Money, Tax and politics

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marktime
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 11:36 am
Location: Littlehampton, West Sussex

Money, Tax and politics

Postby marktime » Fri May 25, 2007 5:28 pm

The Prius is never going to be cheaper to run than an EV but the numbers warrant close scrutiny up against a 'conventional' car.

I have said elsewhere that my Prius is a company car and I will give more details about how that works out later, if you choose to own one yourself I can do the basics but not much detail.

There are 3 trim levels the T3, T4 and Tsprit. Brochure values are approx £17500, £18500 and £22000 respectively.

VED is band B this would be £30 (since the 2007 budget) for a conventional car, but it's £15 for petrol electric hybrids. To my way of thinking £15 is an admin charge, not a tax! And your EV's being in band A are charged £0.00.

Based on my 12,000 miles since last November I have been averaging about 7 pence per mile.
I calculate that running a car that returns 35MPG costs about 12 pence per mile.

I can't offer any info about insurance and service costs.

Now the company car bit.


As a 'benifit in kind' company car tax is based on the value of the car when new (P11D) and it's CO2 emmisions.

With it's 104 g CO2/Km and a further discount for being an alternate fuel vehicle the Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are taxed at 10% of it's P11D (was 13% before the budget).

Taking the T4 model as an example:

P11D = £18500 10% = £1850 you would then pay tax at your rate of income tax say 40%
So the tax bill for the car for a year is £740.

By way of comparison my previous car, Vauxhall Zaferia 2.0l Diesel.
P11D = £15000 CO2 emmisions equal to 25% = £3750 40% = £1500

The difference being a saving of £760 a year, but this obviously depends upon what you compare it with.
The new Honda Civic diesel (not the hybrid) is a very good deal and gives very good economy.

Most company car users either get a petrol credit card or get a simple reimbersment per business mile travelled.

For companies that reimberse for mileage the government publish 'recomended' figures, these are based on the UK fleet and are weighted towards newer more efficient cars. Cars fall into bands based on fuel type and engine size so the Prius is in the band for petrol cars with an engine less that 2.0l. The rate for this band is 11 pence per mile (this figure was 13 pence per mile until the end of January).

So you can see that I make 4 pance for every business mile that I drive. :D
If as mentioned earlier your car returned 35MPG and cost 12p / mile it would cost you a penny a mile to drive on company business!!

Now the politics:
The current government policy of increasing VED for large poluting vehicles is unsustainable because as it begins to influence peoples behaviour revenues will fall and the chancellor will have to tax something else. So my plan is to treat this as a limited offer and get the benifit while it's hot!


I know that I am fortunate to have the opportuntiy to have a Prius as a company car, I might not have chosen to run one if I was buying it myself.


MarkTime

marktime
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 11:36 am
Location: Littlehampton, West Sussex

Postby marktime » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:24 pm

Time for a little update, I have made my first £1000 out of the Prius.

It's a bold statement and it needs a bit of qualifying.

I have had the Prius since the begining of November last year so that is just over 10 months.
I am counting what I save in (company car) tax by running a cleaner car so, since the budget I am saving £35.50 each month compared with the Vauxhall Zaferia 2.0l Diesel.

The second component is what I make from business mileage. The mileage rate has fluctuated this year but is currently 13 pence / mile for petrol cars with engine size less that 2.0l, Prius comes in at about 6.5 - 7 pence / mile so my 14000 business miles have earned me about £750!!

I am putting my profits in a safe place (not Northern Rock) where they will become my Solar hot water fund.

MarkTime
Soft as Graphite, Hard as Diamond, Black as Coal & clear as CO2, It's a Carbon thing!


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