Company car opt out

keef30

bobthedambuilder wrote: »

Can you ask for a van to be provided instead of a car?

I probably could do down the line, however they own the car - and would have to sell it or realocate it to someone else (which is'nt easy).

But of course I would prefer to do all my company miles in a car than a van.

The other problem is that i'm fairly senior in the firm, and i'm not sure what customers would make of me turning up in van.

BoGoF

All you can do is ask them then, but it's not just a case of them saying ok then and that's all there is to it. They would need to change insurance and take steps to ensure there was no private use. Maybe they just don't want the hassle.

keef30

BoGoF wrote: »

All you can do is ask them then, but it's not just a case of them saying ok then and that's all there is to it. They would need to change insurance and take steps to ensure there was no private use. Maybe they just don't want the hassle.

They do all this for 100's of van users at the moment.... i cant see why not.

1. Fit a tracker
2. Get me to sign an agreement saying i wont use it for private use...

I dont think the insurance change would be difficult - van users can opt out / and opt in of private use.

But them saying i cannot opt out becuase tax rules do not allow it in anyway, is not correct - do you agree ?

BoGoF

The reasons they give are incorrect, yes.

But the legislation regards van's is still different, even if the odd private journey was made it can be disregarded so in that respect the monitoring aspect isn't as important as it is with a car.

Just also bear in mind that your definition of business mileage HMRC's could differ - get it wrong and it's not just you that suffers, your employer does to.

keef30

BoGoF wrote: »

The reasons they give are incorrect, yes.

But the legislation regards van's is still different, even if the odd private journey was made it can be disregarded so in that respect the monitoring aspect isn't as important as it is with a car.

Just also bear in mind that your definition of business mileage HMRC's could differ - get it wrong and it's not just you that suffers, your employer does to.

Why should the incedental private use rules be any different for a car or a van ? Not that it would worry me and i would not use at all for private use..a tracker would verify that anyway.

If I was commuting to a place of work (ie the office) each day in the car, then that would be private use... but i dont, i go to different locations all over the UK - where ever my work is that day (as van users do), or i work from home. My work base is my home.

getmore4less

Not sure your problem.

What is it about the clamp down on private mileage that is the problem.

How much personal mileage are they prepared to allow.

zygurat789

No car benefit would mean that the car was left at work when you went home and picked up again when you next arrived, Home to work is private.
Far better to choose your own car nect time, something with a very low CO2 figure, a very "green" car.
If petrol for more than one private mile is provided you will pay tax at the appropriate percentage for your car on £18,800, typically on around £4,700 ie
£940 at 20% or 1880 ar 40%. This would be eqivalent to either 150 or 300 gallons or (say) 4500 or 9000 miles. If your private mileage is above this figure you're on a winner.

keef30

zygurat789 wrote: »

No car benefit would mean that the car was left at work when you went home and picked up again when you next arrived, Home to work is private.

This is wrong - if my place of work in my job description is my home, which it is.

I work from home 1, 2 or 3 days a week, then at various locations all around the country the rest.. Inlcluding a trip into the office probably 1 day a week, often on the way to another location.

See the example case i gave on the HRMC website....

keef30

getmore4less wrote: »

Not sure your problem.

What is it about the clamp down on private mileage that is the problem.

How much personal mileage are they prepared to allow.

We dont know yet... my own circumstances are that we only have one car in the household, the company car. At the moment i can use it however i like for private journeys... and within reason can do as many miles as i want in it, go wherever i want in it... etc..

Its looking like this is going to change, for example i expect they will object to me leaving the car at the pub every friday night!!

In which case i will probably be forced into getting a private car anyway - and i'll still end up paying car benifit tax for a car i cannot use for what i want.

The fact that i live in rural area does'nt help, and that i have loads of private journeys too - its a 20mile round trip to get a bottle of milk after 5pm in the week !

The other thing they are asking is for us to record all private milage in detail, which i also object too. Fair enough for me to record the actual mileage - but where i go and what i do in my private time is my buisness not theirs. I'm not even sure if what they are asking us to do is actually legal - i hav'nt got onto that one yet.

zygurat789

keef30 wrote: »

This is wrong - if my place of work in my job description is my home, which it is.

I work from home 1, 2 or 3 days a week, then at various locations all around the country the rest.. Inlcluding a trip into the office probably 1 day a week, often on the way to another location.

See the example case i gave on the HRMC website....

No it's not.
Since you work at home your car is left at work.#

Problem is no one will believe you don't have any private use if you have it at home and you only have one car.