Directors are given company cars worth, on average, £37,746; meanwhile those for whom a company car is essential get vehicles worth far less. According to employment research firm Income Data Services (IDS), ‘essential job need’ drivers such as sales people to get cars worth £17,000 to £20,000 – they favour Volkswagens.
By contrast, 32.2% of company directors choose BMWs, 27.1% Audis and 23.7% Mercedes. Only 1.7% go for a Porsche or a Volkswagen.
Steve Tatton, editor of the IDS report Company Car Policies 2009/10, said: “Shareholders in UK PLC will be pleased to know that none of the companies reported they provide their directors with Ferraris.”
IDS said where directors were eligible for a status car, 46.3% of them chose to take it, with the rest taking a cash allowance instead. It said the average value of cash allowances for board directors is £10,217pa “which adds another 5.7% to their average salary of £178,735.”
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Further down the pay scale, company cars are much more popular than their cash equivalent said IDC. It said 67.7% of junior managers choose to take a status car rather than a cash equivalent. For junior managers the cash allowance is £4,915.
Tatton added: “Many times over the past 20 years the death of the company car has been widely predicted, but we are far from the end of the road and managers can expect the perk for many years to come.”
