Drivers of expensive cars : what do they do for a living ? ! ?

[sgtkate]

You can't claim for mileage AND lease your own car to your own company (in fact I've never heard of that last bit).

 

There is no tax advantage to buying a car through your own company, hasn't been for a long time.

 

---------- Post added 15-12-2015 at 11:12 ----------

 

 

Finding £400/day in Sheffield can be a bit of a struggle actually.

It's possible, but I'd say that the average rate for an experienced Java developer is probably £350.

It's a little higher in Leeds, it's easier to argue for £400/day there.

 

That said, you can find 400+ in Sheffield, and there are still contracts wanting to pay 300/day in Leeds.

 

 

I get them in my inbox fairly often, but I'm happier working for a company and the security that brings at the moment. I've not looked into other fields, but mine pays that regularly, or would if only I have the guts to take the leap!

[Cyclone]

Don't believe everything you see in an advert from an agent. Some of them are just fishing for CVs and others exaggerate or quote the absolute top rate a client will pay, rather than a realistic figure to actually go in at if you want to get the work.

[sgtkate]

Don't believe everything you see in an advert from an agent. Some of them are just fishing for CVs and others exaggerate or quote the absolute top rate a client will pay, rather than a realistic figure to actually go in at if you want to get the work.

 

I am well aware of that. But thanks

[foxy lady]

Unless that someone is dead and you're asking their current-day inheritor, then if that someone could afford to buy it in 1965 and somehow still alive today, I very much doubt it matters much to them 50 years later

 

 

I wouldn't say that. My grandfather bought a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 in 69/70 for around £1200, which he tells me was the price of a new Vauxhall at the time. Bought from Hoffmans on Eccleshall Road and registered OKA1, which was a bit of a novelty. He ran it as his main car for quite a few years before using it mainly for high days and holidays. It even came out as my wedding car which saved a few quid.

It did have an engine rebuild at one time as well as a respray. But over all certainly a lot less than buying new cars every 10 years.

It did sell recently for an obscene amount of cash, which provided him with a nice retirement income. He is still motoring quite happily, and is somehow still alive.

 

Indeed John Harrison from TC Harrisons did buy a Ferrari GTO around the same time. Registration TCH101. John was doing OK last time I saw him. I think Chris Evans bought his GTO.

Edited December 15, 2015 by foxy lady

[tzijlstra]

There is no tax advantage to buying a car through your own company, hasn't been for a long time.

 

There might not be a direct tax advantage, but you can declare the car and associated costs as a cost to the company, thus having to pay less corporate tax because you are effectively lowering your taxable profit.

 

There is also a scheme whereby companies can pay employees X AND offer them a personal car allowance (not sure that is what it is called) that allows the employee to off-set car costs to the company, effectively doing the same and leading to the company having a lower PAYE bill. Quite popular these days as well.

[Cyclone]

Yes, you can. But you then have to pay for the benefit in kind.

 

So there is no advantage. For a personally owned company. Larger companies, even just SME's might find that the maths works out differently.

 

Trust me, I've checked.

 

---------- Post added 15-12-2015 at 12:20 ----------

 

Just had this email land in my inbox. I've trimmed out some of the extraneous detail

 

I am currently recruiting for a Project Manager to manage projects blah blah.

The role is based in Nottingham, is permanent, as is paying up to £80,000 dependant on experience.

 

What you'll be doing

 

Essential skills include:

Some skills

 

Desired skills include:

Some skills

 

Blah, blah, sell the job The successful candidate will receive up to £80,000 with benefits.

 

Two project managers in the family and you'd have no difficulty running an expensive (50k+) car, and a second (10 - 20k) family car.

 

And that's not contract, that's a perm salary. Contract project manager, 500 - 600/day.

[L00b]

I wouldn't say that.

Based on your anecdote alone, indeed you wouldn't.

 

And had my Dad kept the Porsche 356 coupe, which he bought for the price of a tired 2nd hand 2CV in the 70s (the oil crisis context might have helped ), I'd have a similar anecdote to echo yours.

