My Tesla Model 3

[IT]

Originally Posted by sarg

Ian, what are the tax advantages - maybe I should change my accountant, but when I asked her, she was clueless!

I run my cars as private cars and pay myself a mileage allowance, rather than as a company car. I could consider a Tesla as a company car, but with the advent of IR35 rule changes next year, I might find myself contracting inside IR35 which would mean making the ltd company dormant or liquidised, so not sure that would be a sensible route right now.

Here is my understanding, but please do your own research to confirm:

I'm running mine as a company for the main reason that its widely accepted that the BIK will drop to 0% for EV's next April, 1% the next year, and 2% the year after - So, essentially, you're getting a company car - paid for by pretax money - for not a lot of dosh.

You also get a 100% first year capital allowance against the full cost of the car if its new, and 'bought', rather than leased.

VAT is 50% reclaimable if leased, 100% reclaimable if the car is used solely for business purposes and 0% reclaimable if purchased for personal use.

As a company car, insurance, tax (yes it has road duty as its > 40K value), servicing (none to speak of really), tyres , accessories, home charging points etc can all go through the business.

But. If you do high business miles, and rake in the statutory allowances, with electric being so much cheaper, you might well be quids in running it personally.

I intend to use it mainly for a commute work, personal use, and a few business miles, hence I opted for the company can route.

Originally Posted by sarg

As for charging, I travel around the country, often staying in hotels, but rarely see hotels with operational charging points, and those that do tend to be rather expensive - any tips on this aspect?

Its early days for my experiences, but I would agree that relying on hotels to charge up could be hit and miss. I leave the car trickle charging at home every night, and use the Tesla Superchargers to top up on route if I head long distance. I've found public car parks have more charging points than I first realised, and often they are free to charge with. Additionally, there are public charging points at every motorway service area I've seen, and when I was first trying them out, I never had to queue. (i don't bother with them now, as the Tesla chargers are plentiful, familiar, easier to use and faster)

In your position, i'd probably look to supercharge it up before I arrive at the hotel, and treat any charging facilities as a bonus...... Depends on how far and wide you travel though, obviously.