An employee's guide to the company car
When it comes to acquiring your new company car, hopefully your employer will be flexible and allow a certain amount of choice with regard to the Manufacturer, model and extras. Most company cars are now funded through Contract Hire and many companies are coming to realise that for a relatively small difference in the monthly rental, employees can be driving a car with which they are completely satisfied. After all employees do change their jobs simply to get a better company car, so under the circumstances this new approach by companies seems sensible.
Firstly it can be a good idea to look at a vehicle's CO2 Emissions, because this affects the amount of tax you are going to pay. If your employer has given you a maximum sum to spend, which equates to a monthly Contract Hire rental, look at a whole range of vehicles. Simply because one car is more expensive than another to buy, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to be more expensive on Contract Hire.
This may seem strange but it is all to do with residual values; the amount of rental a company charges for a car is strongly influenced by what the car is going to be worth at the end of the term. This is why people are often pleasantly surprised when they look at the Contract Hire rates for BMW and Audi. They are both high quality, superbly engineered cars that are reliable and relatively inexpensive to run, therefore they have strong second hand values.
When it comes to adding extras to your company car, again one shouldn't automatically assume that because an extra such as metallic paint adds £400 to the price of the new car, that it will be lot more expensive in terms of monthly rental, sometimes it doesn't add anything to the rental. This again is to do with residual values; there are some cars that are much more sought after as second hand vehicles if they have metallic paint, and this of course is reflected in second hand values.
As to whether your new vehicle should be diesel or petrol depends on various factors. Initially make sure that the monthly rental is indeed more expensive for the diesel model over the petrol version. It usually is but there are exceptions. The amount of miles you are going to drive is also a factor; there are various schools of thought but as a general rule it is not considered worth the extra cost that most manufacturers charge for diesel, unless you are doing 18,000 miles or more a year.
Should you opt for diesel and it is the first time you will be driving a diesel car, it can be worth finding some way of reminding yourself that your car runs on diesel before refilling. You could for example attach something to the petrol cap to jog your memory. Filling a diesel car with petrol can be a disaster. Some people only realize what they have done when the car grinds to a halt five minutes later. It can ruin the engine and if the Dealership that supplied the car, or the manufacturer become aware of what has happened it is likely to invalidate the warranty.
Depending on the terms of your contract of employment, your employer could hold you liable for the cost. That cost could be very significant; there could be the cost of possibly rebuilding the engine and the cost of future problems with a car that no longer has a warranty. If the vehicle is on two-year Contract Hire agreement the company concerned may look for compensation, because they will have to sell the car without one year remaining on the manufacturers warranty.
It can be important to look at the Euro NCAP rating of the car you are considering, this tells you how safe you may be in the event of an accident. If you have children this can be even more important to check. You may find some of the results quite surprising; there are some cars that many of think of as poor quality, actually turn out to have a 5 star rating. It is however important to bear in mind that the weight of the vehicle is a major factor; you cannot expect to crash a heavy four wheel drive vehicle into a small family saloon and for the family saloon to fair better, whatever their respective safety ratings.
In summary, when looking to acquire a new company car, check the vehicles CO2 Emissions, so as to be aware of the tax you will pay and it can be a good idea to check the Euro NCAP rating. If your company uses a broker to source their vehicles and assuming your company has a flexible policy on company cars, they will normally be happy to advise you of the vehicles that are within your budget, the items that come as standard and the cost of any other extras you may require. If your new car is diesel and you are not used to driving a diesel vehicle, find a way of reminding yourself when you are in the petrol station. If it does happen, don't try to restart the engine. There are companies that will come out, pick the vehicle up and take it to their depot to flush out the tank.
Enjoy your new company car and drive safely. Many accidents on the road involve employees driving on company business. There are many way of being safer on the road, there are the obvious ones are cutting down your speed and not to use you're mobile whilst driving. There is something else you could try, as rushing to meetings causes lots of accidents on the road. If you have a meeting that is some distance away, work out how long it is going to take you and then leave an extra forty five minutes, take a file with you that you can work on in the car, once you arrive. It is amazing how often when using this system; you arrive just in time for your meeting or with only a few minutes to spare. Try it; it saves arriving at a meeting stressed and it could save your life.
Finally if the car you really want and will make you feel good driving, is outside of the budget, consider paying the difference yourself. Obviously this depends on personal circumstances but if there is not a great deal of difference in the Contract Hire rental, bearing in mind the amount of time you may spend in the car and how most of us quite like to have a nice car parked on the drive, it may be worth considering.