Over the past 21 years I was fortunate enough to have a company car, which included everything from car, fuel, maintenance, etc.
However the Pick n Pay IT Tecnical staff are being outsourced to IBM and now I will go onto a Travel Allowance from 1st March. I am not sure what the tax implications will be, but it seems that the first 20% of the allowance is exempted from tax with the remainder being taxed at the normal rate.
My problem is that I am not sure what to look for as there are so many vehicles available in both the new and secondhand market. Based on my limited knowledge concerning what amount of cash to expect from said allowance and attempting to factor in fuel, insurance and maintenance I figure I could look at between R200,000 and R250,000.
Let me first state what type of car we am thinking of. Preferably a SUV or MPF type vehicle, including double-cab bakkies. Off-roading(4x4) is not a requirement, but it should be able to handle roughish gravel roads when necessary.
This weekend we looked at a number of cars and I must admit, the more we see, the more difficult it becomes.
Amongst these were:
Kia Sportage(2nd hand)
BMW X3 V6(2 x 2nd hand)
Mercedes Benz ML55(2nd Hand)
Nissan Navara(2nd hand)
Nissan Qashqai(2nd hand)
Pajero(2nd hand)
Then just to complicate matters even further we saw a few C-Class Mercs, BMW 3-series and a few Lexus IS250 and GS300. Now I hear you ask, why look at these if we want a SUV? Simply because they were there and I also have this fantasy of owning a Lexus.
On the "new" market there are a few offerings from GWM as well as the Tata Xenon, but how good are they really?
Any suggestions?
However the Pick n Pay IT Tecnical staff are being outsourced to IBM and now I will go onto a Travel Allowance from 1st March. I am not sure what the tax implications will be, but it seems that the first 20% of the allowance is exempted from tax with the remainder being taxed at the normal rate.
My problem is that I am not sure what to look for as there are so many vehicles available in both the new and secondhand market. Based on my limited knowledge concerning what amount of cash to expect from said allowance and attempting to factor in fuel, insurance and maintenance I figure I could look at between R200,000 and R250,000.
Let me first state what type of car we am thinking of. Preferably a SUV or MPF type vehicle, including double-cab bakkies. Off-roading(4x4) is not a requirement, but it should be able to handle roughish gravel roads when necessary.
This weekend we looked at a number of cars and I must admit, the more we see, the more difficult it becomes.
Amongst these were:
Kia Sportage(2nd hand)
BMW X3 V6(2 x 2nd hand)
Mercedes Benz ML55(2nd Hand)
Nissan Navara(2nd hand)
Nissan Qashqai(2nd hand)
Pajero(2nd hand)
Then just to complicate matters even further we saw a few C-Class Mercs, BMW 3-series and a few Lexus IS250 and GS300. Now I hear you ask, why look at these if we want a SUV? Simply because they were there and I also have this fantasy of owning a Lexus.
On the "new" market there are a few offerings from GWM as well as the Tata Xenon, but how good are they really?
Any suggestions?
