Anyone run a company bike?

[johnafish]

I've looked into this and it all seems pretty positive, basically I should be able to run a company bike for a damn sight less than running it privately. Is anyone doing this now? If so what are your experiences with it?

I'm actually thinking of leasing or contract hire. Anyone have any experience of particular lease / hire companies.
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John Fish,
Bikelug Collapsible Motorcycle Trailers
www.bikelug.co.uk

[TheShaggyDA]

As I understand it, it's :-

[johnafish]

Yes, that's what I mean the business will contract hire the bike, insure it service etc and it should be able to reclaim the VAT on a portion of the contract hire & all the maintenance costs.

And I won't pay for it in my tax code because it's a bike and they're exempt from 'company car' taxes.

It is my firm and therefor my money anyway, but it looks like a way of running a bike and changing it regularly but at a lower cost than paying myself the money (and paying income taxes) then buying and running a bike.

I think its 30% cheaper, but I'm no accountant, anyone know more?
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John Fish,
Bikelug Collapsible Motorcycle Trailers
www.bikelug.co.uk

[yambabe]

You're right about it being exempt from the company car regulations, and you can indeed claim VAT back on service and repairs (not sure about the lease charge though) if your company is VAT registered. Service and repair of the vehice will also be reclaimable as allowable expenses against tax, but the amount of benefit of this to you will depend on whether you are limited or a sole trader.

You will have to be able to show that you do business mileage on the bike, as otherwise it could be taxed to you personally as an asset made available rather than a company vehicle though.

At the moment fuel benefit charges and Vat scale charges don't apply to bikes, but I understand this is under scrutiny at the moment and it's possible that the definition of a company car for fuel purposes will include bikes at some point in the future!

You can't claim back the 24p mileage rate though, this is if you do business miles on your own bike.

I agree with you that the cost of leasing a bike through the company would be about 30% cheaper than being given the money (if you are a basic rate taxpayer?) but you may find that buying a bike then claiming your capital allowances and depreciation is a much more cost-effective way to go as I am not sure there are that many bikes available to lease in the UK.
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[Zoffo]

Hello Johna

Flogged any more on here than you did on IXXRA

[johnafish]

No, I realise I'm not going to get anywhere trying to hard sell my product (www.bikelug.co.uk), I quite like this forum, that's why I'm here, but if people see & remember the trailers (www.bikelug.co.uk) that's a bonus.

I went to the IXXRA forum because I noticed I was getting referrals from that site (I have a good website logging system), if that happens it's obvious that people are discussing my product so I usually pop in and comment.
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John Fish,
Bikelug Collapsible Motorcycle Trailers
www.bikelug.co.uk

[sickpup]

I can probably arrange a contract bike but the deposit will kill you on a big bike. Unless you want to pay through the roof you would also have to pay your own insurance.

I had my own hire company for 4 years and if a meeting goes well tomorrow I will be starting a new one in the next few months.

Feel free to PM.

[johnafish]

Excuse my poor terminology, when I said contract hire I should have said a full maintenance lease.

I've noticed that BMW are doing bikes now through their lease company and one or two of the big leasing firms are also offering bikes. The prices look pretty good to me with low deposits & full maintenance contracts, similar to their car financing products.
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John Fish,
Bikelug Collapsible Motorcycle Trailers
www.bikelug.co.uk

[kasandrich]

Just been to have a look at your bikelug site, looks like a clever design, but quite pricey
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Richard

CBR1000FM

[sakean99]

When I was self-employed (OK; it was with a car not a bike) I found it was best to buy a big old car with no depreciation but high running costs.
This got me my Classic Merc roadster.
For tax purposes, depreciation is via "Capital Allowance" and is fixed at 25% pa of remaining capital. Running costs are 100% recoverable if no private mileage and VAT is fully recoverable on repairs etc (plus petrol if relevant qtrly fee is paid to cover private benefit)
I didn't fancy lease hire as I would only have been able to afford a bog standard rep mobile and had to pay out the silly monthly fee myself before claiming it as an expense against tax at the end of the year.
Bikes may work out different unless you decide you want a Goldie or something like in my avatar!
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Born again Bikers can do it again, & again, & again!

[johnafish]

[Bendy]

My gran used to run a company car when she had her own business - can't remember the details but it worked out much cheaper than owning it herself. VAT free purchase and servicing and allowance for mileage - can't be bad. And I ended up taking it to the other side of the country for a year, so it wasn't really business use either.

Only thing to remember is that the vehicle belongs to the business, so if you sell the business you personally have to buy the vehicle from it if you want to keep it, although you get it for way less than the going rate.