Company car on furlough

rubbishteach

I'm currently furloughed but still have my company car for personal use. (As  usual I am paying for fuel and being taxed on the benefit of having the car.)  My employer says I cannot take the car to be serviced / MOTed as this could be seen as 'work' and therefore contravene furlough rules. I see maintenance of the car as essential for its safety so am not happy with this ruling. Any advice?

Fire_Fox

HMRC are lords of the job retention (furlough) scheme, and lords of the company car scheme. Could be why your employer is treading carefully.  

Is it standard practice for you to take the company car to be serviced/ MOT test and pick it up again? If yes is this usually done during work hours and/ or it written down anywhere that this task is your responsibility? If yes then the task does seem to be part of your job role.

If the car seems to be running fine, it is not unreasonable to assume that it is safe to drive. However if the MOT has lapsed it is not legal for you to drive the car other than directly to the test centre. If it is still within the MOT you could drop the car and paperwork off at your place of employment, and stop being taxed on the benefit for a while.

Another way round it *might* be for you to book a day of annual leave, and for you to sort the car situation that day. Then you would be performing that task in your own hours not furloughed hours. But I suspect that would only wash if you are on flexible furlough thereafter.

prowla

You could get the garage to collect the car for its MOT.

OTOH, if you look at the rules of furlough it says (to paraphrase) you can't engage in gainful work for the company; I would think that MOT-ing a car which is available for you personal use would in no way be deemed that.

If the MOT is due before 1st August, then it will have been automatically extended anyway.

Galloglass

What does the car hire/purchase scheme say about regular maintenance?

It could be that the company could be in default of a finance agreement were they to fail to have it maintained regularly. If so, a non-furloughed employee could arrange to have it done - in line with any finance or manufacturers specification.