Posted By Peter MacDonald Hi It time for me to renew my company car although this time I've been given the option of an essential car user allowance and business milage allowance. I do about 30K miles per year of which 7 to 10K is private (unfortunately I have a 50 mile round trip to the office). Does anyone out there have an opinion on one from the other? I've got a Passat TDi at the moment and would be looking for something similar. Regards Peter

Posted By Jos Does the individual pay more in tax for a company car ? What is the average, any ideas ?

Posted By Andy Lightbody The reason the majority of Company's are now offering car allowances is that it cuts down on the overhead to them. I have recently opted out of the Company car scheme and am better off given the tax saving achieved and the allowance I am provided, however there are various issues to consider. 1. What the level of car allowance along with the income tax saving and mileage allowance amounts to requires to be worked out and offset against the outgoing costs of car purchase/finance, insurance, running cost (tyres, fuel, oil etc) to see if there is a positive surplus for you. 2. What is the mileage allowance. My companies is below the maximum and a tax rebate has been achieved from Inland Revenue between the differences. Guidance is available on http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cars/ 3. Is you insurance history good- no claims etc. Some Insurance companies will accept a letter from your employer for previous years with no claims on company insurance others wont and you start with 0 no claims which can affect the premium significantly. 4. Are other employees required to use the vehicle- this is now a common issue where employees opt out and previosuly younger members of staff used the company vehicle. Now no cars available causing the business difficulty

Posted By Descarte Be aware my lileage alowance claims go down from 40p to 25 after 10,001 miles, presume your company may have a similar scheme.

Posted By John Watson It depends upon your car scheme, but if it is fully financed, tyres, tax, servicing, insured theft etc, then altghough the tax bill looks high, to buy it yourself costs more, and frankly is more hassle, particularly in theft cases. I would say keep the car. regards John

Posted By J Knight A Passat will cost £660 p.a. in tax if you pay at 22%, £1,000 p.a. if you pay at 40%, assuming 100bhp and 10,000 p.a. I assume your £240 per month includes a hefty personal mileage allowance on the fuel card? John

Posted By Helen Horton You need to weigh up your options carefully. If you have a company car what is your tax liability with regard to CO2 emmissions? Will this make a big dent in your income? How generous is the mileage allowance? Business miles can be reimbursed up to 40p per mile and you get a tax rebate on the difference. You need to check the rules with regard to your commuting distance and work out which option gives you the best financial deal. Does your company offer a wide choice of vehicle? If not does the choice offered meet your needs? In my case I needed an automatic and would have had to take a lower spec car with no air con to be able to have a company scheme automatic - not what I wanted so I took the money and bought what I suited me. How stable is your employer? If I had a company car when I was made redundant I would have been in real difficulty as I would have to have gone out and bought a car, but as I had taken the essential user option I was able to just carry on using my existing car. Bear in mind that if you do get made redundant you won't be able to get a car loan. Your choice but based on experience I think you get a better deal if you have the money and buy your own.

Posted By Peter MacDonald Dave Is the scheme with the pick up tax not about to change soon (June/July)? Thanks to everyone who's replied on the forum and direct. Much food for thought. cheers Peter

Posted By Brett Day The pick up tax is going to change as of the next budget to close this loophole, if you are going for a diesel make sure it is euro 4 compliant on emissions - it doesn't attract the 3% diesel surcharge and look at the car you are going to get. Don't be tempted to get a name for example the Skoda Octavia is the same as the old Passat - same engines, suspension set up & electronics (also shared with the Audi A4 and parts of the Golf) but where as the Passat started at £16,500 if you shopped around for a base spec model the same cash will buy you a mid or high spec Octavia. Likewise if you want a load lugger the C5 is a nice estate, largely slated by the motoring press as it doesn't like being thrown around country lanes, but a very capable load lugger, fairly cheap in it's class, lots of 'kit' and a nice car to do lots of motorway driving in. Have run my own cars and had company cars (both diesels) for work and when you take into account depreciation, tyres, oil, servicing, knocks and digs and insurance have always managed to lose money and have always been far better off with company car. As another thing to consider if you have a private car with social, domestic and pleasure and add insurance be carefull as there are three catogories of add on business cover cat 1, 2, & 3 the basic covers very little and if you are visiting construction sites (and the insurers definition of a construction site is quite creative, I can assure you) will will almost certainly need the higher cat business insurance and that can at least double your premium.

Posted By J Knight Good point Brian; let me pick that particular point up. We operate a voluntary company car scheme; a lease car is offered but we can opt for mileage at Inland Revenue allowance rates. We (or at least I) want to change all that. I think we need to insist that high mileage drivers drive a comopany car and no arguments. This is for two reasons; one is that mileage costs the company money at anything over about 8,000 miles p.a. and we are a Charity after all. The other is safety; specifically s40 of the Road Traffic Act which runs something like 'anybody who drives, or causes or permits to be driven' a defective vehicle shall be guilty of an offence. So if we ever need to put together some sort of defence to a charge under s40 we really need to have reasonable assurance of age of car, servicing, maintenance and so on; the best way to do this is to lease the cars ourselves, get the MI on servicing etc, and badger people to make sure that they take our cars to a garage every so often. That, if you like, is something to do with safety, john

Posted By Glyn Atkinson I do not have the privilege of a company car, and travel 80 miles round trip to and from a regular work venue each day. That is my choice as there are no more local vacancies to me at this time, so the rest of my reply is just my personal opinion / thoughts. (Work - A pool car is sometimes available for off site requirements, but good time management is needed, or I can hire in on a daily / weekly basis for company trips, so no need to use mine.) The question raised above is pertinent in health and safety terms especially for anyone who needs the car as part of the normal working day, visiting sites, travelling to courses or work sites etc. Safety depends on good maintenance as part of any car's upkeep, and the decision is either correctly maintain your own car on expenses, or have the tax deductions and have the car kept to a good standard without you having to pay for it outright. The underlying point for me is - is the car roadworthy and safe for whatever business use is required? If it's my car, do I need to keep the car safe for me and my family for private use outside of normal working - moral obligation, - or do the company regularly service it for business use, and I pay to use the car privately? I'm sure that others will have a different point of view - just thought that I would offer my thoughts.

Posted By Brett Day No thanks will stick with the Citroen C4 2.0 HDi, very nice to drive and quite sporty fr a diesel !!

Posted By Philby' Not many responses from the female fraternity...don't blame them realy, seems the threads degenerated into a 'mines bigger than yours' forum...except for the blatantly obvious sarky and wish list ones... anyway...what about your/your company's environmental responsibilities, and whats the point of a huge car. I'll stick with my little 'w' reg 1242cc car...(next it will be a 1400cc diesel version of the same or maybe a smaller car)...both five seats, comfortable (even on long journeys 2000m france germany), economic, its paid for ie mine, never let me down and I can do what the hell I like to it! On the wish list I quite like the old Dino or Ferrari GT4 (that will upset the purists) and have had the chance to buy....heart gave in to the head ie the missus, said I didn't need to compensate for anything...it is Friday you know! Philby'

Posted By Philby' Rob... you heathen....this was tried on the old Shell Economy Trials back in the seventies...a 911 porsche and a Fiat 127 1050 Sport thrashed round the track but had to wait idling at the finish to avoid time penalties and so lost...the intersesting thing was that, backing your argument, the Fiat would have used the least fuel and won, the Porsche would have been seventh....not bad considering the competition! your a heathen for buying souless german fodder by the way...viva Italia! Philby'

Posted By Brett Day Like the C4 but if I had a completely free choice I'd take the Skoda (diesel of course) just need to find a garage that does biodiesel nearby.