Should I buy it through the company?

UK Ltd company director — used car — total cost of ownership comparison. All four scenarios, side by side. Edit any number below and the results update instantly.

Edit assumptions

Your tax position

Annual salary£/yr

Annual dividends£/yr

EV

Purchase price£

Depreciation rate%/yr

P11D (list new)£

Efficiencymi/kWh

Petrol

Purchase price£

Depreciation rate%/yr

P11D (list new)£

Fuel economympg

Running costs & usage

Annual mileagemi/yr

Ownership periodyears

Insurance£/yr

Home charging %%

Smart meter / EV tariff?

Charger install£

EV service (per yr)£

ICE service (per yr)£

Employer NI rate%

Fixed 2026/27 rates

Tax

Corporation tax (small profits)19%

Personal allowance£12,570

Basic rate bandup to £50,270

Dividend allowance£500

Dividend tax (basic)10.75%

Dividend tax (higher)35.75%

WDA main pool rate14%/yr

WDA (Writing Down Allowance) = how HMRC lets the company deduct the car's cost from taxable profits, spread over years. 14% of the remaining pool value is deducted each year.

BIK

EV BIK 2026/274%

EV BIK 2027/285%

EV BIK 2028/297%

EV BIK 2029/30+9%

ICE BIK (113 g/km)28%

Energy & VED

Home electricity (standard)24.67p/kWh

Home electricity (EV tariff)7.5p/kWh

Public charging54p/kWh

Petrol136.9p/litre

VED (used car)£200/yr

MOT£55/yr

The bottom line

Full cost breakdown

Every line item, side by side. Negative numbers = money back (tax relief).

At a glance

What you need to know

Legal 100% personal use is fine. HMRC explicitly allows company cars used entirely for personal journeys. You pay BIK tax — that's the deal. Thousands of directors do this. gov.uk source ↗
Legal Used EVs don't get 100% FYA. Only new/unused EVs qualify for 100% First-Year Allowance. Used ones go into the 14% WDA main pool. gov.uk source ↗
Tax BIK is on P11D, not purchase price. A £28k list-price car bought for £11k is still taxed on £28k. This is the law — no way around it, but at 4% for EVs it's small. gov.uk source ↗
Tax WDA main pool rate drops to 14% from April 2026 (was 18%). A new 40% First-Year Allowance exists for new main-rate expenditure, but cars are explicitly excluded. gov.uk source ↗
Tax Electricity ≠ fuel for HMRC. No fuel benefit charge for EVs. Company can pay for public charging with zero additional BIK. This is the key EV advantage. gov.uk source ↗
Tax Charger install: 100% FYA, no BIK. Extended to March 2027. Company pays, you get a free charger, no personal tax liability. gov.uk source ↗
Admin BIK must be payrolled from April 2026. HMRC is ending P11D reporting for most benefits. Set car up as fixed asset in main pool, payroll the BIK monthly. FreeAgent supports this. gov.uk source ↗
Watch Insurance needs sorting. The company must be the policyholder for a company-owned car — standard personal comparison sites won't work. Call insurers directly and tell them it's a company vehicle.
Tax Extraction tax isn't a real HMRC charge. It's the hidden cost of funding a personal purchase from company profits. Money travels: profit → corporation tax (19%) → dividend → dividend tax (~10.75%) → your pocket. By the time £1 of profit becomes personal cash, roughly 28p is lost. So a £11k car effectively costs the company ~£15k to fund personally. Company car scenarios avoid this entirely — the company buys direct.
Watch eVED (pay-per-mile) starts April 2028. Electric vehicles will pay 3p/mile on top of standard VED. At 5,000 miles/yr that's £150/yr extra. This calculator models eVED for any ownership years that fall from 2028/29 onwards — it won't show up if your ownership period ends before then. Petrol cars already pay fuel duty at the pump so have no equivalent new charge. gov.uk consultation ↗