Business Expenses

LTL

penthouse89 wrote: »

My company won't provide a vehicle, sadly, because of my age. Anyone using a company vehicle would have to be over 25 - and I'm 23.

I'm just wondering if anyone can suggest how I can continue and not remain out of pocket for half of the month. It also doesn't help that my costs are neither predictable nor regular, for example, I might do 500 miles in one week on business, then 150-200 a week thereafter.

It also means I need to keep a certain amount of money aside every month to use for business - a float. I don't know if this is right - but it doesn't seem like it. I shouldn't have to float my own expenses, should I?

Completely normal in any course of business. They cannot pay you for variable costs that you haven't even happened yet. It's done once a month to keep costs of the business down.

How about you save a few hundred £££ of your wage up and run all your expenses from a seperate account... should be able to do that in a month of two.

A little unsure what you're OP is for; just a rant maybe? Company don't need to do anything for you - you should be looking to reduce your outgoings if you can't cope.

InsideInsurance

penthouse89 wrote: »

I'm finding a set of tyres is lasting around 5 months at just under £600 a set

Five months is circa 11,500 miles. On a front wheel drive car you really should be getting around 20,000 miles from the front tyres and 40,000 from the rears (see http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/tyre-life-and-age.html)

Based on £150 a corner you're evidently not buying budget tyres and my low profile 17" tyres are about the same and get around 30,000 form the front and 50,000 from the rears

I'd get it checked why you're burning through tyres so quickly - realise this isnt the main question but cutting down the outgoings is obviously going to help.

You could ask if the company could give you an interest free loan which will be clawed back when you leave but I suspect your problems are more about money management than actually the amount of money coming in and so this would only provide short term relief.

WestonDave

The other thing is that its really only a one off problem. If you are putting in £200 of petrol and getting paid £400 for it, then OK in the first month you are £200 down until you get paid, at which point you have that months money and next months (assuming none of the major bills arise in that time like insurance or tyres). So if as suggested you run your expense account maybe in a seperate bank account possibly with a seperate credit card you will probably find it a lot easier than amalgamating it with everything else, spending all the £400 when you get it and then struggling because you need tyres etc.

Of course the company should be paying promptly, but admin isn't always. You can resolve your own cashflow issues by better management of your cash levels.

BillTrac

If your company won't provide a company vehicle as you state, what about a car allowance? Ok, it's taxeable, and they can reduce your mileage payment but at least you have a regular payment every month.

If your car is vital to your job it may be worth asking about this.

In my industry all the companies I have worked for who provide a company vehicle are happy enough with drivers over 21, otherwise they wouldn't get half the engineers they need.

penthouse89

It's been costing this much for a few months - however I have indeed had an insurance renewal, a replacement exhaust, tyres and a few other costs, so perhaps this has compacted. On paper, my income in addition to the expenses are more than sufficient against my outgoings, it is cash flow that causes the issue, when expenses are repaid a week or sometimes more than when they're supposed to be, budgeting goes out of the window. My salary isn't huge, or even large, it's well below average, my other costs are not unreasonable and I certainly don't live beyond my means. I'm somewhat baffled at the moment as to how my company can ask me to pay out a significant amount of my wages for their benefit then wait six weeks to pay it back - I also have business purchases to fund, but the mileage payments really left as to whether I'm getting shafted or not..

penthouse89

BillTrac wrote: »

If your company won't provide a company vehicle as you state, what about a car allowance? Ok, it's taxeable, and they can reduce your mileage payment but at least you have a regular payment every month.

If your car is vital to your job it may be worth asking about this.

In my industry all the companies I have worked for who provide a company vehicle are happy enough with drivers over 21, otherwise they wouldn't get half the engineers they need.

The car allowance option may be a viable one, I'll certainly ask.

The rest of the guys in the office don't see the problem, mostly because A) they run small diesels, they earn more than I do and C) they don't cover half the miles on business that I do.

joolsybools

Maybe you need to look for another job?

penthouse89

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Five months is circa 11,500 miles. On a front wheel drive car you really should be getting around 20,000 miles from the front tyres and 40,000 from the rears (see

Based on £150 a corner you're evidently not buying budget tyres and my low profile 17" tyres are about the same and get around 30,000 form the front and 50,000 from the rears

I'd get it checked why you're burning through tyres so quickly - realise this isnt the main question but cutting down the outgoings is obviously going to help.

You could ask if the company could give you an interest free loan which will be clawed back when you leave but I suspect your problems are more about money management than actually the amount of money coming in and so this would only provide short term relief.

With regards to the tyres - it's a heavy car and it pounds a particularly unforgiving section of the A1(M), but that's what I've been getting.

I took it for an alignment and the fitter actually asked if I use that particular stretch of motorway, as it causes this type of wear on many cars. He sees it a lot.

I would never put Ditchfinders on a car I spend so much time behind the wheel of.

SueC_2

penthouse89 wrote: »

My car is business insured for my own peace of mind.

Er, no, it's business insured to meet a legal requirement!

To help you manage the phasing of money-in / money out - get yourself a credit card, use it only for fuel, time the statement to come in at the 'correct' time of month, pay the balance off in full every month, and job done - you're getting free credit to cover the cost (plus whatever loyalty points etc you incur).

If you haven't already, I'd also recommend shopping around a bit for your insurance - I've never paid more than an additional £50 to add business mileage, and I've had some insurers add it on for free. Admittedly I'm a wee bit (;)) older than you though, so that may help.

As a general rule, a mileage allowance makes the driver a profit (although admittedly nowhere near the profit it generated a few years ago when fuel was so much less expensive). If it doesn't, there's either a problem with your car's running costs, or the way you're managing the payments.

Ultimately both are within your control, but if you really can't make it work, you'd need to tell your employer that. Presuming that the requirement to run your own car for business isn't a contractual requirement, they would then need to find another way of working - either give you a role that doesn't involve travel, allow you to travel on public transport or provide a pool car.

You might not win yourself any friends though, so be careful how you handle it.

GRM

Can you use a credit card to manage the cashflow? I have one that I dedicate just to expenses.

My employer pays expenses twice a month - maybe something you could request?