www.boxertrix.com

My company is merging with another on 1 June, and in my new position I can have a company vehicle.

£15K budget for the purchase, all insurance, tax and all petrol paid for. Supposedly for work use, but no-one seems to care what you do with the thing.

I already have a car I like. Apparently the number of wheels on the vehicle is irrelevant.

So . . .

What should I get then?

think Id be tempted with a K1200GT, rapid luxury.

How much are these?

http://www.bikeintro.com/wp-content/bmw_hp2_sport10.jpg

Now your showing off.
If you want two wheels and your firm expects four you might have to compromise and get a Plaggy Rat.
Parky..

In all seriousness what's the trade off cause you'll have to earn it?
Oh and don't forget the company car tax.
Vans are cheaper tax and weekend rubbish tips are easy too!

Parky wrote:Now your showing off.
If you want two wheels and your firm expects four you might have to compromise and get a Plaggy Rat.
Parky..

In all seriousness what's the trade off cause you'll have to earn it?
Oh and don't forget the company car tax.
Vans are cheaper tax and weekend rubbish tips are easy too!

Actually, if I opt out of the scheme I just get more money, but I have to pay income tax on that. Boo.

What does it for me is the paying of the fuel and everything else, it makes is a no brainer. Don't ask me how this all works from a tax point of view. All I know is that the accountants are well paid!

In terms of what to get I really have no idea. I would seriously struggle to justify spending £15K on a bike, just on principal. In fact I would baulk at spending £10K.

The problem is that the partners in the firm simply split all the motoring expenses for the year equally and deduct them from their share of the profits. Therefore, if the other partners have £15K cars, and I have a 5K bike, then I end up paying for their cars, not the other way around. The only way to make it fair is to get something really expensive. Seems daft doesn't it!

The bike would have to be my commuting tool for 4 years, so it would have to be pretty good. I am tempted by a K1200S, but I think it might be a bit boring. I might try one though.

I recently tried a R1200ST, and I really liked it, so I might get one of those. I would have to gold plate it to make it worth £15K.

Even though i intend to buy one,(as well as,not intead of) the K1200s is boreing(very) it's also fast,but as only bike

You might be better off getting a big flash motor and then trading your own car for a bike of choice then!
Watchout though cause a lad at my old job had a company van for four years personal use as well and at first it was free but when the accountant made a mistake with the tax return he had to pay four years back tax or prove his private mileage for all the time he had used it,which he couldn't as he never kept mileage logs and receipts.
I don't want to be like a profit of doom but just share my mates experience.

i would check the tax implications for all possibilities if i were you. if you are in the 40% tax bracket you will get hammered. if you already have the car you like, why don't you opt out and use the cash on a bike and keep the rest if it's a one off payment or if it's monthly payments (the usual company car scenario) get some finance on something you really want.

timbox2 wrote:think Id be tempted with a K1200GT, rapid luxury.

I think I'd prefer to eat Ming Campbell's toenail clippings, but then de gustibus non disputandum est.

Choice of bike is all about what you want to do with it. I would buy an HP2S if I wanted to look flash, an R1200S if I wanted to look flash in all weathers, and a K1200R if I didn't give a damn. But that's just me.

M-o-M

M-O-M You are right there is no accounting for taste.

As a comment on the OT. A friend has for the last few years had, as his company car a Mitsubishi L200 Animal and Now a Nissan Navarra. Both with all the toys, leather, CD player , sat nav a/c etc etc. He pays much less tax than if he had a car. Not sure if the rules recently changed on this but it has saved him lots over the last 6 yor so years.

The rules did change for commercial vehicles because of bosses buying them and only having to pay van tax 500 points on tax code (£110 a year roughly)so two years ago they doubled it and either this april or next unsure which now but if you don't keep records and receipts you get charged for fuel to go to your place of work and back too.But as with everything tax they don't hit you till the year after you've done it so if you cant prove no private use your guilty till proven innocent and owe the full amount.
Still cheaper than a car though,but if bosses weren't using pickups all the tradesmen like me wouldn't have to pay more.
BTW calling at the shop for a buttie or a loaf of bread is classed as private use even if you don't have to deviate off your homeward route so means full tax costs.
Parky..

Man-of-Mystery wrote:

timbox2 wrote:think Id be tempted with a K1200GT, rapid luxury.

I think I'd prefer to eat Ming Campbell's toenail clippings, but then de gustibus non disputandum est.

Choice of bike is all about what you want to do with it. I would buy an HP2S if I wanted to look flash, an R1200S if I wanted to look flash in all weathers, and a K1200R if I didn't give a damn. But that's just me.

M-o-M

Yeah, I was probably thinking more for me, and what the bike would need to be capable of, carrying lots of kit on long journeys( all motorway) and clocking 40-50k a year.

Buy what you fancy. What is the point of being in this position if you get hung up on 'getting the most expensive option possible' instead of just getting what you really want?

(Personally I have managed to get an R1200RT up to £13.5, which would do me fine).

Rev Fred wrote:
What should I get then?

Get a Blackbird and pocket the change

Doesn't work that way!

There are 4, (soon to be 5) partners in the firm, and once a year one partner gets a new vehicle, and in that same year all the partners rack up insurance, tax and petrol costs. All the costs are added up, and simply deducted from the turnover as an expense. As such, all the partners effectively pay an equal amount each year.

Therefore, to make this system work for me, rather than against me, I need to spend the same as the others.