Car Allowance?? Best Way to Use it?

ali-t

rev_henry wrote: »

I quite agree. You could always even just give your car a polish and put a private plate on it. With a bit of tlc any car can be made to look brand new.

I was going to say the same. You can get a private plate for £400 from DVLA which would allow you to buy an older car in excellent condition. If you keep it in excellent condition, the only people who would know it is older are those who are totally into cars.:beer:

rev_henry

ali-t wrote: »

I was going to say the same. You can get a private plate for £400 from DVLA which would allow you to buy an older car in excellent condition. If you keep it in excellent condition, the only people who would know it is older are those who are totally into cars.:beer:

£400! You can get one for much less than that on ebay! Probably under £100!

Lum

If the first 3 months are just going to be spent at their training centre then surely there is less need to drive an "impressive" car, so continue using the Saxo and build up some funds? Personally I wouldn't commit to any sort of lease or finance agreement until the probationary period is up, if they let you go you are screwed. (We've been burned with this one with a job that required my partner to move to Wales, only to let her go at the end of the probationary period for some bull**** excuse when the reality was she had done all the difficult planning work and they could do the rest themselves.)

Also you might find the insurance rise to be less than you think, especially if you are young and male as the Saxo is very much a boy racer car and attracts insurance rates to match.

I'd go down the private plate route. I did that to run an 8 year old Subaru Legacy under car allowance. So long as you keep it polished and free of dents and scratches, it looked fine. I probably wouldn't recommend the Subaru with today's petrol prices though.

Also if you are doing long distances you probably want something a bit bigger than a Saxo/Corsa/Fiesta type car. I'd go for something Focus sized at a minimum.

Lastly, try Direct Line for insurance as business cover is included as standard.

oscarward

I'm in a job where I get an allowance (I can have a car but they only allow GM i.e. vauxhall or saab which i don't like)

So I take the money, any miles are at 11ppm as it's a diesil (Jaguar actually :rotfl: ) and I lose home to office miles.

The allowance is taxable at normal rates as it is classed as income but at year end I ask for an expenses report and calculate the difference between what I was paid and 40ppm for the total journey door to door and then ask tax man for a refund. After a few years of this they loaded my tax code in anticipation of a claim so I don't lose out in the interim.

The cash allowance works so long as you don't do a very high mileage, not only for the depreciation but incidentals such as tyres , servicing , insurance.

At one company I had a co. car and did 40k miles total in 3 years so the next time I took the allowance and did 35k miles per year. Had a knackered picasso after 3 years. c'est la vie.

EllieA_3

Im not at a training centre for 3 months i'd need the "suitable car" up front.. basically by mid January. It's just that we know in advance which client i'm going too for the first three months as i'll be training with a more experienced member of staff.

Honestly i'm really panicing about it.

I've been in heavy debt before last year i almost lost my home because my husband unexpectedly lost his job. I'm finally out of debt having managed to wangle a re-morgage... i just really really really don't want to take out finance on a car this is such a huge oppertunity for me career wise but my fear of getting into debt/trouble again is really making me concider turning it down.

Lum

Can you not just drive to your mentor's house and cadge a lift? No need to take two cars to a client as they tend not to appreciate that anyway.

Sambucus_Nigra

What's the wage increase on the job you are currently doing?

Inactive

EllieA wrote: »

I've been in heavy debt before last year i almost lost my home because my husband unexpectedly lost his job. I'm finally out of debt having managed to wangle a re-morgage... i just really really really don't want to take out finance on a car this is such a huge oppertunity for me career wise but my fear of getting into debt/trouble again is really making me concider turning it down.

Personally I think that you are being very wise, I would walk away from any company that made such unreasonable demands, I know jobs are not easy to find these days, but given your financial background, no job at all, would be better than taking this risk.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

Any

Inactive I have noticed on more then this post that you are very naive in a way of how actually job market works.

Offering a car allowance (taxable) is completely normal nowadays.
I agree with others that getting company car is nice, however you do pay for that as well, you know. And if the company is giving you car, you don't even need to have any say in what it is. If they give you old tax thirsty Jaguar you have no recompense.

One of the reasons why people who like cars also go for allowance instead - to have their say.

So you get allowance - let's say £275 net to buy car for. Claim company mileage/relief as well.
Compare with getting company car, on which you will pay at least £60 a month in tax.

So the difference is bigger.

To advise OP not to take the job if she doesn't have one just on basis on regular business practice is very short sighted.

OP - is it big company? Are they what you consider stable company? Are they well known? Do they have their name?? (IE everything to say that they are responsible employer and not bunch of cowboys).

That is the question to ask when considering whether to take or not the job. Also speak to the company about the car and probationary period - tell them if you can use your normal car until the probationary period is out. Locking yourself into a lease contract if you are just starting is understandable excuse.

Also another argument to wait will be to actually evaluate the mileage you will need to take the car for.

I bet they will understand.

EllieA_3

I don't know who my mentor will be yet, but as the company is based in a different city to the one i live i don't hold out much hope he/she will be anywhere local to me.

The job it's self is a £5000 payrise BUT i will lose the benifit of that as my husband will have to give up his part time job to accomadate my unreliable working hours.

Right now i work 8-4pm and he works 4 nights a week 5:30 till 10pm so he looks after the kids during the day and I take them at night. The new job will involve alot of travel and no-certainty that i'll be home by 5pm when he needs to leave for work, he's on minamum wage so childcare that late at night is out of the question but tbh he only earns about £400 a month so not a major disaster to lose it when offset against my £5000 payrise. Financially doing the maths we end up financially slightly worse off if i can figure out a way of getting/running a car out of the allowance..

However this is a huge job oppertunity for me to do what i've wanted to do for the last 5 years which can potentially lead to a very profitable career. Got a case of glass cealings atm.. in that im pretty much at the top of my career doing what im doing now with no way up. The job move will put me at the bottom of another career on equalish pay with lots of room for advancement it's a long term investment we wont see a benifit from right away.

To answer Any .. the company is really reputable in my field, they have won all sorts of awards including UK top employer for thier sector. It's a massive oppertunity to hone my skills in the area I want to work in and for the first time it seems like im going to work for a company that don't expect me to have all the answers already.

Mostly i've been attracted by the fact that they seem to know and accept i'll need alot of training and are willing to give it and most of thier employee's seem to be "long serving" which in my books must count for something when so many company's are running though employee's like water. It's been a gruling interview process (4 interviews) but again that to me just says they really want to make sure im a right fit for the company, rather than taking the first person who's cv lands on thier desk.