Salary Sacrifice Car Schemes - Good or Bad?

gadgetmind

I have always bought cars with cash. I then start saving again into a high interest account (I wish!) so that I have the money in another 5-6 years to do the same.

My outgoings spreadsheet has "Car 1 depreciation" of £3000 per annum, which is an £18k car that's worth £3k after five years, which is deliberately pessimistic. For car 2, I have £1600pa, which is a £10k car that's worth £2k after five years. Currently, we're running a 2006 Audi A8 and a 2009 Fiat 500, but if we have to tighten our belts, we keep them for longer and/or drop down to one car and/or go for something slightly less flashy when we switch.

£4600 pa is a fair chunk of change, but I don't reckon the depreciation on a new Ford Mondeo or Renault Laguna over the first three years is much less.