My employer changed their company car policy from Vauxhall and Saab to pretty much anything. With the wider selection, have been pondering getting a company car (something like a E class or 5 series Touring) and selling the FFRR. Doing the sums, the company car will cost me a little less than half what the FFRR does (loan, running costs, etc). My head says do it but heart says don't. I really don't know what to do.

(As an aside, a FFRR Vogue SE would cost me close to £1K a month )

If I did do it, I would have to pay for fuel with my employer reimbursing me for business miles. Besides the BIK and the monthly charge, are there any other costs with running a company car? Our company leases through Lex and the cars are fully maintained. Are there any gotchas with company cars?

Thanks for your help

Paul Paul

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1k a month is a mortgage to some and one night out to others, only you know the value to you.

you do know you get taxed on company car, quite alot when there big engined merc's etc.

My accountant has always advised me to buy private, can you not get a payrise\car allowance instead? 2004 black Vogue TD6

Thanks for coming back to me. I have been taking the car allowance for the last few years. I was looking at something like a 520d which is 18% BIK because of the emissions. My company has a pay modeller that allows you to punch in the benefits you would like to subscribe to and what their impact is on your pay packet (which is how I came up with the figure that a company car could cost half what I pay now). My only question is are there any other taxes incurred beside BIK tax?

My reaction to the Range Rover as a company car was ...



and has been quickly discounted. Paul

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The costs associated with company cars can be broken down into BIK tax, tax on free private use fuel (if you have the option), and any trade up/trade down adjustments related to whether or not you have 'spent' your full company car allowance (this is not tax per se but a salary adjustment on the part of your employer)

The good side - you have a fixed monthly bill which is all-inclusive.

The down side - you find yourself looking for the low-tax options and suddenly things such as, for example, 6 and 8 cylinder engines, auto gearboxes and petrol engines seem like a bad idea. You may find it quite restrictive in this sense.

Thanks InVogue. That is really helpful

 Paul

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I gave up the company cars years ago as the tax was getting painful, my last company car was an Impreza Turbo (I hasten to add, I didn't choose this as a company car, it was in the fleet and they wanted someone to own it who wasn't going to wreck it by borrowing it for a day of fun like everyone else wanted to) (I will add that it did get wrecked with me at the wheel, but I was innocent, some talentless b*tch took me out and wrote it off for me )

Buying private does save you money but the company cars are easier to think about as they are maintained etc and you don't worry about things breaking. You can't have your cake and eat it really.

I get a decent car allowance and ALL my fuel paid for, so it balances out to some extent. Couple that with the high second hand values of FFRR's and mine has not lost a penny in a year after 13,000 miles and thats cheap motoring for such a brilliant car. (I'm trying to forget the power steering issue and broken window Ive had) Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

same here, got out of company cars last time they changed it must be 10 years ago or more...they are not a perk anymore IMO

I get a car allowance and fuel card for all private/business fuel

buy 3-5 year old cars with cash/small loan, pocket the allowance, then the tax rebate on 40p a mile for business miles adds up and HMRC usually owe me enough money each year to pay for car servicing

/ive wasted enough on car depreciation and tax over my working life, jeez, could have retired by now otherwise  cheers
bogie

I have my own company (dont get excited, its only 2 person) and we just claim mileage allowance on our own cars. Our accountant strongly advised against company cars on tax grounds.

Needless to say I rarely use my FFRR on business, we only get 40p per mile allowance.

I'm coming out of my RRS company car and into using my own and claiming the mileage.
Of those who are doing the same and getting "free" fuel for business and personnal how are you doing this? Banished back to RRS for the moment !!!

A Tesla has zero benefit in kind, and you can offset against tax thereby saving nearly £30k. *Gone* Discovery3 HSE
*Gone* Discovery3 HSE
*Gone* MY10 RangeRover TDV8
Freelander for OH
MY11 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography Black

you are supposed to keep records of business miles

then on your P11D each year your fuel card will be shown as a benefit, the amount of fuel you had total

on the expenses part of your tax return you put how many business miles you did

you get relief on 40p a mile for 10K miles, then 25p a mile after

so if you did 6000 business miles thats £4500 in expenses

depending on the mpg of your vehicle, proportion of business versus private and how much you actually got back in fuel, you may get a small tax rebate, or a bigger one ..but usually they end up oweing you money

its a nice little savings scheme usually, have free fuel all year and a get a grand back each year..

dont be tempted to let them "adjust" your code for the next year though based on that year, otherwise if you do less miles the next year, you can end up owing money....tell them its variable, just leave you on standard code and do your self assessment every May/Jun time to get your yearly bonus  cheers
bogie

oh I think this forum is publicly searchable isnt it?

I wouldnt admit on here to not keeping proper tax records and just doing tax estimates....if HMRC see it, they can go back 5 years and do their own "estimates" of how much money you owe them ! cheers
bogie

Thanks guys. My employer, due to the size, doesn't pay for fuel, they will reimburse me for business miles (at best 21p or whatever the HMRC guidelines are this week). Paul

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Hope you are claiming the underpayment from the Inland Revenue  Banished back to RRS for the moment !!!

Just before ordering my RRS Autobiography I was going to get a FFRR Autobiography......(hence joining this site as well).....

the deciding factor for me was the outrageous car tax............

you can calculate it here......

http://cccfcalculator.hmrc.gov.uk/CCF0.aspx