And company car drivers get hit again with a 3% rise is this from 2016/17 or later? This is of course on top of increasing car prices.
I am seriously thinking of giving up the company car. I do about 20k business miles a year and would get £6k cash for not taking the car. With the BIK tax saving and tax back on the difference between the company fuel rate and 45p / 25p rate I should be able to run a decent car at a saving too!?
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>> And company car drivers get hit again with a 3% rise is this from 2016/17
>> or later?
Goes up for petrol, but down for diesel, if I understand the figures on comcar.co.uk/newcar/companycar/taxcalc/g1select.cfm correctly.
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The increase in BIK rates has been known about for a while. Because diesel must now be Euro VI compliant, the additional 2% charge for diesels is being removed.
The rates went up 2% this year too.
The link above has the rates for BIK for 2014/2015. So it's not use for checking 2015/2016 nor 2016/2017 (yet).
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 19 Mar 15 at 12:32
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>> The link above has the rates for BIK for 2014/2015. So it's not use for
>> checking 2015/2016 nor 2016/2017 (yet).
When you get the figures on a model it gives 3 sets, the last one being for 2016/17.
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Perhaps. But what happens if your own car is stolen, in an "your fault" accident or breaks down?
Presumably you may then be in the world of expensive rental cars?
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>> Perhaps. But what happens if your own car is stolen, in an "your fault" accident
>> or breaks down?
I never had the option of a firm's car. The idea though of something new, fully funded except for private miles and replaced every four years for a modest BIK charge seemed quite appealing.
Might be different on 40% tax though.
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>> I never had the option of a firm's car.
>>
Nor me.
>> The idea though of something new, fully funded except for private miles and replaced every four years for a modest BIK charge seemed quite appealing.
>>
Snr guy in the company had his car written off. He said with a smile, I just made a call and a new car was with me within two hours. Now that is a nice option.
>>
>> Might be different on 40% tax though.
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The car is still a no-brainer in tax terms. What is a much less clear benefit now is company provided fuel which actually costs me more in BIK a month than the car itself does.
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>> The car is still a no-brainer in tax terms. What is a much less clear
>> benefit now is company provided fuel which actually costs me more in BIK a month
>> than the car itself does.
>>
Wow DP I'm surprised you still take that - or isn't it 'optional'? My company phased it out 10 years ago because the take up was becoming so low (and I'll bet it saved them a penny or two).
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As I recall the Fuel Card was only worthwhile if your private mileage was over 24,000 p.a.
Which pretty much meant only for people with a long commute.
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You only get a fully funded fuel card with us (or you did) over a certain grade. I think you could turn it down. I know I would because I do nowhere near enough private miles to be better off with one. I'd have to nearly triple my mileage and I currently have no daily commute. And even if I went to the nearest office it would still not add enough miles.
If I were DP I'd look into getting rid - unless it's forced upon you.
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I almost exactly break even on the fuel. No better. I'm doing about 18k a year, almost all of it private. Let's say 1k of it is business use (in reality it's probably nearer half that), leaving 17k private.
The car does, for argument's sake 50 mpg so at 17,000 miles that's 340 gallons of diesel at about £5.30 a gallon at current prices. So, say £1800 worth of juice burnt in a year. Fuel benefit on the current car for 2015/16 is £1768.
At the moment, it's nice because if we do decide to drive to the coast with the kids in the summer, or do a day out somewhere distant, we don't even need to think about it. But if the BIK goes up much more, it won't be worth it. Equally if the long promised home working policy comes in at work, and I'm not trekking to the office 5 days a week, that will also be a reason to can it.
At the moment it's a yes, but with a careful eye on the numbers.
Last edited by: DP on Sun 22 Mar 15 at 13:56
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>> At the moment, it's nice because if we do decide to drive to the coast
>> with the kids in the summer, or do a day out somewhere distant, we don't
>> even need to think about it.
Just to but in, I've not ever been in company car world, but can you do as many miles as you want with fuel card and nothing to pay bar the tax?
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>>but can you do as many miles as you want with fuel card and nothing to pay bar the tax?
Normally, yes.
