Company car

AdrianHi

Hippychick1 wrote: »

Great AdrianHi, sounds like you are just the person I need to talk to. Thank you so much. My car was new at the beginning of the lease. If I got another company car it would again be new. So would it be best for me to work out compensation based on buying a similar new car?

I could answer your questions on that basis. I would be unable to contribute any deposit at all. Work have offered to lend me the money interest free but I have my reservations about that because if I want to leave, I will owe them a lot of money.

Thanks again,

Hippychick1

The problem you are faced with here is having to fund a car where if you loose your job you could still be stuck with car loan payments or lease payments and no income. Seen a few instances of this lately.
Plus side, loose the job and you still have a car.
If you have no deposit at all (or a very small one) personal leasing might be the way to go. Any leasing company will lease to an individual you just need to be aware most lease prices are quoted excluding VAT. Multipley by 1.15 and 1.175 for when we get back to 17.5% VAT. Road tax is included. Usual form is 3 monthly payments as a deposit plus 35 more payments for a 36 month lease.
Pick a car that lease companies can get for big volume discounts and leasing for 36 months can actually work out cheaper than buying new then selling again at 36 months old. Vauxhall Corsa/Astra/Vectra were like this early last year.
Also much easier to come up with a monthly compensation figure for leasing.
What company car do you have now including engine and trim level?

Also look at 24 month lease deals just in case the job is lost, shorter commitment.

Hippychick1_2

Thank you, this is really helpful. My current car is a Skoda Fabia 1.4. I'm not entirely sure what a trim level is but other info about the car is that it is Diesel- Euro 4, has 127 CO2 and is a hatchback 5dr TDI PD 80 Ambiente.

Thank you,

Hippychick1

DCodd

Hi Hippychick1, have they actualy said that they will compensate you for the loss of the car or compensate you for any business mileage you do?

If they require you to use your own car for business purposes then you will need to tell the insurance company that and this will increase the cost of your premium!

Personal car use is usualy paid for on a mileage basis and usualy as follows:

First 10,000 miles @ 40p per mile and 18p per mile theafter (although this is not set in stone, this is the maximum allowed without incurring tax).Factor this in to your equation and you should recieve 6500 miles @ 40p = £2600.00 per year expenses. These per mile amounts are calculated to cover the "real costs" of motoring as mentioned above.

Talk to your employer and ask if they will pay you mileage expenses as this is a genuine out of pocket expense for you to carry out the duties they require.

Hippychick1_2

Thanks DCodd - yes they will definitely pay mileage for business miles. They have also said they will compensate me for the personal use side of things, thankfully! Hippychick1

cajef

I cannot understand why you think you are entitled to compensation for loss of a company car that appears to have used more for your own personal use rather than business use, the car was provided for the benefit of the company not yourself, any personal use they allowed you was a perk and not a right.

Travel to and from work should be at you own expense not the companies, they did not provide you with a vehicle so you could commute to work.

ukjoel

Hippy chick,

Ambiente is the trim level for your Fabia.
Bearing in mind the low mileage why dont you offer to buy the car from the lease company instead of handing it back.

This allows your employer to look a bit more considerate and the lease companies dont want a 3 year old Fabia and would send it straight to auction.

That would help you with your RV issue as after 3 years it would be minimal going forward.

Your other option is to buy a new Fabia maybe a Greenline which has a cO2 of below 120 so would be even cheaper from a tax point.


If I was you I would buy your current car, run it yourself for a couple of years and save up for the next one. Fabias are fairly reliable and while you dont see the 300k-500k examples like you do with Octavia and Superb you will be fairly safe for the next 2-3 years.

DCodd

Hippychick1 wrote: »

Thanks DCodd - yes they will definitely pay mileage for business miles. They have also said they will compensate me for the personal use side of things, thankfully! Hippychick1

Seems a fair deal to me Hippychick1, is there no one within the company who might give you an idea of what they might go up to or is it a huge company?

AdrianHi

Hippychick1 wrote: »

Thank you, this is really helpful. My current car is a Skoda Fabia 1.4. I'm not entirely sure what a trim level is but other info about the car is that it is Diesel- Euro 4, has 127 CO2 and is a hatchback 5dr TDI PD 80 Ambiente.

Thank you,

Hippychick1

Ambiente is the trim level between classic and comfort I think (sister and mother in law have older Fabias)
Assuming 10,000 miles a year, 17.5% VAT and including road tax you can lease a 1.4TDI Greeline for £489.98 first month follwed by £163.33 a month for 35 more months (total £6206.53). Thats just from the What Car listed lease deals, you might find better shopping around. You will need to ring around for quotes for your actual mileage but it should be something like 4p-7p per mile more for a car like this.
Blueline seems to be the next trim grade up.
It's about 9p per mile for fuel on this car.
Total cost of use to you if you did 10,000 a year comes in at about £331.31 a month.
I've got the figures for my sister in laws petrol Fabia 1.4 8v Classic '51 plate worth about £1500 to hand and for 10,000 miles a year it costs ger £313.79 a month (saving only £17.52... so many people assume old cars are cheaper). Thats allowing £300 a year for repairs that would be under warranty on a lease car, she pays quite a bit of car tax etc.

Vauxhall Corsa 1.3CDti Ecoflex is slightly cheaper than the fabia to lease at 151.58 a month.

If you want to go down the leasing road shop around for other cars and deals and you might get the price down a bit more. Gives you an idea of what you can get though.

DCodd

cajef wrote: »

I cannot understand why you think you are entitled to compensation for loss of a company car that appears to have used more for your own personal use rather than business use, the car was provided for the benefit of the company not yourself, any personal use they allowed you was a perk and not a right.

Travel to and from work should be at you own expense not the companies, they did not provide you with a vehicle so you could commute to work.

The company have offered her a payoff for the company car. While the private mileage is a benefit and can be removed, as per her contract, they are probably covering themselves from having to provide a pool car system (which is an administrative nightmare) for the business side.

If they have offered I would take it, wouldn't you?

AdrianHi

ukjoel wrote: »

Bearing in mind the low mileage why dont you offer to buy the car from the lease company instead of handing it back.

Interesting option, lets test it.
About £100 a month depreciation, now out of warranty and needing MOT's but otherwise similar on costs the the new car.
realistic estimate a £320 a month car + the cost of finance charges because HippyChick has no cash to put in. If you could get some 0% finance (not going to happen for a used car) you should save £11 a month. This really means that taking on this 3 year old car is acutally more expensive than ditching it for a new one leased... if you did 10,000 miels a year. The decision really hinges on the real quote you get for the higher annual mileage. It's not going to be different by much.

Thsi is why I get so into running this spreadsheet, is surprising how often a 3 year old car that holds it's value quite well (like the Fabia does) ends up being more expensive than the nearly new or in this case brand new lease option. Basically the market will pay too much for a used Fabia.