Leasing & Car Allowance

[Blithespirit]

When I took my IVA out in 2007 I had a car allowance from my employer each month, the car was purchased on a loan which was part of the IVA so in effect no payments as part of I&E, I now have a 125k mileage and need a new car, the company pays this allowance to fund my car and I am now not sure what situation this leaves me in with regard to leasing a new car as finance is out for obvious reasons, my IP I could not speak to as I got through to a nice lady in Ireland who said I could have a two month break in my IVA to buy a new car but at appx 30K miles a year this is not going to be enough for a 1000 work miles a week car. she mentioned my payments could not drop but gave no other help, without a car I have no job as I travel (funny enough at 30k you probably guessed this!), any advice would be great as car is starting to cost more to maintain now and I am starting to wonder if I will lose my job due not having the car they are paying me for.

Thanks in advance

[MelanieGiles]

Hi there and welcome to the forum

Is there anyone else who could take out a car finance agreement for you - parents, relatives, friends? You could then treat this as car rental, and pay them a monthly sum deducted from your expenditure.

And do you definately need a new car - 125k mileage sounds high, but cars are built to last these days as well? Any chance you could use public transport for some of the travelling?

[Blithespirit]

Thanks for the reply , I have no family with the ability to help me with finance for a car and my partner also has a car on finance which rules her out. I travel up and down the country as an IT engineer carrying tools around in my car, I travel to London central on the train but it is sometimes not possible to travel with tools and baggage, also most places would mean three or four trains which extend work allocation days. the rules of the car allowance state the car should be under three years old and mine is seven at present. I am scared they will take this away from me if they find I cannot travel to the sites I am allocated to work from or within the timescales.

If there is nothing I can do I can only go for another job which means a cut in pay and reduced payments to my IVA because of I&E, my specialisation at work means country wide travel, another role would have to be a lesser role which means less pay.

I feel like devil and deep blue sea position at present as the car is a major requirement of my current job.

Thanks again for the help

[MelanieGiles]

Turning back the clocks to 2007, when you entered into the IVA, how did you address this issue or have your circumstances changed in the meantime?

IPs and their clients must look at the age of cars prior to entering into an IVA - especially if you have a contractual agreement with your employer to have a car of a certain age. This should always be questioned when a monthly car allowance is payable by employers.

[ivas4us]

Just slightly off track. I used to work for the local council and was provided with a low cost car loan for a car for work. After being transfered under TUPE keeping same terms and conditions to a housing association the regulatory body decided that the car loan was a perk (wouldnt need the car apart from work)and not allowed under what is termed as schedule 1 and therefore no longer available. The point I am trying to get to is that I could have started an IVA with the assumption that my car loan would be provided for by work and then later find out that my IVA may need to be re-arranged to suit a change in circumstances.

[MelanieGiles]

What compensation did you get for that change in your contract of employment Paul?

[Blithespirit]

Nothing was ever mentioned about the car at the time, maybe it was my fault for not asking as I took the ability to be re-assessed to mean if my needs changed I could re-evauate this in the same way I have had pay increases and this is also re-evaluated.
No one asked me about the car allowance when I offered up my I&E.
I did document that the amount for the car allowance was a car allowance for business use but that was about it really.

Is there any way to re-assess this, I do not want a reduction of my payments as I have just had a pay rise which is quite generous, I am waiting for a new I&E form to re-assess my payments, it is some of this I am looking to use for a car lease if possible. does this sound a likely option before I look for a new position? in effect my I&E would increase by the lease but also I am capable of increasing my payments at the same time, it must be a better option than losing my job or changing to a lesser paid role if I can find one in this current climate, or am I thinking totally wrong in how this all works


Thanks again for the help

[MelanieGiles]

You should definately try the option of finding car finance before you find a new job - although it won't be easy. There is a company called Duncton Leasing who will loan to people in IVAs, however they will want at least three rental payments up front and possibly more. I don't think your issue here is reassessing the payments, but finding someone to lend you the money in the first place, so have a good shop around to see what is available. Could your partner take this out in her name?

[Blithespirit]

Thanks Melanie, I will look at Dunctans, I am really worried about finding a leasing company and not being able to get the IVA to accept I need a car, I will propose my partner on the lease and then as you say see how it goes, I have at least more options and understanding now thanks to you of what is possible. the converstion with my new IP was not helpful which is the reason for my other post. I can only but try.

Thanks for the help

[ivas4us]

What compensation did you get for that change in your contract of employment Paul?

I wish, compensation and not for profit organisation do not appear in the same sentence. What I have lost over the years you would not believe. I was actually once told to stop in the office for a week to do some work and in hindsight should have asked for it in writing. Not long after I was disciplined for not going out to do my work. I was not the only one to be treated like this, I was the one that kept my job though.

[MelanieGiles]

I cannot see you having a problem with the IP not allowing you to take our new car finance, and if you do you could also use the new IVA Mediation Service on the forum to put your case across.

I may have details of another company - and will look into this for you tomorrow.