An Interesting question

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h5djr

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As a follow on from the thread about recommending a car for a wife/girlfriend.

This is a question for those members of the forum who drive a car provided by their employer....

If you were not provided with a company car and had to purchase, insure and run a car from your own money, what do you think you would be currently driving?
 
I opted out of the company car scheme in order that I could buy the Audi. Their scheme was limited to just a few manufacturers and Audi wasn't one of them.

OK the company provide part of the expense but there was never going to be another choice of car.

If I had to buy my own car it would still be the A3.
 
If it were my own money I wouldn't buy a new car and I wouldn't buy a premium brand.

For example,there's no way on earth I would pay £300 for an Audi service when the same engine in a Golf costs much less to service.

I'd probably be driving a used (up to 3 year old,probably) Golf or Focus.

Something humdrum,reliable and cheap to run and spend the rest on motorbikes,hookers and drugs.
 
I run my own company, but I buy all my cars from my own funds. I charge my company mileage, which covers the cost of the car and servicing, as I do about 18k miles a year on business.
 
Bowfer

The same engine in a A3 can be much cheaper to service depending on the dealer. 1st AVS service - £184.24

I'm sure your lovely wife would be quite happy with you spending your money on motorbikes, providing she could have her Mini !. But as for hookers and drugs...
 
[ QUOTE ]
For example,there's no way on earth I would pay £300 for an Audi service when the same engine in a Golf costs much less to service.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hardly. Dealers are independent of each other and thus charge what they want for a service. I've paid upwards of £200 for a basic service in a golf before. (naturally i shan't be returning there!) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

i'll be keeping an eye out for Bowfers Lada any time soon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif I wonder if the Riva L comes with DSG? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I wonder if there is a forum for Ladas
 
couldn't find it, but I found Bowfers Lada! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Lada.jpg
 
[ QUOTE ]
If it were my own money I wouldn't buy a new car and I wouldn't buy a premium brand.

For example,there's no way on earth I would pay £300 for an Audi service when the same engine in a Golf costs much less to service.

I'd probably be driving a used (up to 3 year old,probably) Golf or Focus.

Something humdrum,reliable and cheap to run and spend the rest on motorbikes,hookers and drugs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bowfer, it cost me more to service my Golf 150PD than it does my A3. Same dealership - go figure that one !
 
[ QUOTE ]
couldn't find it, but I found Bowfers Lada! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Lada.jpg


[/ QUOTE ]

Nice cut and shut, but without the shut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

I opted out of having a company car about 5 years so you kinda know my answer to that question.

Sevicing wise the R32 was on variable serivicing and the first service was £250 at 17K miles,
the audi was £192 at 16.5K ish...

I got better serivce from Audi and they found me a courtesy car with very little notice. the car
ready on time and they even do servicing over night.

J.
 
[ QUOTE ]
For example,there's no way on earth I would pay £300 for an Audi service when the same engine in a Golf costs much less to service.

[/ QUOTE ]

So shop around or take it to a Skoda/VW dealer.

There's very little in the servicing costs between VW/Audi.
 
I've only just opted back in to company cars, after 6 years of owning my own, i went a little mad and blew too much/lost too much money on them so for me, depreciation is the key....

so i'd have something similar to what I have now, probably 2.0t or V6 though
 
[ QUOTE ]
If it were my own money I wouldn't buy a new car and I wouldn't buy a premium brand.

For example,there's no way on earth I would pay £300 for an Audi service when the same engine in a Golf costs much less to service.

I'd probably be driving a used (up to 3 year old,probably) Golf or Focus.

Something humdrum,reliable and cheap to run and spend the rest on motorbikes,hookers and drugs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can we have bowfer kicked out please he said the F word!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif
 
Having opted out of a company car back in 2001, and then back in last August I found the only financially viable way if one covered high mileage was something with a higher than normal residual value.....

An A4 Cabrio did the deed admirably /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif, the three Saabs (Saab nut) had previously all lost a load of money /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Oh the banter... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bang.gif

There's zero point in opting out of a company car scheme if you plan on staying with a premium car.

I only 'buy' nice cars because it's someone else's money.

Cars simply don't interest me enough to warrant spending loads of my own dosh on one.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Oh the banter... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bang.gif

There's zero point in opting out of a company car scheme if you plan on staying with a premium car.

I only 'buy' nice cars because it's someone else's money.

Cars simply don't interest me enough to warrant spending loads of my own dosh on one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bowfer,

Lease rates for a 3 series BMW are cheaper than an equivalent Ford Mondeo.......reason ?, retained value after 3 years. You are only ever financing the depreciation, so to say premium brands are expensive is not always the case.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh the banter... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bang.gif

There's zero point in opting out of a company car scheme if you plan on staying with a premium car.

I only 'buy' nice cars because it's someone else's money.

Cars simply don't interest me enough to warrant spending loads of my own dosh on one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bowfer,

Lease rates for a 3 series BMW are cheaper than an equivalent Ford Mondeo.......reason ?, retained value after 3 years. You are only ever financing the depreciation, so to say premium brands are expensive is not always the case.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a little misleading though Japper.

Whilst you're undoubtedly correct that the depreciation figure (percentage) for a Mondeo is more than an Audi/BMW,those figures are always based on the full RRP.

A private buyer will pay much less than RRP for a new Mondeo (sometimes an astonishing amount less,I've seen Mondeos having up to £7k off),so the traditional depreciation figures/calculations are suddenly made null and void.

His Mondeo won't be worth any less in three years,just because he paid less for it.
It'll still be worth £7k (for the sake of argument),so the fact he paid much less for it in the first place makes his depreciation figure much healthier.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh the banter... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bang.gif

There's zero point in opting out of a company car scheme if you plan on staying with a premium car.

I only 'buy' nice cars because it's someone else's money.

Cars simply don't interest me enough to warrant spending loads of my own dosh on one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bowfer,

Lease rates for a 3 series BMW are cheaper than an equivalent Ford Mondeo.......reason ?, retained value after 3 years. You are only ever financing the depreciation, so to say premium brands are expensive is not always the case.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a little misleading though Japper.

Whilst you're undoubtedly correct that the depreciation figure (percentage) for a Mondeo is more than an Audi/BMW,those figures are always based on the full RRP.

A private buyer will pay much less than RRP for a new Mondeo (sometimes an astonishing amount less,I've seen Mondeos having up to £7k off),so the traditional depreciation figures/calculations are suddenly made null and void.

His Mondeo won't be worth any less in three years,just because he paid less for it.
It'll still be worth £7k (for the sake of argument),so the fact he paid much less for it in the first place makes his depreciation figure much healthier.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, if you buy a pre-registered or nearly new......fair point /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif
 
I also opted out of a company car scheme over 5 years ago to buy an Audi so in my case that answers itself.

I guess it will always boil down to what you can afford.
 
The next question is,how do you determine the amount of extra dosh you should get instead of the car ?
The websites I've seen (like 'Cash or Car') aren't much good.
I would be looking for an after-tax amount of roughly the monthly payments (approx £350 per month for my car) + a wee bit extra for insurance/running costs.
So I would be looking at an after-tax figure of between £450-£500 before I would even think about doing without the car.
Add that to the tax I would save (approx £140 a month) and I would be substantially better off each month.

That's the bit that always makes me laugh actually.

When I speak of doing away with my company car,people always say "yeah you'll save the tax".

What...£140 a month ?

Whoopee !

I want a STACK more than that ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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