I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
Jan 19th 2015, 7:44 am
#31
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
Depends entirely on the job but in my experience hardly any jobs come with a company car which is available for personal use. The few people we know with company vehicles are under strict instruction not to use them for non-business related activity and definitely not to be considered as personal property for use after hours and on weekends - if they are on holiday the car has to go back.
It's a very different ballgame here with regards to how company cars are taxed. Most often the business has pool cars available for business purposes, which are not allowed to be taken home overnight because the business has to pay the fringe benefit tax if they allow them to be used for anything other than work purposes. The company I work for has massive fleet but there's only one person who is permitted to take a car home, all our cars are tracked and people are always getting pulled up for offences such as being parked outside the pub at lunchtime or being at the supermarket during work time.
Jan 19th 2015, 9:08 am
#32
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
We don't have a company car. Would be nice tho lol
Jan 19th 2015, 9:22 am
#33
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Re: Am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the really valuable advice you guys have provided. I didn't want to jump in as I was really interested in the differing views. But it really has provided food for thought.
We have been running through this constantly over the last couple of days and we are still no closer to a decision! It really is a 50:50 call.
Thing is that ultimately we would need a house as ideally we would like to bring a couple of pets over once we are settled. So that sort of rules the apartment variable out. Re-cutting the budget I have $800 a week for rent which looking around seems to get you something reasonable in Parnell, Ponsonby or Devonport. To be honest I had sort of gravitated towards Devonport anyway.
All up and trying to make a budget relatively bullet proof (as we won't have access to or the ability to repay any credit per se) we probably end up with $600 a month to fund any sort of travel plans. And that doesn't really seem like a great deal. Even say 2 trips in the year - 1 internal 1 abroad plus flight home at Christmas - $7200 a year probably isn't going to get you a great deal! Plus while I have allowed a budget for a car ($625/month) that is probably very very low and probably doesn't cover insurance.
The job would provide a relocation package and I could have an emergency fund which might help with initial set up costs, bonds, visa costs etc. So feel relatively comfortable about the set up, and the first couple of months we were planning on staying in the city so that might cut down travel costs possibly but I'm sure that will be gobbled up by something else.
Ultimately, it's the property prices that are causing me the problem I think. It's do-able, but just, and if something goes wrong then it's not going to end well!!!!
But thank you again for the hugely valuable insights and any more comments are more than welcome.
Thanks again.
We have been running through this constantly over the last couple of days and we are still no closer to a decision! It really is a 50:50 call.
Thing is that ultimately we would need a house as ideally we would like to bring a couple of pets over once we are settled. So that sort of rules the apartment variable out. Re-cutting the budget I have $800 a week for rent which looking around seems to get you something reasonable in Parnell, Ponsonby or Devonport. To be honest I had sort of gravitated towards Devonport anyway.
All up and trying to make a budget relatively bullet proof (as we won't have access to or the ability to repay any credit per se) we probably end up with $600 a month to fund any sort of travel plans. And that doesn't really seem like a great deal. Even say 2 trips in the year - 1 internal 1 abroad plus flight home at Christmas - $7200 a year probably isn't going to get you a great deal! Plus while I have allowed a budget for a car ($625/month) that is probably very very low and probably doesn't cover insurance.
The job would provide a relocation package and I could have an emergency fund which might help with initial set up costs, bonds, visa costs etc. So feel relatively comfortable about the set up, and the first couple of months we were planning on staying in the city so that might cut down travel costs possibly but I'm sure that will be gobbled up by something else.
Ultimately, it's the property prices that are causing me the problem I think. It's do-able, but just, and if something goes wrong then it's not going to end well!!!!
But thank you again for the hugely valuable insights and any more comments are more than welcome.
Thanks again.
. I have a friend who said the following: The ironic thing about New Zealand is that many move for the outdoor life, but end up in Auckland and only experience outdoor living on their way to work.
Jan 20th 2015, 10:31 am
#34
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Jan 20th 2015, 4:59 pm
#35
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
Have to say that is a very misleading statement you make there - 'most jobs over $80k' do not come with a company car
Depends entirely on the job but in my experience hardly any jobs come with a company car which is available for personal use. The few people we know with company vehicles are under strict instruction not to use them for non-business related activity and definitely not to be considered as personal property for use after hours and on weekends - if they are on holiday the car has to go back.
