Don’t delay taking your company car

COMPANY car drivers are being warned to buy their new cars before the end of the year when a valuable tax break disappears.

Drivers of diesel cars could typically be forced to pay an extra £ 200 to £ 300 a year in tax if they take a new car after January 1. The change could eventually hit hundreds of thousands of drivers.

Currently drivers of some diesel cars pay an extra 3pc tax on top of the amount motorists pay for having a petrol company car, as diesel is deemed to be more damaging to the environment.

However, the Government has been encouraging take- up of cleaner diesel cars by waiving this 3 pc surcharge for vehicles that meet a European technology mark called Euro IV. This waiver is to be scrapped because around 95 pc of cars are now Euro IV compliant.

But if you register a new car before the end of the year, you will keep the tax break for the life of the car. Unsurprisingly, the January 1 deadline has not been very well publicised.

Spencer King, brand manager for LeasePlan, says: ‘ This is an issue which a lot of people need to be made aware of as they could save themselves hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, if they act before the deadline.’

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), two million cars were registered in the first nine months of this year, of which just over one million were company cars. A total of 35 pc of all cars registered are diesel, so the tax change will eventually affect hundreds of thousands of motorists. A spokesman for SMMT says: ‘We would have liked to have seen the diesel waiver phased out gradually rather than just ending suddenly at the end of the year.

‘ This will skew the

market as lots of people

will now go and register

a new car in the next

few weeks rather than a

smooth series of

registrations next

February and March.’

j. harper@ dailymail. co. uk