Not wishing to sound like a neanderthal but I'm not sure I get the BIK benefits?
As a 40% tax earner, throwing 25% of my salary into pension, am I going to benefit greatly but getting a company car? I've never had one. There seems to be some SUPER deals on Mercedes cars at the moment.
For example "Mercedes-benz EQA Hatchback EQA 250+ 140kW AMG Line Executive 70.5kWh 5Dr Auto" for £394 net. Does the BIK at 2% mean I'm paying 2% tax instead of 40% tax, or am I completely off the mark??
Of course...though a corsa wouldn´t do, wifeys health issues make the conventional car seat height uncomfortable, SUV type ev req´d as a comparable hence 35k guess...and I couldn´t buy Chinese made for reasons of conscience. I´m not seeking to suggest ICE don´t have their negatives, just speaking of personal views-situation, as we all do.
Last edited by Passenger; 11th January 2024 at 12:47.
Yep, the personal view/needs is where it starts and ends for most people.
Over 5 years and 125k miles, I won’t burn 3500 gallons of petrol, and net save around £17k in the process (on a like for like size and performance car) even at todays lowish fuel prices. Maintenance cost will be much lower as well. A lot of those miles are for work purposes, and I’m able to claim those back at HMRC rates.
It does put some perspective on the up front costs of buying an EV (I’m a private buyer here), although obviously that changes depending on your own circumstances and how you use a car.
Ah yes, a solar setup somewhere warm and sunny like Spain would be my EV nirvana! :-D
My neighbour manufacturers solar car ports for business and domestic use, he’s doing quite a bit of work in Spain, a lot of interest apparently. Are the Spanish government offering grants for that sort of setup or built it into planning regs etc?
No idea domestically yet, though I've one mate told me his domestic use is free iirc, I'd guess it 'll be panels on his beach house , not his appt in the City, the roof space'll be insufficient, that'd scupper a lot of town dwellers...though much of the new commercial/ industrial build does mostly/always seem to feature panels, just from noticing while driving by...plenty of panel farms...obvs the weather, whole regions not densely populated, no brainer.
Last edited by Passenger; 11th January 2024 at 13:54.
The BIK means they "add" 50k (list price of the car) to your salary (every year) but you (currently) only pay tax on 2% of it so it effectively adds 1000 to your salary that you will pay tax on.
As you are paying the lease out of your income (pre tax) the 400 lease per month effectively costs you 240 of your take home pay (assuming the 400 a month keeps you in the 40% bracket).
If you look what you could lease after tax for 240 a month it is a very cost effective way of driving a brand new car.
Of course you might prefer to spend 3k a year of your own money on the car of your choice.
Bear in mind the BIK increases by 1% each year now so the 1000 will become about 3000 by the end of the lease that you will pay tax on.
I know that the BIK increased yearly from 0% to 2% but I hadn’t heard that they had started increasing it yearly from the 2%.
When was test announced?
Worth also bearing in mind that the lease cost for company cars also normally includes maintenance insurance, tyres…. everything, so works out well if you are a 40 or 45% tax payer and a total no brainer if you happen to be in the £125k salary range where your marginal rate is an effective 60%
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Is this a sign of things to come or just a blip?
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/11/b...ing/index.html
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
As a private buyer without home charging facilities I’ll stick to my hybrid Toyota. The surcharge for ev is too high to warrant it + I’d be dead before I recoup the extra outlay.
When Toyota release their solid state battery which they say can be charged in less than 15min + has a range of 600 miles I’ll reconsider.
I’m not sure that a rental companies business decisions are a major indicator of EV direction of travel generally?
It seems to be more a Tesla pricing and US market story to be fair.
It’s also fair to say that early adoption of EVs here and elsewhere is probably at a peak, and it will be slower steadier growth from here on in.
Certainly used Tesla and other EV prices have come down to more sensible levels now, which is surely good news and what everybody was clamouring for too.
Hertz will still have some fun writing down the cost of the ‘losses’ they’ve made on their Tesla fleet against tax due, so I’m not getting a violin out just yet.
Just a blip.
As the article (and Tooks) explains, it’s a business decision based on the current market conditions. The price of new EVs will only decrease for s limited time, once that stops, EVs will depreciate in the same manner as ICE and businesses such as Hertz will be able to once again, actually predict with some certainty, future values of their stock.
There is also no reason for repair costs for EVs to be any higher than that for ICE.
That’s simply not true at the moment. There are plenty of reasons which may or may not continue.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ev-r...r%20composites.
https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/lat...ice-equivalent
I think a lot of the stuff in those reports is fair comment, we are introducing ‘new’ technologies into a vehicle repair industry that isn’t yet setup for repairing electric vehicles.