 

Sadly, the evidentiary value of such anecdotes is precisely zero: the rule is that most everyday people (celebrities à la Chris Evans and other wealthy types aside) do not buy expensive cars (within the meaning of the OP...or indeed proper supercars) now or at any time before, as their retirement fund in 4 or 5 decades' time.

 

E.g. currently I'm only keeping our Mk1 MX5 because it's still more fun to drive that most anything else I've driven (including the Cooper S) and, after approx. 15 years of ownership, we just can't bring ourselves to part with it...and after all those years, when all the sums are done, besides regular servicing and new tyres as and when (plus a new cambelt as a preventative at 45kmiles 7 years ago - it's on 85k now), it still owes us nothing more extravagant than a new roof 7 years ago and cosmetic work on the sills 2 or 3 years ago.

 

It might appreciate lots, it might not, we don't care one bit...but an external onlooker might ponder in 50 years' time whether it was extravagant or not, at the end of the day any reply -except our own- would just be hindsight

[truman]

There might not be a direct tax advantage, but you can declare the car and associated costs as a cost to the company, thus having to pay less corporate tax because you are effectively lowering your taxable profit.

 

There is also a scheme whereby companies can pay employees X AND offer them a personal car allowance (not sure that is what it is called) that allows the employee to off-set car costs to the company, effectively doing the same and leading to the company having a lower PAYE bill. Quite popular these days as well.

 

But the employee will pay tax on the extra money....

[denlin]

First giggle of the day!

 

Whale halo and thank you Mr Black. Your Christmas jingle allus cheers me up

[Justin Smith]

One thing slightly over looked on the thought that a £100k Merc is only worth £10k in 10 years is that it still has a £100k car service bill in 10 years time and its a lot older so more will go wrong with it.

 

It can be cheaper to run a nearly new one with a warranty than to buy an old one and be paying through the nose to maintain it.

 

In my experience, and I know a fair amount about cars, that`s a common misconception that probably does more to sell new (or almost new) cars than anything other than reg plate vanity. The cost of depreciation on most cars (and certainly any car under 5 years old) far out weighs the cost of servicing and repairing it. So long as you don`t buy "a lemon"* you really shouldn`t need to spend that much maintaining a car, particularly if you know a decent reasonably priced garage. What`s more there`s no reason why you`d spend that much more on servicing and maintaining it when it`s 10 years old than when it`s 3 years old.

 

* If you want to avoid this buy from a car from a dealer with a 12month warranty. We bought a 5 year old Yaris from Burrow`s in Barnsley which had about 35,000m on it and a 12 month warranty. From memory it "only" cost about £5000. Burrow`s after sales car has been good (not that they`ve had to do much ! ) and I`d buy from them again.

 

---------- Post added 15-12-2015 at 13:34 ----------

 

I need to correct you here, 25K is 1,5K below the national average, add to that the fact that many households consist of two earners these days and it is likely that quite a few people around the country live of something over 40K a year.

 

Going back to the subjectivity of what is an expensive car, most cars on our roads are either company cars or family cars, company cars account for the grey steel lease-fleet you see on motorways (Think Audi, BMW, Merc, Jag etc) - which I suppose is what the OP is talking about, family cars account for what you see in your local roads (Think Ford, Renault, Peugeot etc). Most family cars I would think are bought on private loans or cash and therefore tend to be 'cheaper'.

 

Again, at that point the subjectivity comes into play, we drive a 7 year old Volvo that was 2 years old and cost us 16,5K when we bought it, a lot of money for most people, but to us it makes sense to do it that way, we save money on a regular basis so we can drive a car we like and because we do we end up paying considerably less in monthly costs than Joe Bloggs down the road who buys a (bog standard) new Ford Focus on finance every two years.

 

We are looking at replacing it in a few months and got told our car is worth between 6 and 7K as a trade-in, so in five years we have spent 2K a year on devaluation, whereas Joe Bloggs is likely to have spend more than that on devaluation PLUS a significant amount on interest.

 

So what is expensive? You tell me!

 

Anyone who buys a new car every two years is either an idiot, or loaded, or obsessed.

 

As for your car, seven years old, that`s nearly brand new ! I`d keep that for at least another 5 years ! ! You can fly business class with the money you`ve saved ! ! !

Edited December 15, 2015 by Justin Smith