[texasjohn]

No, it is a company car

£200 a month tax for the 320d, £305 a month for the 330d = the £105 extra.

I have an allowance of £680, or I can take £680 a month as extra salary (of which I then see about £395 net after tax and NI is taken off).

You are right I can pay £300 income tax or lose £300 off the allowance taking as extra salary.

Either way, it's £700 a month in my pocket and run my own car (which is what I am doing at the moment in the 130i) or not have £700 and have a fully expensed 330d.

Problem is, I am doing 30000 miles a year, about 25000 of which is commuting.

Or, a 320ED optioned up and pay about £150 a month tax instead of £300 (to give an example of a more tax friendly alternative to a 330d)

[edowen]

Hmm.

330d for me I think based on your calcs.

[texasjohn]

Originally Posted by Diseasel

Income tax and NI on your allowance will be about 51% so you can half your allowance and thats what you have to spend, dont forget insurance costs, tyres, servicing and any unseen repairs.

That's it; the last four things you list do add up quite quickly (plus depreciation) based on driving 30000 miles a year hence I am looking at company cars rather than running my own. I had a couple of unforeseen repairs needed recently too.

Originally Posted by Diseasel

The best thing you can do is buy the car on HP and build an asset and then in 4 years time you can put the 10k or so car value to the next one and so on until you finally get a free 30k on the company.

Problem you got is 30k miles is WAY high for owning it.

If I lived 5 miles from the office I would take the cash and buy an M3!

[F31-340i]

So the question is against identical spec E92s?

Do they both have auto? I suppose resale value is irrelevant if its a company car, but auto suits both the 320d and 330d.

I don't know about company cars - so if I understand correctly the 330d will actually cost you £330/month (305 tax+25 topup) + insurance + servicing, but the 320d would be only £200? Do you pay for fuel?

From a running cost point of view it might be worth getting the cheap service pack.

For only £30 delta a week, the 330d is well worth the extra IMO. Test drive them back to back. I did, went in looking for a 320d Edition model - came away knowing only a 330d would do.

[texasjohn]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

So the question is against identical spec E92s?

Do they both have auto? I suppose resale value is irrelevant if its a company car, but auto suits both the 320d and 330d.

I don't know about company cars - so if I understand correctly the 330d will actually cost you £330/month (305 tax+25 topup) + insurance + servicing, but the 320d would be only £200? Do you pay for fuel?

From a running cost point of view it might be worth getting the cheap service pack.

For only £30 delta a week, the 330d is well worth the extra IMO. Test drive them back to back. I did, went in looking for a 320d Edition model - came away knowing only a 330d would do.

1. Yes, identical spec
2. Both would be manual.
3. Resale value completely irrelevant to me.
4. 330d will cost me £700 (£305 of this is tax I pay for the benefit, £395 is money that I would have in my wages if I didn't take the company car) a month total, 320d will cost me £570 (£180 of this is tax I pay for the benefit, £395 is money that I would have in my wages if I didn't take the company car) a month total (these £ values are including servicing, insurance, tyres, maintenance, road tax, everything).
5. I do pay for fuel and of course the 330d will not be quite as good on fuel as the 320d!
6. Service pack not relevant to me as I don't pay for servicing.
7. I think I agree with you, for £30 a week DELTA the 330d is worth it.

[texasjohn]

Originally Posted by Diseasel

you gota pay for 30,000 miles a year out your own pocket? OUCH

Yes, no fuel card!

But of course they pay the fuel for the 5000 miles which is business mileage that I do; visiting customers, meetings etc.

If you drive really sensibly on business you can actually make a bit of profit on those trips!

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by texasjohn

1. Yes, identical spec
2. Both would be manual.
3. Resale value completely irrelevant to me.
4. 330d will cost me £700 (£305 of this is tax I pay for the benefit, £395 is money that I would have in my wages if I didn't take the company car) a month total, 320d will cost me £570 (£180 of this is tax I pay for the benefit, £395 is money that I would have in my wages if I didn't take the company car) a month total (these £ values are including servicing, insurance, tyres, maintenance, road tax, everything).
5. I do pay for fuel and of course the 330d will not be quite as good on fuel as the 320d!
6. Service pack not relevant to me as I don't pay for servicing.
7. I think I agree with you, for £30 a week the 330d is worth it.

If you can just take the cash, £700/month is plenty to run some tasty private cars & fill them with go juice. That's £8400 a year!

If you thrash a 320d, the mpg is not that much better than a 330d - equally sit at 70mph in a 330d and it'll do high 40s.

[dopper99]

30K miles a year
You going to be buying a one possibly two sets of tyres a year, depending on how you drive. Bear in mind the rears for the 330d are around £230 a piece.

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by Diseasel

no cost on company car

Ok good. If your not paying for them then get the 330d - no brainer

Watch that licence though - wont be so much of a problem in a 320d.