Ex-company cars?!

CKhalvashi

Hey guys,

We’re putting in a bulk order to replace 14 of our company cars (most 18 months old, 37-96k miles) at the beginning of the year, and we’re wondering what to do with the old ones.

We’ve been given a price for the new ones, and have a 35% discount agreed with the relevant dealership (not going to advertise here, but they’ve been fantastic!). We’re in the position where I believe we can get around £1k extra for the cars, plus tax reliefs selling the cars to a family member, then selling them privately. I know this is legal under HMRC laws (accountant recommended about 5 years ago, and been doing so in smaller quantities since).

Any ideas? I can’t be bothered to fill out the same form 12 times (keeping 2 as spares). 4 are ‘sold’ to a local taxi company, 8 to go on the market still, however are advertised in the same office.

Cars are 3 Mondeo, 3 S-Max and the last 2 Galaxies (59 plate, so slightly older) still available, before anyone asks.

Notmyrealname

Hmmm. My Mondeo is ex-company. I bought it with 90k on and have had it 5 years now. Refuses to die.

marlot

£1k extra for filling in a form sounds an OK deal to me. If you really don't want the hassle then ask your accountant to do it!

Hintza

Honestjohn recommends suresell, certainly worth a call if nothing else.

mikey72

Most fleet cars are completely abused, we used to try to kill ours off. I would be inclined to allow a 30 to 50% discount on one compared to a private sale.

reheat

Bought our R reg 2.0ltr Mondeo in Dec 1998 at 9 months old, with 13K on the clock. It now has done 138K, with relatively little doing to it. Most significant issues have been a new clutch and I had to replace the head gasket. Very good car all in all, especially as we tow a caravan which makes it work quite hard. I've always liked Fords, and our Mondeo has been no exception. To be fair though, ours had previously been a bank manager's car, so probably did not get the abuse/mileage that a pool car or salesman's vehicle would typically get.

CKhalvashi

Hintza wrote: »

Honestjohn recommends suresell, certainly worth a call if nothing else.

I’ve given the forms to accountant to complete. I will sign when they’re completed out!

Before anyone asks, according to her and our Head of Legal, this is perfectly legal!

CKhalvashi

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Hmmm. My Mondeo is ex-company. I bought it with 90k on and have had it 5 years now. Refuses to die.

My old ’07’ which we sold with about 150,000 on it at 2 years is still on a taxi rank with about 350k :eek:

This is a Galaxy that’s dual-drivered in the week, but based on the Mondeo platform.

Didn’t want to post this until I’d spoken to Ken to find out what it’s actually done!

patman99

Most ex-company cars and taxi's are worth buying. They will have been serviced to within an inch of their lives as their owners rely on them to make a living.

KTF

Mechanically they should be fine but cosmetically they will (generally) be worse than a private car as the 'owners' have no attachment to it.

Ex-taxi (non-airport run stuff) interiors will be pretty much shot by the time they are sold.

TrickyWicky

I think its luck of the draw really. Someone I know used to say he only bought ex police, post office, taxi and company cars as they're always looked after.

What he didn't realise is that:
The police race them within millimeters of their lives, drive over sump busters, kerbstones, and abuse them left right and centre
RM haul around heavy loads on a daily basis putting strain on the engine
Taxi drivers are grown up boy racers
Company car drivers tend to abuse them because they 'can' and the company picks up the tab. I know a bloke who's smashed up his brand new company car twice within 1 year. Sure, they rebuilt it but its definitely now Cat C.

So.. looking at it like that, are you still sure that buying a ex company car is a good idea?