by Paul Marchment, SME development manager at Arval UK.
Business mobility is more essential than ever and we are seeing high demand both for company vans and cars with personal contract hire also growing strongly.
But many businesses without a transport specialist still don’t know exactly how much they are spending on their company vehicles and may lack the knowledge to compare buying a vehicle with cash or a loan against a lease. 
They may be offering employees so called ‘free fuel’ believing it to be a benefit. For many drivers, and in particular those doing low private mileage, the tax cost of the ‘benefit’ may be more than the cost of the fuel. The ‘free fuel’ benefit also creates the bizarre situation where the fuel is paid for twice: the employer pays at the pump and the employee pays through tax.
Employees are often in the dark over their company car tax, and they are also not aware of what makes and models their employer could lease without increasing benefit in kind and the total cost of owning the vehicle.
And business owners may still be paying for their car through the company, which also is often not the most cost effective option.
To help everyone understand the true cost of company motoring, we partnered with tax specialists BCF Wessex to create a new website to help both businesses and their drivers make more informed choices about company cars, and potentially save hundreds of pounds.
The website features a suite of specially designed calculators that show the true cost of owning and leasing any one of more than 9,000 individual vehicles. This means anyone can check the actual cost for the specific vehicle they want, including the relevant company car tax, rather than making assumptions based on a generalised example.
The site features five easy-to-use calculators that address five key questions:
- Should I buy or lease?
- Can I get a better car for the same or less money?
- How much is this car really costing me when tax and tax relief are factored in?
- Is company-provided fuel worth it?
- Should I take a personal lease or a company car?
The Arval UK web site has already won a BusinessCar Techies Award.
The website is free to use and can be found at https://calculators.arval.co.uk
