Self Employed Courier driver....best way to buy a car?

by **Courier_man** on Sun Jul 31, 2011 11:22 pm

Hi

I'm a Self Employed Courier driver. I work alone and use my own personal car for deliveries. I'd say I use the car for 80% Business and 20% social

I need to find a more efficient car, I have two options. Firstly convert my current to LPG or secondly purchase a Diesel.

I've been told because I'm self employed I can add a car or LPG conversion to my list of expenses for my tax return

The LPG conversion costs £1500. The Diesel I might go for is the 1.9 CDTI Astra for around £10,000, which I'd pay on finance monthly.

The questions I'd like answering are:-

1. How would this work? How much money would I get taken off my tax bill for the LPG conversion and Astra Car

2. Whats the most cost effective way of me buying a new car for work?

Thanks I hope you can help

I've see similar threads but didn't quite get an accurate answer. As most people use the car for the odd journey, whereas I'm using it for the majority of time for deliveries

by **pawncob** on Mon Aug 01, 2011 5:47 pm

Check the car here:

http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx
(I can't find a 1.9CDti)

Capital allowances depend on the CO2 emissions.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1086394511&r.l1=1073858808&r.l2=1086692188&r.l3=1086445219&r.l4=1086384131&r.s=sc&type=RESOURCES

If by the most effective, you mean cheapest, you'll have to post detailed finance costs.

by **Jason23** on Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:08 am

pawncob wrote:Check the car here:

http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx
(I can't find a 1.9CDti)

Capital allowances depend on the CO2 emissions.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1086394511&r.l1=1073858808&r.l2=1086692188&r.l3=1086445219&r.l4=1086384131&r.s=sc&type=RESOURCES

If by the most effective, you mean cheapest, you'll have to post detailed finance costs.

Dude the links are not clickable and when I copy the link and paste in the explorer then I only got an error message of "Page not found"..!!

by **Generix** on Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:50 am

Jason23 wrote:
pawncob wrote:Check the car here:

http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx
(I can't find a 1.9CDti)

Capital allowances depend on the CO2 emissions.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1086394511&r.l1=1073858808&r.l2=1086692188&r.l3=1086445219&r.l4=1086384131&r.s=sc&type=RESOURCES

If by the most effective, you mean cheapest, you'll have to post detailed finance costs.

Dude the links are not clickable and when I copy the link and paste in the explorer then I only got an error message of "Page not found"..!!

Maybe because the second link is over two lines, both woked for me though:

http://tinyurl.com/3c8d7td
http://tinyurl.com/3c37o22

Copy paste those for the respective links that pawncob kindy posted earlier.

by **Generix** on Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:51 am

Also - are you VAT registered?

by **Courier_man** on Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:09 pm

Generix wrote:Also - are you VAT registered?

No I'm not....

Do I have to be? I don't understand how it works? (sorry I'm only young and this is my first experience of being self employed)

Thanks

by **Generix** on Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:03 pm

Courier_man wrote:
Generix wrote:Also - are you VAT registered?

No I'm not....

Do I have to be? I don't understand how it works? (sorry I'm only young and this is my first experience of being self employed)

Thanks

You don't have to be, but you could possibly recover the VAT on the purchase of the vehicle if you were.

by **Courier_man** on Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:50 pm

Thanks for info guys

I haven't been online for a while :shock:

Anybody else have more information.............

by **towat** on Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:25 pm

Does it have to be a car or could you use a small van? that would be more tax efficient, or maybe a double cab pickup? although that would be more expensive to run.
Either way leasing isn't really an option if you are not VAT registered, although you should consider a voluntary VAT registration as you could reclaim VAT on your fuel and maintenance thus reducing your expenses by up to 20%. You really need to talk to an accountant who can explain the process to you and carry out the paperwork.