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Thanks, sounds a good deal if you are commuting far.
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A long commute makes quite a difference to the value of a company car and the fuel card.
60 miles each way = 25,000 per year.
An extra 25,000 miles on a private car or a private fuel bill can be punishing. Yet under 60 miles on a motorway isn't that unlikely or difficult.
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In my corporate days there was no card or standard system for paying expenses. Whether using a company car or my own, I could submit expense claims to the company for petrol, car hire, food, hotels and so on. I took my cue from marketing and advertising executives who were very well cared for. Market researchers whose work was far more intellectually challenging were much less favoured.
But the company was relaxed about the claims. Can't remember any of them being queried.
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>> >>but can you do as many miles as you want with fuel card and nothing
>> to pay bar the tax?
>>
>> Normally, yes.
>>
Yes, in our case too. The policy states the company will cover "reasonable" private mileage, although as far as I am aware that has never been quantified. One of the guys in our team does 150 miles a day commuting and that gets covered.
My ideal scenario would be to be allowed to work from home 2 or 3 days a week which would make the decision easy, save the company and me a fortune, and improve my quality of life to boot. Everyone would win. Sadly, while we make a lot of money selling the technology to allow this, and most of our jobs don't require a daily office presence, our senior management isn't ready to trust us to do it ourselves yet. Ironic really. :-)
Hopefully the current serious focus on costs will make this attractive. Taking away fuel benefit would save the company tens of thousands of pounds a month, but will annoy people. But if they did it while offering people the chance to work some of the time from home, it would actually be very popular, and management knows it.
Last edited by: DP on Sun 22 Mar 15 at 17:06
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I suppose it does have it's down side, you have to be doing alot mileage. Not my thing at all, I think 12k a year is a lot of commuting and I only did that for a year.
'Taking away fuel benefit would save the company tens of thousands of pounds a month'
I thought they were rare these days as personal ones ? We have them but they aren't personal ones, they are used as fleet cards used by anyone that needs them, held centrally.
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I try not to be in the office more than a couple of days a month. I'm far far more productive when working from home or out on the road. Office work is a dreadful time robber. You get caught up in "meetings" which rarely seem to achieve much other than to generate an agreement to have another one, or you get collared into conversations with colleagues about football trivia if it's the men, or having the worst points and characteristics of anyone unwise enough not to be in earshot mentioned to you in hushed tones if it's the women. You get get drawn into whatever charity event is on the telly this week and invited to wear something red or have to "sponsor" someone's kid in a swimathon to raise money for their scout group.
We have more than enough people who call "work" peering at screens adding up numbers and writing or filling in spreadsheets without me joining in more than necessary.
Someone has to make sure our field team are actually generating some new numbers to add up and you don't do that by standing gassing by the water cooler.
;-)
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>>standing gassing by the water cooler.
I am a big fan of gassing in the office. I think it essential.
It just shouldn't stand in the way of your [or the company's] goals.
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>> >>standing gassing by the water cooler.
>>
>> I am a big fan of gassing in the office. I think it essential.
>>
>> It just shouldn't stand in the way of your [or the company's] goals.
>>
Standing by the water cooler - no such thing back then :-) Early in my " professional" life the company club was in the same building.
There was no demarcation on rank or role. All agreed that it made coordination between departments much better.
Lunchtimes were good but with all commuting on public transport the evenings were also good.
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>>the company club was in the same building.
A million years ago I was a welder and at one point worked in a factory. There was a social club, open after work every day, but on a Friday we finished at 12.
11:00 Wage packet.
12:01 Canteen.
12:31 Social Club
15:31 Piston broke.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 22 Mar 15 at 23:44
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>>15:31 Piston broke.
Hehe! .. you've brought back mammeries for me there. I used to be piston broke most Friday nights back in the 70's.
I used to work in a factory in Woolwich, visiting every pub between there and the Walworth Rd,come Friday night.
One night, Steve and I, having had a skin full, decided to hitch-hike from Walworth to Wales, and get back for work the next morning - we did actually manage it too. Boy did we look rough though.
Happy days :o}
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2015 Budget. Impact on motoring. - henry k
