 miles a week if you do a 5 day week? You could probably charge that amount using a dynamo on an exercise bike connected to your car. :p

Even an inefficient 2.5mpkWh will put you at 32kWh used, so if you literally do anything else, e.g. go shopping or go anywhere at all that has charging near by while you do something else you've got no wasted time. You could also check the Charger sharing apps in your area, ZapHome, Co Charge, Joosup etc. you might find someone like me who just charges the actual cost, or a few pence more than the tariff cost.
 
Trail the cable over the fence. Everyone else will be doing it in a few years, they’ll not have any choice.

That said? 8 miles a day? I wouldn’t be leasing a new car for that but it’s your cash at the end of the day.

Just a thing to watch out for, BIK rates on EVs will start ramping up from here on in.

Hybrid and PHEV rates will ramp up even quicker than EVs.
 
Thanks guys

yeah it does seem daft to spend all that on a car that i use so infrequently. I'll see what happens. One sales guy, and the boss are due to change cars before me, so by then i may know more.
 
Yeah and the first thing I did was realise all the car allowance is, is salary without pension/bonus. It is your money to spend as you like. Stop leasing a car you don't need to if your mileage is so low. Go and buy a ~3-5 year old car and stick a plate on it if they whinge about age.
So much this
If you can just get a cheap second hand car that looks smart enough then just take the £300 a month into your bank account. Nobody is making you spend it on a car!
 
Seems Arval pricing has shifted around a bunch again. I think I want something that feels a bit more special than utilitarian which is bringing the model Y into question a bit. Annoyingly some of the nicer cars are now way too much (Audi Q4).

Ql3nZju.jpeg

Brain is leaning to Renault scenic still.
Heart is saying tavascan, lexus rz or eqb.
Tech nerd is saying Tesla. It'll also be super functional on holidays given the boot size.
Niggle itch is saying maybe ioniq5 or enyaq.

I think eqb and enyaq are out of the question due to cost increase.

Tavascan is on the boundary cost-wise; I think if the interior is something special and the boot is properly usable, it could be a winner. It's still in the 350 range which is useful for the odd long distance trip (Belgium in August for e.g.).

Model Y hard to ignore, especially given the really usable 370 odd range. And Scenic just super inexpensive compared to everything else and what you get for the money.

Probably need to be making an order soonish - pug due in June I think. I also need to get some smart repairs done before Arval collect :D
 
No EV6 on your list?

There is also the new 3008 which looks to be in the same ballpark as the Renault.
£1100/mo gross, bonkers. Not sure where Arval get their prices from lol. I am trying to move away from Stellantis (the app is just trash).
 
I am trying to move away from Stellantis (the app is just trash).
Amen to that. I assume the Poxhall one is the same one with a different face. It certainly tries to sell me accessories for my Peugeot (I've got an Astra) from time to time and the language randomly switches to French every so often.

Thankfully the in car scheduling for charging and pre-conditioning is pretty solid so I don't need to rely on it.
 
Amen to that. I assume the Poxhall one is the same one with a different face. It certainly tries to sell me accessories for my Peugeot (I've got an Astra) from time to time and the language randomly switches to French every so often.

Thankfully the in car scheduling for charging and pre-conditioning is pretty solid so I don't need to rely on it.
Ah man you're lucky. The Pug doesn't have any in-car scheduling capability; and it can't connect to WiFi. It makes the main perk of EV [imo] of precabin heating not reliable :(
 
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