Advice needed on car insurance for company car

[Madmax86]

Thanks for the lesson. Sadly you are wrong. BIK is tax on the benefit value you receive from the company. It assumes you are using company assets for personal use, so if you have a company car and get to take it home at night, then you pay tax on that personal mileage. If the car is only used for personal business, then all its costs are taxable, including servicing and insurance, since it is not a company vehicle. Just the same as you buying a 4K UHD 52 inch as your PC monitor.

As for EV taxation, that's road tax. Nothing to stop them banging in a levy on EVs to cover the taxes lost vs petrol/diesel cars.

It's your money and your risk, I don't really care either way. But you should at least be aware of what those risks are. If you're that sure you are right, run it past HMRC or a good accountant.

Yes I understand how BIK works. My definition wasn't wrong, maybe simplistic but don't want to get into the semantics of the actual definition.

There are no risks with what I am doing and have a very good accountant to confirm, my post was around insurance.

As for EV taxation, anything could happen at any time, but to not make use of current benefits in fear of what might happen in future is a sure fire way of not getting anywhere in life.

[Madmax86]

Did Admiral give you a quote? If the numbers are similar I'd much perfer staying with someone I know. But your choice.

I am not saying it's not legit, I'm saying it's not always the best option. When a compay refers business to a separate area it's usually done for business reasons, not for the customer. Kickbacks, discounts etc. Don't have to offer the best policies because it's a captured audience etc. We (and I) have experienced it in other areas. In the contracting world we've seen lots of examples where people buy their insurances and contract reviews via accountants and agents and it's just not the best service for the customer. Same with agencies referring people to umbrellas. The lists the agencies use for umbrella referrals are based on kick backs, not the quality of the service the customer gets.

Just my opinion that if I had Admiral and some company I've never heard or dealt with before that is linked to the lease I'd go for Admiral every time without a doubt.

Sounds like you've done everything right and you'll be absolutely fine, i just don't like buying stuff based on referrals like this.

I agree, I'd much rather stay with Admiral. They just need a number plate so they can give me a quote which I don't yet have so am trying to see if the lease company can give me that info so I can stick with them (assuming their quote is reasonable).

Oh yes I get what you mean regarding the referred broker. I posted this on another EV forum and apparently there were many insurance brokers that offered this which is why it wasn't a surprise, I just thought it made sense (before contacting Admiral) to go to the company I am leasing from as they would understand my situation the best, especially with the amount of business leases they deal with. Then the fact that Admiral will also does this gives me further reassurance.

I agree though, if this specific insurance company offered me something that Admiral wouldn't, then it would alarm bells for sure.

[LoanCharged]

Hi all

My questions...

1. Regarding car insurance for the new Tesla, I know this has to be done via the company. Do I need specialist business car insurance or will regular car insurance do as long as it is in my company name?
2. I will no longer be driving my current car so won't have personal insurance for at least 3 years. What happens to my 10 years ncd?

The car is not a company car as such i.e. you don't use it for business purposes to store tools and go and fix peoples boilers etc. It's a car owned and paid for by the company that is given to the director as a personal benefit so you pay BIK on it. All insurance and maintenance expenses relating to the car are paid for by your Ltd. Insure the car under your personal name/address using a regular insurance co thereby utilising your NCD and enjoy it. My situation is the similar but my Ltd purchased the Tesla outright instead of leasing it. My advice was provided by a well known accountant on this forum.

[WTFH]

Be aware that a business lease is different to a personal lease, and don’t try to conflate B2C rules with B2B. This forum is littered with people who had a car through their company, then thought they could switch from business to personal on the car and close the company down.

[Madmax86]

The car is not a company car as such i.e. you don't use it for business purposes to store tools and go and fix peoples boilers etc. It's a car owned and paid for by the company that is given to the director as a personal benefit so you pay BIK on it. All insurance and maintenance expenses relating to the car are paid for by your Ltd. Insure the car under your personal name/address using a regular insurance co thereby utilising your NCD and enjoy it. My situation is the similar but my Ltd purchased the Tesla outright instead of leasing it. My advice was provided by a well known accountant on this forum.

Exactly this. This matches my understanding too.

I spoke with my accountant too and he confirmed the above, however he also stated that I should put business use down. Is that something you did?

[WTFH]

I spoke with my accountant too and he confirmed the above, however he also stated that I should put business use down. Is that something you did?

For insurance purposes, I would always have business use included.
Otherwise, if you use the car to drive to a client site, it is not insured. SDP insurance only covers driving to and from a permanent place of work, not to a contract site.

[LoanCharged]

Exactly this. This matches my understanding too.

I spoke with my accountant too and he confirmed the above, however he also stated that I should put business use down. Is that something you did?

I don't use it for any business related purpose so it was not a consideration either on the tax return nor insurance policy. This keeps it simple.

[Madmax86]

For insurance purposes, I would always have business use included.
Otherwise, if you use the car to drive to a client site, it is not insured. SDP insurance only covers driving to and from a permanent place of work, not to a contract site.

But it will never be used for business use, only for social and domestic use.

[WTFH]

But it will never be used for business use, only for social and domestic use.

Are you saying that you will never travel from your house for work (even for interviews)?
And have you actually asked the insurers for the difference in cost between each type of insurance?

[Lance]

Are you saying that you will never travel from your house for work (even for interviews)?
And have you actually asked the insurers for the difference in cost between each type of insurance?

I'd be amazed if you could buy insurance for a company car that doesn't include business travel.
It is possible to buy personal insurance for a company car but that's pretty dumb.
And business use is peanuts anyway, so even if you could buy the correct insurance without business it's unlikely to save much, if any, money.

I reckon the OP, and his mate, are fundamentally misunderstanding ;
- what business use is for company cars. Taking a company car to service it is business use. Collecting a company car from the dealership is business use.
- who actually owns the car (it's a lease so the owner will be the lease company, and the lease company may also be the registered keeper)
- what the owner requirements are for insurance (the owner of the car may well have some criteria that need to be met)


Just insure it for business use.....