Pavel Danilyuk/ Pexels
Choosing a company car is different to choosing a personal vehicle. While it’s still important to choose a vehicle that you enjoy driving, it needs to be affordable and practical for your business needs. Here are some of the factors that are important to weigh up.
Cost to Buy/ Lease You should start by considering your budget. If you can’t buy a car outright, you will likely need to buy a car on finance or lease a car. Compare monthly rates on different vehicles to find a car that you can reasonably afford. Consider looking into dealerships that offer used vehicles from top brands such as this Audi A3 car dealership. Fuel Efficiency You don’t want to be spending too much money on fuel. By choosing a smaller or newer vehicle, you can guarantee better fuel economy. A growing number of businesses are choosing electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles - being able to electronically charge your vehicle could greatly save you money and be good for your business’s carbon footprint. Just make sure to consider the driving range. Reliability Constantly having to fix your vehicle could get expensive and it could result in downtime that could affect your efficiency and reputation. This is why it’s important to choose a reliable vehicle as your company car. Looking for something newish from a reliable brand. You can compare the reliability of different car models online. Insurance Fees It’s also important to consider how much insurance fees will cost you. Some cars are very expensive to insure - especially if you have a job title that is considered high risk. Lower value and smaller cars tend to cost less to insure and could be a good choice if you want to keep insurance rates low. Tax Benefits Driving costs may be deductible from your company tax bill. It depends on the vehicle as to how much of your expenses you can deduct from your tax. Hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles have some great perks such as a 100% year one deduction. This could be worth taking advantage of as a business owner. Aesthetics Your car needs to be in good condition and it needs to look professional. Consider a relatively new saloon car in black or white (other colours could be worth considering if you want to reflect your brand colours). It’s best to avoid anything too sporty or luxurious unless you’re serving high-end clients - an expensive-looking vehicle may suggest that you charge overly high rates. Business Needs What are you going to use your business vehicle for? Assessing your needs will help you to choose the most appropriate vehicle. A pickup truck may be necessary if you’re having to carry large equipment or materials. If you’re likely to be picking up clients, you may need a comfortable interior and plenty of seating. For travelling around a city and easy parking, a smaller vehicle may be better suited for your work. If you need to tow a trailer, a larger vehicle with a tow bar could be a good option.
0 Comments
 Image credit: Burst on Pexels Starting your new business is a journey that will take you through many ups and downs. That said, it is exciting and one which is extremely rewarding. Plus, many people say working for themselves is the best thing they have ever done. When starting your business, there are many things to consider: branding, finances to websites, and funding. Below is an overview of a few things you should consider when starting your own business.
Creating your website Will you be making your website yourself or hire a professional to make one for you? Depending on your requirements, a website will help bring in new customers to your business and allow you to appeal to them in a different way. Before starting your website, make sure you put a plan together of what you will need on it and the type of website it will be, whether eCommerce, or a brochure-like site. Accounts package When running your business, it is important to stay on top of your finances. Using an account package, you will be able to track how you are doing instantly through a click of a button. Not only that, but you will also be able to send invoices and keep an eye on your expenses. By using digital accounting, you can easily allow your accountant access to your books without having to visit them in person. This will enable them to log in and see how you are performing without leaving their office to meet you; it can all be done over a phone call. How will you brand yourself? Logos, brand colors, and marketing materials should all be thought about before launching your company. Your logo is important, as everyone will see first and give them the first impression of your business. Done cheaply, it can be detrimental to your brand. Brand colors can portray a lot about you; if you are a luxury brand, you may want more gold’s and silvers used instead of bright funky colors. By hiring a graphic designer, they can help you with all of this. Testing your idea in the real world If your idea is completely new, how do you know it will work? Before investing heavily in your idea, it’s worth creating some prototypes and seeing how people respond to it. This is a great way to get actual feedback and to get other people’s opinions. Take note of what people are saying is you can use this to develop your idea and make it even better. Will you need investment? Will your business plan require you to need significant investment, or can you gradually grow your business? If you need investment, have you considered how you are going to raise funds? Make sure you do your research and put together a solid business plan to explain each step of your journey and how the money will be spent. Angel investors, bank loans, competitions, friends, and family, there are many ways for you to pitch and bring in some funding for your idea. If you want to save up money prior to starting your own business, then looking at diversifying your income can help you build up a pot to get you up and running. You can get a lodger licence template and rent out a spare room, you can create a side hustle that allows you to save up to have funding available and gain experience in running a company, or you can sell off items you own. Knowing where the money is coming from is vital.  Photo credit: apost.com "When leaders forget about the human element, they're holding back their companies and limiting the success of others." Sheldon Yellen, CEO of property-restoration company Belfor Holdings, hand-writes 9,200 birthday cards a year! You can read more in Business Insider!
 In the world of more and more companies trying to adopt a four-day workweek, Microsoft Japan tried it and saw a 40% increase in productivity! CNN Business has more on what could become more common!
 For weeks you've wanted out, had enough of the daily crap you've had to deal with, but the question is, "Is it nuts to quit your job with no backup plan?" The Muse has some insight in how to approach this question!
 Whether you like your job or not and if you don't, what are you doing to escape it?? The Muse have five things that you should get at work, yes even if you don't like the place!
 Photo credit: Englishfirst.com We've all had that moment in an interview where you are asked, what are your strengths and weaknesses, but how do you answer those questions without sounding too big headed or not good enough? The Muse have some great tips with examples!
 Photo credit: Firstlegal.com A good routine has been proven to provide a structure to your day no matter how much is 'going on' right now. Entrepreneur Europe has 14 hacks to boost your day!
 Photo credit: community.babycenter.com We all have them, we all know them, but aside from listening to Linda complaining again about her working on the late shift and Jonny wishing he wasn't working in this 'hellhole', the question is, how do you handle them?? CNN Business has some words of advice!
|
Author - chrisAuthor, Editor, Creator of this website. Archives
November 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed