To ask do you pay for your own car or is it a joint purchase?

[Rubyrose80]

My husband is getting a new car through work everything paid for no tax or insurance. This has come in handy as his old car was on the way out and we were discussing purchasing a new car this year. The company car he will get in work will only be a small city car and whilst he has it for personal use too with small children it will not suit long journeys and he will have that car the majority of the time with him which is fine. I own the main family car which I bought and paid for myself out of some money I had been given. As we don't have to buy him a new car I thought we could upgrade mine to something a bit newer as it needs a bit of work on it and is 8 years old. I'd like to upgrade to something maybe 2 years old and slightly roomier. DH has said he has no problem upgrading my car but I need to be able to pay for it myself each month. AIBU to feel that as we are a family we should both contribute to the car especially as we will both be driving it? Basically when all the bills are paid and savings are put in me and DH are left with 700 each spending money to do what we want. The car will cost 300 a month to finance so I feel we should contribute 150 each whereas he feels I should pay the whole 300 leaving me with 400 a month and him with 700 then he gets to still drive it. Just wondering AIBU to expect this and what do others do when you'd buy a new car?

well perhaps they are barbara, i just don't myself, i earn what i earn and it's not shared apart from bills etc

It would be a joint purchase for us too.

However a PP makes a good point about benefit in kind. If your OH has to pay extra tax does that get included in the remaining money you split? Ie is your £700 now lower because he is paying this? If it is then this car should be split or he should pay all the tax.

i think it's a pretty utopian view that all parties would accept this.human nature as it is

Yes, his car is paid for by work so the OP is in effect paying towards it anyway, with reduced personal spends:

Say they both earn £2k per month, but DH only comes out with £1800 because of payments for his car. If their bills etc were £2600 and the DH didn't have the car, they each have £700 pm spending money.

But due to the car, they have £1200 left after bills, so get £600 each, ie they are both paying towards DH company car, so they should also both pay towards a car for the OP.

All money earned I'd "family" money here. But we also pay cash for cars so would only buy what we could afford.

It should be a joint purchase but both agree on money borrowed to finance it.

You don't need a new car, you just want one.

Save up for one and buy it outright.

Always paid for my own while I was working. But now as a SAHP I can't afford to, so my husband pays for most things, although I would use my 'allowance' for petrol etc, but wouldn't be worried to ask for more money if I had other things to buy.

Previously (when I was working, now SAHM), DH and I paid for our own cars pre-children. I would not expect a greatly increased contribution towards a family car in the situation that you mention as the company car would attract income tax anyway.

IME, a small city car would be an unusual choice for a company car. Has he picked that for tax reasons?

£300 a month is a very high finance agreement for a car - what is it?!

£300 isn't a high finance agreement at all. It's probably what you'd pay for a not particularly high end version of a standard medium sized car, ie Golf, Focus etc. You wouldn't get it for much less unless you were putting down thousands as a deposit.

Jointly. Technically DH's bonuses paid for both of our current cars and mine cost 6k more than his but my savings paid the deposit on our house and my bonuses have paid for holidays in the past. We don't think of it like that though as we have joint finances. Still, perhaps your DH doesn't want to spend that much on a car right now? Joint finances, joint decision? Maybe you need to talk about how you would fund a new car if yours packed in completely.

Our money is family money here.
Cars are something we need for the family.
If the car needs replacing, then that is a decision taken together about how we prioritise / save up for.
I though company cars were heavily taxed these days? So it isn't costing nothing, it is reducing the income into the family each month, so that is a consideration.
Seems odd to be paying out £300 a month for a car deal though, when you are clearly very flush if you have £1400 a month between you 'just for spends'. Why not save up and buy your next car outright, next year sometime?

£300 isn't a high finance agreement at all. It's probably what you'd pay for a not particularly high end version of a standard medium sized car, ie Golf, Focus etc. You wouldn't get it for much less unless you were putting down thousands as a deposit.

I was offered £218 a month for a year old X3 with very low mileage. Ended up buying it cash but £300 a month still seems high compared to the finance options I looked at.

£300 a month would buy you a car around £28-35k brand new, depending on the deposit you put down. So a high spec car from a mainstream manufacturer eg. Mazda 3, or a mid to low spec small premium car eg. Bmw 1 series

The family car is a joint purchase & treated like any other joint bill.

I think if it's the main family car that you'd both use at weekends, holidays etc. then a joint purchase is reasonable but would also need to be agreed by both.

Something 2 years old for £300 per month seems a lot, could you set your sights a bit lower?

Also agree with other posters that a company car with private use is a taxable benefit, so don't understand how there will be no tax unless his company isn't declaring it or they've increased his salary to cover the cost.

I just financed a 2 year old c max for me. I'm paying it all though the reduction in tax, insurance etc were taken into account when agreeing to the 200 a month finance. I needed a decent reliable car. Dh will drive it as he's a more confident driver than me but its my car.

We both put in for bills, rest of money is each to their own but obvs we pay for shopping/ meals out etc for each other. I think yabu as you don't really need a new one.

We buy our own but they are always bought outright.
When DH gets his dream car next year I would quite like his current car. Not done this before so will probably give him equivalent trade in.

I pay for mine. It is leased though, not bought.
DH also has a company car which he can use for personal use so we do use this for holidays etc - it is the opposite to you though as his is a huge estate and mine is smaller (although not a tiny car).
We also have a 4x4 which we both use on occasion for off road activity (I have a horse to tow too). We pay for this jointly.
My lease car goes back soon, but I'll probably get another and fully intend that I will pay for it.
If DH changes job the company car will go, so he will then either have to run the 4x4 (not viable long term) or buy something else himself.

We are very "in" to cars though so they aren't just functional for us. If we both just needed 2 old bangers then we might fund it differently.