Not sure what to do!

[Steve H]

Quick summary. Get a car allowance at work, around £600 / month before tax. Currently take the cash and bung it into savings, but this means the government take 45% of it off me.

However, I run an old car, paid for, that runs on LPG, so only pay 80p / litre for fuel, and can claim back business travel at 18p/mile + 12p/mile from the tax-man. Real cost 16p/mile.

I've ordered an MG4 Trophy on our salary sacrifice scheme. I have a home charger and solar. This will cost me £422 / month over 2 years, incl. maintenance and insurance... BUT I can only claim mileage at 8ppm and no tax claim. (I'd lose this £422 from my car allowance, but won't have to pay tax on it)

But... I'm looking at the prices of nearly new MG5s. Standard range Exclusives around £18k, or long range for £22k.... it almost makes sense to buy outright (or personal loan) and be able to claim back my 8p/mile + 17p/mile tax for business travel.

The big questions - what is the real world range and charge rate of a standard range, is the long range worth an extra £4k (the value of my current car!) - or do I just stick with the MG4 Trophy order?

The maths make it a very close call, but at least a 5 would be mine.

 

[smokie]

...t at least a 5 would be mine.

Along with the depreciation and service costs etc. OTOH if you lost your job at least you'd still have a car...

However I own a 2021 MG5 LR. If you look in the 5 forum people have posted their achieved mileages. I don't bother because I don't keep track of it, and I'm not too anal about squeezing every last mile from the car.

I work on a figure of 3.5 miles/kwh when route planning but regularly do better. On a Feb 400 mile round trip, mostly motorway, I reached 3.9 overall. That'd be better in the summer. I've seen it much lower, when doing short trips in the cold, but tbh my driving is usually fairly mixed so I think 3.5 is a fair figure.

I believe the standard range is the same so really it comes down to whether you need the extra battery size to reduce the charging requirement, or tend to do longer trips.

 

[Steve H]

Losing my lease car isn't an issue, we have an Abarth and a Boxster, so that' not a big deal!

I do struggle with the idea of nearly £10k over 2 years and having nothing to show for it, though, even though it does save me giving money to the government.

I guess that, if I could get a LR Exclusive for £20k rather than £22k, it would tip the balance and I'd cancel my MG4 order.