2016 CLS 350d 1 year of ownership cost review

[cdcls]

Previous to buying the Benz I had a company car, but due to ever increasing BIK rates I opted out. So upon purchase I decided I'd track every penny spent so I could compare whether I was better or worse off than being in the BIK scheme.

So having done that I thought there might be some interest to see what it has actually been sunk into 1 years ownership, so here goes!

I spent £2100.67 on diesel, averaging 34.1mpg over 11608 miles. This works out to 18 pence per mile on fuel alone.



Next up, tax, insurance, service, MOT and tyres. This total came to £1392.99



So actual spend out the pocket was for the year was £3493.66. This now brings us to 31 pence per mile.

Now for the one people love to forget about, depreciation. I bought the car as a Merc approved used, so I paid retail albeit with some shrewd negotiation involved. Cash deal, no finance, so no hidden costs there. CAP clean valuation of the car is 5k less than paid for it (insert some kind of shuddering emoji here), but private / retail valuation is much closer at only 3k less than I paid.

So if I went to trade in now I could be in the hole for £8.5k for the year, or hold out and try and sell private and it would be £6.5k.

Am I selling it? nope, no way. (maybe for a petrol :¬)

 

[MCFastybloke]

how does this compare to your company car cost? Did you win?

 

[cdcls]

It's very close, but depends which way I were to sell the car.

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[tangey]

Should you be spreading the cost of the tyres over more than 1 year, or did you get the tyres at the same time as the car and they are now knackered after 11.6K miles ?

 

[cdcls]

Should you be spreading the cost of the tyres over more than 1 year, or did you get the tyres at the same time as the car and they are now knackered after 11.6K miles ?

That was just for the rears. Fronts will need doing before winter sets in.

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[wivenhoe]

So actual spend out the pocket was for the year was £3493.66. This now brings us to 31 pence per mile.

Now for the one people love to forget about, depreciation. I bought the car as a Merc approved used, so I paid retail albeit with some shrewd negotiation involved. Cash deal, no finance, so no hidden costs there. CAP clean valuation of the car is 5k less than paid for it (insert some kind of shuddering emoji here), but private / retail valuation is much closer at only 3k less than I paid.

So if I went to trade in now I could be in the hole for £8.5k for the year, or hold out and try and sell private and it would be £6.5k.

Am I selling it? nope, no way. (maybe for a petrol :¬)[/QUOTE

Just to make you feel better. I am px'ing my E350e against a new BMW 530e - the BMW px allowance was higher than Mere offered against a new E300e. I got £ 11k off list when I bought the E350e March 18 so cost £ 46k. The most I can get for it now is £ 29k so £ 17k for 15,000 miles and 20 months = £ 1.13 / mile with fuel at about £ 15p so about £ 1.28. However, I bought it through my company so I saved £ 9k in Corp Tax which significantly eased the pain, albeit I had to pay some personal tax

 

[cdcls]

20 months is an odd short term. Any reason to chop in now considering it will be evening out that initial depreciation slump?

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[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

I work part time (4 days , hopefully soon down to 3 ) , and am now mostly office based.My company car is now an old Ex -pool car Fiesta . My wife has a low mileage ***X1 , (didn`t want to use a swear word) , and my personal car is a Boxster . I pay for my own fuel and never use the Fiesta apart from commuting 19 miles each way and the odd visit to customers ( when I fill up on the company card) . I don`t want to use the Porsche as a daily driver and whilst it seems rather over the top to have a third car I am leaning towards buying a diesel automatic as the continual stop-start Weston-Super-Mare to Avonmouth journey and ever worsening M5 traffic is a ballache. Looking at a starting point way below the OP`s budget I am considering buying something for just a few grand which will see out a couple of years commute ( I am 67 years old) , but with a bit more comfort . The BIK for the Fiesta is £5624 which nets out at £1125 cost to me .My wife would be happy for me to use her car and her to drive the third ( cheap!) car , but I prefer to keep her X1 "for best".

 

[Deleted member 149005]

S

It's very close, but depends which way I were to sell the car.

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What would the company car actually cost you? If I understand correctly you only pay tax on the BIK not the actual BiK value?

 

[wivenhoe]

20 months is an odd short term. Any reason to chop in now considering it will be evening out that initial depreciation slump?

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I am buying the 530e as a company car, the E350e is one. I am looking to close the business and get the assets (including the car) under entrepreneurial relief. So, by buying now I can offset 100% of the cost to change against corporation tax (its below 50 emissions) and then get the car for 10% of its market value in a few months. I thought that way, it doesn't cost me a great deal to have a new car with 3 years warranty for my retirement. Another point, is that BMW have a HV battery warranty which guarantees the battery to have at least 75% charge at 6 years - the Merc battery warranty just covers the battery against total failure over 6 years - big difference.