How to manage your car costs as a small business

Logistics

If you run a business that needs to either get your employees out to various locations across the country or you have products that need to be delivered, then transportation is a cost that you will no doubt wrestle with.

Managing your car costs when you are a small business can be a headache. Firstly, there is a lot of work that goes into managing your company vehicles, from choosing them through to maintaining them, there are continual expenses. Then you need to think about the running costs including road tax, insurance, and importantly, fuel costs.

When it comes to looking at a company vehicle, it is always vital that you look at the total cost of ownership and not just the price of the car finance or lease agreement.

So, when managing the car costs of your small business, you should consider both financing and fuel costs.

Finding The Right Finance Options

There are plenty of different options available when it comes to buying or leasing your company vehicle, and it is important that you consider your options carefully. Many of the options will mean that you won’t own the vehicle, and so it will never be a fixed asset for your business.

There are advantages to leasing which can be very attractive. With depreciation being a major factor in vehicle ownership, often, if a company car is sold on, it will have lost a considerable amount of mileage very quickly due to the high business miles that it has travelled. This leads to a greater loss when selling or trading the car in when it is time to replace it. Leasing does not come with the same risk of loss. After the lease agreement is up, you can opt to replace the vehicle with a new model such as this from Economy Leasing.

Using Fuel Cards To Manage Your Running Costs

Whether your business runs a fleet of vans, or you have employees that need to travel long distances in company cars, managing fuel costs can be tricky. Some companies will opt to allow employees to manage their own fuel, and claim back expenses. There are drawbacks in this system, and there is often the potential for exploitation to occur or mistakes to get made.  Processing expenses claims for fuel costs can also add to the workload of your accounts teams.

Fuel cards such as the ones at www.icompario.com provide a more efficient system of dealing with this continual business expense. A fuel card makes it easier for your employees to buy fuel when they are out on the road. They are widely accepted in petrol stations all over the country and minimise the need for employees to track their fuel expense claims.

The fuel card can be linked to a specific registration plate meaning there is no risk of expenses fraud, meaning your company gets additional security through the implementation of this practical system.

Fuel cards make it easier for your accounts team, and managing VAT returns is simplified greatly when dealing with a single fuel card account rather than having to handle a stack of receipts.