Buying a company car

[The_SJB]

Hello everyone.
I am in the process of buying a car for my company and would like to know if somebody here has gone through this process and had any advice to share.
The main issue is that I am not buying it from a dealer but from a private. I already have my financing approval from the bank but would like to know what the correct flow of actions to take would be in order not to get stuck in any bottleneck. Say for instance, do I need the insurance them moment I get the keys or can I drive it back to my place with the previous owner's insurance, what it the timeline for the transfer of funds, etc.

Any help greatly appreciated!

[Upphew]

Hello everyone.
I am in the process of buying a car for my company and would like to know if somebody here has gone through this process and had any advice to share.
The main issue is that I am not buying it from a dealer but from a private. I already have my financing approval from the bank but would like to know what the correct flow of actions to take would be in order not to get stuck in any bottleneck. Say for instance, do I need the insurance them moment I get the keys or can I drive it back to my place with the previous owner's insurance, what it the timeline for the transfer of funds, etc.

Any help greatly appreciated!

You don't want to buy it from private unless the price is 24% lower or there isn't anything available from companies. You get to deduct VAT when you buy from company, not so with private persons.

Sellers insurance covers the car for 7 days iirc. And you should do the registration during that time too, iirc. Transfer of funds you can do as you like, but usually the sellers want to see cash or money in account before handing over the keys.

[Rosamunda]

Upphew,

Are you sure that companies charge VAT on sales on second-hand cars? I'm not so sure. Isn't it so that they have to calculate the "marginal" VAT and add it to the price AND return it to the state (because dealers are buying 2nd hand cars from private persons, not companies, usually). For the buyer this is totally transparent: there is no sales VAT visible on the invoice (and therefore it is not deductible anyway). That is generally how VAT works on second-hand goods. But cars might be an exception. I'm not sure.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ta ... dex_en.htm

Anyone bought a second-hand car from a dealer recently? It would be interesting to see if VAt is shown on the invoice.

[cors187]

http://www.vero.fi/en-US/Precise_inform ... 2815591%29

[Upphew]

Upphew,

Are you sure that companies charge VAT on sales on second-hand cars? I'm not so sure. Isn't it so that they have to calculate the "marginal" VAT and add it to the price AND return it to the state (because dealers are buying 2nd hand cars from private persons, not companies, usually). For the buyer this is totally transparent: there is no sales VAT visible on the invoice (and therefore it is not deductible anyway). That is generally how VAT works on second-hand goods. But cars might be an exception. I'm not sure.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ta ... dex_en.htm

Anyone bought a second-hand car from a dealer recently? It would be interesting to see if VAt is shown on the invoice.

If you go to a dealer and pick a used car, then most likely it won't have VAT in the price. Cars that have been used by a company only for conducting the business have vat in the price. So the company car for ceo won't have vat in the price but the van most likely will.

[Pursuivant]

You also should calculate the depreciation (as you can't deduct the car value as one lump off the taxes) and then the tax depreciation was it 3 or 5 years you need to deduct the hardware, and what the actual maintenance costs etc. are and if you get any money when you sell the car.... thats why a lot of "company cars" are leasing - if they are vanilla sedans or vans....specialized equipment is slightly different.