Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickwp
Hi,
I've just signed up to the forum, but have some thoughts which you might find useful.
I currently have a 640D gran coupe on contract hire which ends in a couple of weeks, and have ordered another one as a replacement as the offer was too good to turn down.
Your deal doesn't look too bad but I think you'll be able to knock them down a bit. My new order is for another 640D GC M Sport, with the optional extras of the M Sport plus pack, Rear reversing camera, Surround view, Sun protection glass and individual interior trim, so quite similar to yours. With full maintenance and tyres on 10kpa the deal works out at less than £530 per month inc vat (6 up front 2 years). I would suggest that you defintely look at the plus pack as it will include the 20" alloys you want and the HK and you'll get the very worthwhile extras of the HUD and the speed limit display. Because the pack has a very good residual value the extra for the pack works out at only £30 per month (not bad given it's nearly a £3k option), and I would think it would probably work out cheaper than speccing the individual options you have.
My current gran coupe doesn't have the camera's and it's something that I insisted on having on the new one, it really is a big car when parking and I would recommend that it's almost a must have option having driven one for a couple of years.
As for the business lease, the car would be registered in Alphabet's name (BMW's contract hire company) and this will need to be disclosed to your insurers. You don't have to have a business policy, but you would need to disclose to any potential insurer that the contract hire is a business one not a personal one, which will limit your potential insurers as not all will cover this, you won't have a problem adding you wife onto the policy though. One thing on the insurance, prepare for a bit of a shock as it is an expensive car to insure and some won't touch it. I still don't know the full reason behinnd it but the car does fall in to pretty much the highest insurance group there is, for example quotes for M3's and C63 AMGs were working out cheaper!
As for the company car tax question.... well strangely enough I'm an accountant. My standard reply is always you need to talk it through with your own accountant to discuss the pros/cons of running the car through the business depending on your specific circumstances.
Generally speaking though, the way recent budget changes have gone and the closing of various tax planning opportunties with company cars means that your choices will be fairly limited I'm afraid. Obviously your benefit in kind will be quite significant on this car given it's high retail price as discounts are ignored for tax purposes, so I suspect that the company car route will be significantly more expensive to you than running the car personally, but each director/owner has their own priorites on how they extract their hard earned money from their company and personal liabilities. So I guess i'm back to where I started... have a chat to your accountant and he'll be able to run the numbers quite easily for you.
Oh and I was truly shocked when I saw the invoice for the car, the total level of discount that is being knocked off the car.... over £22k  |
Brilliant advice! Thanks for taking time out for your reply, it's really appreciated. I've decided to go for the m sport plus package as you said - it does make sense as it works out cheaper and I get a few extra things free. Unfortunately I couldn't push them on the price any further, but I think I still have a good deal in the grand scheme of things. So I won't lose too much sleep over that. Regarding the chat with the account - you are absolutely right, with the rules being so convoluted I wouldn't think about going forward without it.. Thanks again!