That should change though, and in the meantime I’m ok with companies being cautious around battery damage, they’ve still got a second life even when compromised.
I drive an E-nv200 which is almost identical to the nv200 diesel. It has been written off this month due to an old guy running into the offside rear. The damage was bumper, door, rear panel and tail light. When labour, paint and courtesy vehicle are added into the mix, the cost of repair exceeds the value of the vehicle.
The ONLY part that differs from the diesel version is the tail light which is about £50 more expensive.
Granted, in larger collisions, where major parts such as the battery are damaged, the situation is different.
Hampstead has a load of these in the back streets https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/traff...arging-points/. Seems a pretty clever idea as they are flush with the pavement and the tower bit is what you have in your car. Not sure what the costs is but whenever I’ve been there for a walk on the heath lots are in use.
They look really good, I wonder how much they cost to install though?!?!? I guess it’s a posh area with multimillion pound houses - most of which don’t feature a drive or a parking space - heaving with brand new cars so they’ve found a solution.
I suppose once installed bar maintenance that’s pretty much it, and you can recoup the cost through charger use?
Whilst most EVs designed from the ‘ground up’ do have skateboard style chassis, the sills etc are all high strength steel and like all new cars they have to pass the NCAP side impact tests.
Anything like the NCAP post side impact test would write the car off regardless of what is powering it. Sill bodywork is just like a bumper cover, so cosmetic, more serious structural damage would be a complex and costly repair on any modern car.
The issue with a lot of insurance repair centres currently is they have little or no training or procedures to deal with the high voltage side of things, should they need to disconnect it/make safe/move components to undertake a repair.
Thanks for that info - it seems we’re just in the relatively early stages of transitioning from ICE to EV (or whatever other alternative the EV naysayers can see in their crystal balls) and this is an inevitable consequence. Lots of everyday garage mechanic skills will become defunct or niche and it’ll boil down to bodywork specialists and EV electricians?
Also remember that, in theory, and EV needs a lot less regular maintenance so it's going to change the way garages work at some point too.
Service schedule for i3 is basically the dealer doing the equivalent of an MOT checking things, changing the brake fluid every 2 years (didn't it used to be 5 years in piston cars?) and changing internal cabin filter. Local dealer says they literally see them every 2 years and never between services.
I’m not trying to be argumentative - but I thought the service intervals on EV’s were considerably longer than ICE cars? And my son - who runs older cars than I for financial reasons - has spent a fair bit of money on engine and exhaust related issues, faulty sensors etc on his last couple of cars, I’ve had friends whose cars have needed new catalytic converters - even simple
Stuff like lightbulbs (I’ve had cars that needed the bumper or a wheel off to access them) is not an issue I’ve had on any cars with LED headlights. Are there companies out there who can do the equivalent of tuning an EV to squeeze out more power or re-map them? And replacing the in car entertainment when it’s incorporated into the screen is probably almost impossible. I’m thinking of all the back street specialists more than the big boys. It just seems like a lot of the ‘professional tinkerers’ will have less to tinker with?!
I think the back street tinkerers will find a way as time goes on. Ive only got 8-10 years tops left in this game so it wont bother me but if garages are going to survive they will need to adapt. That will just happen organically as tech changes and the skill sets of the garages changes in response.
What do people make of all the Chinese cars coming to market in 2024 in terms of impact on price?
I had my Model 3 Performance for three years from new, 40k miles and my servicing/repair costs were ZERO. I did put four new tyres on.
Pitch
Yes, and likewise our 2.5 year old M3 hasn’t required any maintenance either, but at some point all cars will require some attention, brake fluid check/change for example.
As they get older they’ll need attention to things like wheel bearings and brakes will need replacing etc.
The first 3 years isn’t typical for the rest of the life of the car.
There is a big difference between servicing and maintenance; both ICE and EVs will need to be maintained but only ICE needs regular servicing as we generally know it.
It would be crazy to think an EV would not have any maintenance costs during its life and of course there will be drivetrain and brakes to maintain. What I was alluding to was in the first three years there costs were ZERO. My previous umpteenth new cars cost me hundreds, possibly thousands in the first three years and 40k miles.
Pitch
I forked out £159 for the Nissan service because it’s a condition of the warranty. It was basically an MOT. Changed the front tyres at 25k miles, standard Michelins so that wasn’t too painful either.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
I thought they, Audi´s and Volvo´s were considered luxury brands, like say Mercs...I mean bar likes of Rollers and Bentleys and the exotic hypercar stuff, ain´t they luxury for the uppers and upper mids...the sort of cars that the Skoda, Toyota, Peugeot buyers are meant to aspire to, lust for!
I could be wrong, cars not so much my thing.