Sole trader business/personal vehicle

gardendude

Hi
After a working lifetime on PAYE I'm taking a relatively early retirement later this year. From April 2026 I'll be going self-employed as a sole trader and I'm just trying now to mentally get some ducks in a row. 

I will be doing very local garden maintenance and lawn care. I can't fit a lawnmower, scarifier, strimmer, hedge trimmers and loads of garden waste in the back of my Golf hatchback so I'll need a van or pickup for the business 4 days a week. 

Once a week I will continue to visit my elderly father 130 miles away. 

Although the vehicle will be used 80/20 for business in terms of time and is an absolute necessity for the business, the mileage is going to be weighted 80/20 towards personal use.

So my question is, when it comes to getting some tax relief on the purchase and ongoing running costs, will I be screwed for the massive personal use even though I'm only getting the vehicle because I need it for the business?
I realise that I have to pay taxes in full for the personal mileage - I'm mostly wondering about eligibility for offsetting the vehicle purchase cost against profits and using my AIA.

Bookworm225

there are only 2 ways to deal with a vehicle:
Expenses if you're self-employed: Car, van and travel expenses - GOV.UK

Either claim the flat rate pence per mile for each business mile logged in it ("simplified" expenses)

Or you claim actual costs but MUST apportion them between business and personal use. On the info you provide that would appear to be 80 personal 20 business. You should do it on mileage, you cannot do it on a notional time split, be that number of days working or time travelled as the latter statistic cannot be checked, whereas mileage can.

If the only reason for getting the vehicle is because you need it for business then 100% of its usage (miles driven) would be business related. The fact you apparently cannot justify owning a car and a van does not give you grounds for claiming more than the actual business use you make of it.

gardendude

Thanks. That's what my initial research had suggested. I was hoping that there might be a more nuanced approach than simple mileage where a piece of equipment is a business necessity and is being used 80% for business in terms of hours.
Is the application of business/personal mileage the same in terms of looking at purchase price as an offsettable business investment?

Bookworm225

treatment of purchase cost explained in the link
these are rules, not nuances