Car Allowance?? Best Way to Use it?

EllieA_3

I've just been though the interview process for a job which is likely to involve an emence amount of travelling around. As part of the package I get a car allowance .. atm i have a 12 year old citroen, it's a heap of junk but it's all i've been able to afford. So it's very important i use the car allowance to get a suitable car for clients to see.

Unfortunatly i don't have an cash to buy a better car or even money for a deposit and i'm terrified of signing myself up into some sort of finance deal as we've had a really rough year and are only just recovering. I'm going to have the money from the car allowance £4,500 annually so whats the best way / safest way to spend it? both from a safety point of view as well as a value for money one.

I know im being a major panic'er im just terrified i'll sign a long term contract and then something will happen and i'll be landed with a huge bill, so much so im concidering not taking the job even though it's a huge oppertunity and good payrise.

supermonkey

only leaves leasing doesnt it?

Mids_Costcutter

Who are these clients that (you suggest) would be judging you on the car you drive?

Have you been given any indication as to what annual mileage would be? There are plenty of car running costs calculators out there, such as on the AA web site. Don't buy another car if you simply can't afford it.

marlot

I'd start by looking at ling's lease deals - you might be able to find something suitable on a 12 month lease. That way your commitment is kept in check.

Don't forget the car allowance will be taxed.

JQ.

If you are able to get a company car I'd go down that route if you're doing lots of company miles.

If that's not possible, then it does sound like leasing is your best option. Get a small diesel if you're doing lots of miles and try and get a 1 years lease as it'll not tie you into a long contract if things do go wrong. To get an idea of costs try www.lingscars.com, but remember your monthly lease cost is likely to be higher as you'll need to declare you're higher mileage.

EllieA_3

I've looked at leasing and they still seem to ask for a 2-3 year contract.

Also alot of them seem to be based on a 10,000 milage, i honestly have no idea how far im going to be traveling, Im going to be a based in the northwest but no-one seems able to give me an idea of exactly how much travel will be involved other than to say if it's beyond a 2 hour commute i will have hotel's paid for so i imagine there would be substantial travel involved.

I know as part of the contract i have to have a "suitable car" I'm guessing it's to keep up company image etc, im going to "negotiate pay" tommorrow so i guess i'll ask what they concider suitable, but im guessing it's something thats no more than about 4 years old.

Sambucus_Nigra

EllieA wrote: »

I've just been though the interview process for a job which is likely to involve an emence amount of travelling around. As part of the package I get a car allowance .. atm i have a 12 year old citroen, it's a heap of junk but it's all i've been able to afford. So it's very important i use the car allowance to get a suitable car for clients to see.

Unfortunatly i don't have an cash to buy a better car or even money for a deposit and i'm terrified of signing myself up into some sort of finance deal as we've had a really rough year and are only just recovering. I'm going to have the money from the car allowance £4,500 annually so whats the best way / safest way to spend it? both from a safety point of view as well as a value for money one.

I know im being a major panic'er im just terrified i'll sign a long term contract and then something will happen and i'll be landed with a huge bill, so much so im concidering not taking the job even though it's a huge oppertunity and good payrise.

emergence? emergency?

Oh

Immense. Got ya.

EllieA_3

Ok i've poked around abit. £4,500 doens't go far :mad:

After tax (assuming it's just taxed like i earned £4,500 more than my basic salary) gives me £275 per month to play with.

The cheapest lease I could find was for £220 per month (assuming only 10,000 miles per annum) I know i'll be doing alot more milage than that. So it looks like the allowance will barely cover the lease on a cheapish car.

Add on the that the fact that im going from insuring a car worth £300 and doing 4000 milage, to insuring a £7000-8000 car doing potentially 20000 milage AND adding business use to the policy and i'm looking at £2000 a year for insurance i won't have enough in the allowance to pay and can't physically afford to pay my self.

This job is looking less and less likely.

Hintza

EllieA wrote: »

This job is looking less and less likely.

Have you been offered the job? Have you spoken to the company to ask their advice?

I have edited this post to be a little less harsh. OP cross each bridge when you come to it.

rev_henry

I don't know very much about this but I'm fairly sure its NOT taxed in that way. I think you'll be better off than that.

Have you actually had insurance quotes. It won't make that much difference I don't think. The real difference comes if you're going from a fiesta to a BMW M5 or something like that, which I don't think you are!

EllieA_3

I'm going to negotiate salary's tommorrow, I know how much they where advertising the job for and I know what salary expectation my CV landed on their table with. I will speak to them tomorrow about the whole thing but it's more than just the car.

The job is a huge oppertunity, but it has very big implication's for my family the irregular hours would mean my husband would have to give up his part time job in order for me to take it, so he can watch the children.

So overall if i get what my CV suggested i requested we actually lose £400 a month as a family we where willing to accept that because of the oppertunity the job posed, but the car thing seem's to be adding another sticking point as we simply can't afford to lose even more money.