Around half of all the new cars sold in any given year, are sold to companies for use as company vehicles, and I dunno about you, but that’s something I’ve always found more than slightly unusual.
I have no doubt, that if my employer was to say, “Here you go Ray. Here are the keys to a new vehicle,” I would grab it quick-smart! After all, gift horse and all that!
“The fuel card is in the glovebox, and you can only use it on company business (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), there’s a good lad.” Then I would wake up! I’m not that lucky! Like most of us, I have to pay from my wheels out of my own pocket, and it’s certainly one of life’s wee mysteries, isn’t it? That those of us who earn lesser salaries have to buy our own vehicles, while those on mega-salaries always seem to get the company car, emphasising the ironic view that ‘the less you need, the more you get given.’
As I said, I’m not moralising here, as I would take a company car if it was offered, quicker than a mother-in-law’s good humour. It does appear though that much of the rationale for company car assignment is to make it an easy and reliable method of ensuring employees get to work on time. Aw diddums... no buses? No taxis? So how on earth do the tens of thousands of ‘great unwashed,’ get to work? They walk, take buses, taxis, carpool, or buy a car! One of their own, probably from OLX or one of the Internet sites, so they can buy something that looks just a little better than it is, so they don’t feel too out-of-place in the company carpark...
The reality is that having a company car is great, especially those with children, as access to a second car means that employees with families have more flexibility with their personal transportation. Yes... now you don’t need a family vehicle, your wife can buy that sporty little number she’s been looking at, or the people-carrier to get the kids to school, OMG... or what about a Hummer to do all the desert trips and mountaineering? Woo hoo! The good news just never stops does it? Aaaaaaand... Think about this... You can sleep in longer if you are one of those modern-day, young upwardly mobile working couples, because... you... no longer... have to... share a car. Now you can sleep in longer, way hey... and leave later, because you each have a car. Dumpty doo... Dumpty day... Start with a smile... every day...
The other really good thing... of course it doesn’t apply in Oman because there is no income tax (yet), but you can even have the option, which again is never made available to the ‘plebs,’ of a ‘salary sacrifice scheme, which reduces your income tax obligations, and means you pay less tax, thus making you a fiscal beneficiary within your society, as you are earning more, yet paying less, than Joe Bloggs down the road... Winner, winner, chicken dinner. The company car... It’s the gift that just keeps on giving... innit?
And look, while much of this is ‘tongue-in-cheek,’ and maybe a touch of the green-eyed-monster has reared his ugly head too, it is a fact that many of the high-income earners are getting any of good amount of salary. If that can’t motivate them... they don’t need a new car as well... and don’t get me started on expenses and expense accounts... those working on the factory floors, and at the company ‘coal-face,’ deserve some ‘freebies’ a darn sight more.
No, the reality is that company cars have been perpetuated by motor vehicle dealers, and in more recent years by car-leasing companies, as a means of moving heaps of cars in big numbers, as the new vehicle retail market has contracted in recent decades. ‘Money men’ do tend to ‘look after’ each other, don’t they? I read somewhere “Do not walk on the earth in haughty style...” and I’m sure you know the rest of it, but don’t drive around in your company car, lording it over us mere minors... remember, no matter how high is our opinion of ourselves... we all sit down on our derrieres.
Ray Petersen
r.j.petersen52@gmail.com
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