It's a very different ballgame here with regards to how company cars are taxed. Most often the business has pool cars available for business purposes, which are not allowed to be taken home overnight because the business has to pay the fringe benefit tax if they allow them to be used for anything other than work purposes. The company I work for has massive fleet but there's only one person who is permitted to take a car home, all our cars are tracked and people are always getting pulled up for offences such as being parked outside the pub at lunchtime or being at the supermarket during work time.
Depends entirely on the job but in my experience hardly any jobs come with a company car which is available for personal use. The few people we know with company vehicles are under strict instruction not to use them for non-business related activity and definitely not to be considered as personal property for use after hours and on weekends - if they are on holiday the car has to go back.
It's a very different ballgame here with regards to how company cars are taxed. Most often the business has pool cars available for business purposes, which are not allowed to be taken home overnight because the business has to pay the fringe benefit tax if they allow them to be used for anything other than work purposes. The company I work for has massive fleet but there's only one person who is permitted to take a car home, all our cars are tracked and people are always getting pulled up for offences such as being parked outside the pub at lunchtime or being at the supermarket during work time.
Everyone I know has a company car
Jan 20th 2015, 7:49 pm
#36
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Jan 20th 2015, 8:03 pm
#37
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
He's never been offered a company car with any other job he's had in Auckland. If he needs to visit a supplier then he can use a pool car. I don't know anyone who has a company car either.
Jan 20th 2015, 8:07 pm
#38
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
Jan 20th 2015, 10:17 pm
#39
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
I wouldn't say everyone I know has a company car, nor would I say "most jobs over $80k" come with one, but I have a company car with what amounts to a "use it as you please, but don't take the p!ss" policy.
There are definitely people in my office that have a company car that probably don't NEED one, but it's a perk.
My boss takes her car down to New Plymouth a few times a year to see family and has advised me the odd personal trip even to Wellington (and beyond) is fine. To that end, our vehicles aren't tracked, but with a fuel card the business can see where refueling takes place.
I do have the option of a car allowance which given I work around 1k form the office I suspect I should probably utilise as personal fuel costs wouldn't be onerous (I've done about 14kms all told in 16 months of having the car) and a decent newish car shouldn't cost a great deal in terms of services and maintenance.
Others I know that have company vehicles are largely in the construction industry (I don't work in construction) and have a free reign on their vehicles. Even though they're tracked this is largely in case of theft due to tools that might be being carried, rather than to catch people out being in places they shouldn't be.
One particular friends company even tracks the rev counter and speed so that if bad driving is reported or an incident happens they can look back at those records to verify or help investigations in to such issues.
Last edited by TommyLuck; Jan 20th 2015 at 10:25 pm.
Jan 21st 2015, 1:12 am
#40
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Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
My sister in law's husband drives a company car. Has done all the years I've been around.
Usual story with company cars: no purchase cost, no fuel cost, no Warrant of Fitness cost, no insurance cost. All free. All paid for by the company that employs the driver of the company car.
I guess it's just habit that it becomes the family car. Albeit in certain circumstances intuition guides me to assume that a certain amount of kms are expected to be covered by the driver of the company car dependant on what role they do in the company.
Look up Fringe Benefit Tax if you wish.
My husband has the use of a pool car with the logo of the govt dept he works for on it. If he needs to drive somewhere on departmental business he books out a car for his use. The software on the booking system will tell him if anyone else is going there and already has a car booked, so they could car share.
He drives to where he needs to go for a meeting, and returns the vehicle for the next user as soon as he returns to the office. Whether he needs it for a few hours or a few days.
Usual story with company cars: no purchase cost, no fuel cost, no Warrant of Fitness cost, no insurance cost. All free. All paid for by the company that employs the driver of the company car.
I guess it's just habit that it becomes the family car. Albeit in certain circumstances intuition guides me to assume that a certain amount of kms are expected to be covered by the driver of the company car dependant on what role they do in the company.
Look up Fringe Benefit Tax if you wish.
My husband has the use of a pool car with the logo of the govt dept he works for on it. If he needs to drive somewhere on departmental business he books out a car for his use. The software on the booking system will tell him if anyone else is going there and already has a car booked, so they could car share.
He drives to where he needs to go for a meeting, and returns the vehicle for the next user as soon as he returns to the office. Whether he needs it for a few hours or a few days.
Jan 21st 2015, 3:58 am
#41
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Re: I am I making a horrible mistake - Auckland?
I live in the world where a company car for an 80k salary would be an exception. We've hardly met anyone in NZ with a company car exclusively for their own use.
Jan 21st 2015, 5:24 am
#42
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Jan 22nd 2015, 7:15 am
#44
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