Stanley Says - Sport, BIK Bills & A-Levels

This summer is proving to be one of the most action-packed seasons for sport that I’ve witnessed in recent years, with the likes of the Euros and Wimbledon filling our news feeds throughout  the months of June and July. 

This week has certainly been no exception as Friday marked the beginning of the biggest event in this year’s sporting calendar.  Facebook, Twitter and all other social media platforms have been dominated with the events and ‘goings-on’ across the pond in South America especially the ‘breaking’ news of one individual who took the term ‘break a leg’ a bit too literally…it happens to the best of us though, which I know only too well after my own cycling related faux-pas earlier this year.

In car related news, Auto Express magazine published a list of 30 cars that make the best company vehicles and two cars featuring on the list were Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV and the all new Ateca model by SEAT.  Both cars are applauded for their impressively low CO2 emissions which in turn equates to low monthly BIK bills - ideal for company car drivers. 

You may be wondering what BIK bills actually are – BIK stands for Benefit-in-Kind tax which according to Austin Collins of BuyaCar.co.uk is “charged on a proportion of a company car’s brand new value and is determined by CO2 emissions”.  This means that those on a lower tax band pay 20 per cent towards their BIK bills and higher rate tax-payers pay 40 per cent. 

As a company car, monthly BIK bills for the Ateca model came in at £175 for higher rate earners and £87 for lower rate earners*. Although these are impressive numbers for a car of the Ateca’s standard and spec it was the Outlander PHEV that really impressed me as figures were dramatically much cheaper.

Similar sized SUVs to the PHEV would typically have a tax rate of 25% whereas the Outlander PHEV falls into the seven per cent company car tax bracket. Higher rate tax payers would expect their BIK bills to be just £80 a month for the PHEV and lower rate earners would spend just £40*.  These low tax figures coupled together with the low running costs for this economical, green car make the PHEV an ideal choice for a company car.  See my previous blog on green cars {here} to see just how many miles per gallon you can get with your PHEV.

Next week, it’s the dreaded A-level results day, I’d like to wish all students the very best of luck with their results but just remember Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and myself didn’t do A-levels at school and we did just fine.

*Figures shown above are dependent on model choice.