Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:59 am
I have recently been given a promotion at work and as part of the package am given an allowance, paid in my salary to lease a company car. I can either do this through the company or take the money and provide a car "suitable for company business" (there are clauses here such as must be a 4 door, capable of carrying 4 passengers) using the money. In summary I have two options:
Option 1. Lease a vehicle via the company scheme using the monthly sum which will cover a lease and insurance and all the service fees for the vehicle. Could you give me the consequences for these circumstances with my IP:
a) If I sold my current car would the IVA company take the money I got for that?
b) Would my IP company adjust my agreement at my annual review to remove any car related benefits e.g. maintenance fees off me?
c) If I left the company I would incur fees for terminating a lease early plus then be without a car - I don't know how I would cover these costs and purchase a new car if you answer yes to question a) above.
Option 2.
Use the monthly amount given to me to fund myself buying a car privately.
a) My insurance costs would increase as I'd need to get insurance for business use on the car - my annual review isn't until next year - how could I get this considered now?
b) I would need to save the allowance to get a car new as obviously I could not use credit to fund the purchase privately. This would take at least 10 mths - after that would they just take the allowance off me, even though the vehicle I would buy would not be new, I would have to purchase second hand and possibly need to replace more regularly than if I had a new vehicle. Plus, I would obviously have higher maintenance costs as the vehicle would be doing much more mileage.
The added complication to this is that I am also at risk of redundancy as my company is going through a re-structure, therefore the first option may see me being left without a car anyway.
Option 1. Lease a vehicle via the company scheme using the monthly sum which will cover a lease and insurance and all the service fees for the vehicle. Could you give me the consequences for these circumstances with my IP:
a) If I sold my current car would the IVA company take the money I got for that?
b) Would my IP company adjust my agreement at my annual review to remove any car related benefits e.g. maintenance fees off me?
c) If I left the company I would incur fees for terminating a lease early plus then be without a car - I don't know how I would cover these costs and purchase a new car if you answer yes to question a) above.
Option 2.
Use the monthly amount given to me to fund myself buying a car privately.
a) My insurance costs would increase as I'd need to get insurance for business use on the car - my annual review isn't until next year - how could I get this considered now?
b) I would need to save the allowance to get a car new as obviously I could not use credit to fund the purchase privately. This would take at least 10 mths - after that would they just take the allowance off me, even though the vehicle I would buy would not be new, I would have to purchase second hand and possibly need to replace more regularly than if I had a new vehicle. Plus, I would obviously have higher maintenance costs as the vehicle would be doing much more mileage.
The added complication to this is that I am also at risk of redundancy as my company is going through a re-structure, therefore the first option may see me being left without a car anyway.