Novated And Operating Leases - For Imports

[saff_cossie]

Ferni are you an accountant! These figures are consistent with the ones my girlfriend talks about which don't take long to lose me!

The idea sounds appealing but my KM's are only about 15K a year.

% figures aside, the noticeable difference is going to be on a car that requires "maintenance" of a significant amount or has high running costs? And also on a car that clocks up a fair few KM's?

For instance, we have owned our Lexus for one year. In that year I have paid for one 60K service costing me $300, fully comp insurance for $600, RACV breakdown of $166 and one tank of petrol per week.

Sorry if I am missing the point slightly here but keen to understand:)

[Mean_R34]

My work offers novated leases via a salary sacrifice arrangement.

Another thing too is that they lease company charge you $400 per year for using the service (like an account keeping fee).

In Ferni's circumstances, if he savedseveral $,000 per year, he would still be in front.

I wish mine was novated now as my gearbox needs rebuilding/replacing which is gonna cost big bucks.

D'oh!

[Mean_R34]

Oh, and the other thing is...

Imagine "Person A" leases a new Commodore (for example - typical fleet car) and does 40,000kms per year

Would that same person (let alone an SAU enthusiast) want to be doing 30 or 40 thou kms a year in a Skyline, especially a GTR. It's almost unheard of.

Due to this, and the high cost of running the things, is an enthusiasts car like ours worth the nov lease, or would you go the Falcon/Commodore or WRX locally sold car?

[ferni]

Alan: haha nope not a bean counter... just did my research before getting into it... no point doing it if it wasn't going to save me $$...

As for your kms only being 15k a year... let me put it this way.. the lease company never actually view the car... at the end of the FBT year you are made to fill out a form saying how many kms are on the odo..... and i put in the odo when i fill up with the fuel card.... think about it

Probably not much point doing it if you're going to be in the 20% FBT bracket....

one tank of petrol per week would be around $3000, insurance you said $600... your servicing is pretty cheap at only $300, but what about when you need new tyres? there's $1000 give or take... add rego another $500.. thats nearly 6k right there which you wouldn't be paying GST and would be pre-tax.... Also insurance is usually cheaper via a fleet policy.. just cars wanted 2.5k for me with my GTR, i pay 1,100 via the fleet policy so theres more money saved...

You should really do your own figures to work out if it would be better for you (or ask an accountant if your still not sure)... the calculators on gefleet.com.au and nlc.com.au and dspack.com.au are very handy to punch in some figures...

Mean_R34: yep right, there is usually an admin fee, mine is no where near $400 a year tho i don't think, maybe 100-200, can't remember... as for the km's thing, read above... be creative

[saff_cossie]

Ferni - Thanks for the info mate, making more sense. I had forgotten rego which was $500 odd.

Lexus are renowned as cheap cars to service from all accounts I have heard just not cheap purchase price

I have just renewed the insurance last week which has now dropped to $500 for the two of us with RACV so am very happy with that. B)

While I will need new tyres eventually, I was basing figures on the previous years financial outlay to see if I would have been much better off. (not meant to sound abrupt and have now typed this 3 different ways to try and avoid that!lol!)

I might chat to the g/f about it. I know the finance for mine is through Lexus and it was a business type finance so I could depreciate it through my business. Something along those lines. The g/f does all my tax and depreciation etc and BAS so will see what she says.

I really should pay more attention financially!

Thanks for all the info Andrew, have learnt quite a bit.

[ferni]

No probs dude. It may or may not work out better for you... depends on your sitch i guess

Any more questions, im happy to help.

[QuickR33Melb]

All very interesting. In my particular case the company picks up the Fringe Benifit Tax (FBT) difference if we don't do enough km's which is very handy.

Even if I am forced to buy new there are some decent Oz released cars available (example, evo 9, Sti)

Ferni - You seem like the expert on this so thanks for all your replies.

For everyone else its a point that you should raise with your employers as it is a viable and much less expensive way to purchase a car under certain conditions.

Funnily enough I'm an Operations Accountant for Maccas still find it tricky!

Edited November 16, 2005 by QuickR33Melb

[ferni]

haha yeah, I recon i know more about it than our novated leasing officer. And your right, evo9 or sti would be a good choice, brand new, warrenty, no suprise expenses