Making The Right Purchase For Your Business Car

Many businesses need a company car, whether it’s to meet clients, attend trade shows, or simply if you need a car but mostly for business purposes. There are many advantages to having a company car, including being able to claim some tax write-offs while using it. It’s also a good way to get an additional car without any additional impact on your personal car insurance plans. However, things can go wrong when you don’t plan out your purchase well, so here are a few tips to help you get the car for your business that you need in the best manner possible.

How much do the aesthetics of the vehicle matter?

If you’re buying a company car, you need to make sure that it meets a wide range of practical needs. However, given that your vehicle might be, in part, representing the business when you drive it to meetings and events, it’s also worth considering making sure that it has aesthetic appeal as well. Just as you would put on a well-fitted suit to a meeting, you should consider how your car reflects the image of the business. Your car may also be able to serve as a marketing tool, with teams like Wrapify that can apply advertising wraps to the car. This might be more suitable for cars that aren’t often seen by clients but spend a lot of time on the road.

Size matters

Of course, there’s a lot more to a decent company car than image alone. As mentioned, there are practical needs it must meet and chief among them is the size of the car. This applies in two ways. You need to make sure the car is the right size to fit comfortably in the environment where you drive it, as smaller cars tend to be more suitable for cities where parking real estate can be very tight indeed. But you also need to consider how much storage and seating you have, especially if you are going to be using the company car to drive to things like trade shows and need room for booth materials.

If you’re buying used, buy with care

The good thing about buying a used car is that it’s much more affordable and cost-effective and it comes with all of the same tax benefits of buying a new company car. However, there is always a level of risk when buying a used car, so it’s important to mitigate that aspect as best as possible. Aside from having it taken for a test drive and letting your mechanic take a look over the vehicle, you can also consider looking at certified pre-owned cars. These are vehicles that are pre-owned but are inspected, maintained, and sometimes modified to ensure that they meet specifications that are set not by the seller but by the original manufacturer of the car.

Consider options other than buying

You don’t necessarily need to buy a vehicle in order to have access to a company car. There are other options as well that can see you temporarily make use of the vehicle, with leasing options from dealerships such as Beaver County DCJR. There are significant benefits to leasing, such as the fact that you don’t have to worry about the depreciation of the vehicle affecting its resale value since you won’t be selling it yourself. It’s a cheaper way to get access to industry-leading cars that might otherwise be too prohibitively costly to buy, as well.

Have a maintenance plan at the ready

It’s highly recommended that, regardless of its purpose, you make sure that you’re investing in the appropriate preventative maintenance for your vehicle. After all, it’s what keeps the car safe and efficient. However, when that same car is a business asset that has value to the company, it’s even more important to keep it as cost-effective as possible. Understanding common car troubles and scheduling maintenance to prevent those that are most likely to hit your car is vital. This can be done in part through DIY fixes and replacements of parts that age past their usefulness, but you may also want to think about getting in touch with local mechanics to plan out your routine checks and replacements for the year to get an idea of the costs ahead of time. That way you can better fit them into the budget.

Consider your extras with care

The most important decision is going to be your choice of the car itself, but there are other expenses that can crop up. You want to make sure you don’t get suckered into buying extras that you don’t need, but you should consider those that can add real practical value to the car. For instance, GPS systems such as those from Garmin can be extremely helpful for any cars that are going to be used on longer journeys. If you are planning to drive with passengers, such as employees, then you might also want to consider extras like airbags. When you’re faced with the offer of extras, don’t say yes or no immediately. Take the time to consider your options and how useful they are depending on how you’re planning to use the car.

Go commercial with your car insurance

As mentioned at the opening of the article, one of the benefits of buying a car for your business is that it’s not going to affect your personal car insurance arrangement. However, in order to enjoy that benefit, you need to buy commercial car insurance providers and it’s vital to make sure that you’re taking the time to do your research. Consider the type of cover you’re likely to need and perform a real risk analysis on how likely your car is to get stolen to decide whether or not you’re going to need comprehensive coverage with the help of an insurance agency.

With the tips above, you can make sure that you’re getting not just the right car for your business, but the best deal for it, as well.