I picked up a new company car this week, sorry not the 170bhp 6 speed tiptronic Audi A3 Sport (which is what I was eying up) but a boring new 2ltr diesel Passat estate for the family camping trips, looks like my boy racer days have ended. ANyway it's free except for the tax.

I was trying to work out if it's worthwhile opting out of the company petrol scheme or taking the hit on the tax and getting free fuel - most of my business mileage these days is just to and from Manchester or Leeds-Bradford airport.

This table I prepared shows the break-even mileage for private miles at different fule prices and consumption rates. So if diesel is at 90p/l and the car averages 35mpg then 4700 miles of private use will be equivalent to £550, which was roughly the extra tax cost per year if I didn't buy my own private fuel.
Maybe there's others on the forum here looking into the options that have more up-to-date knowledge of the tax you get hit with if you opt for company cars and company fuel? I reckon if you are going to do much more than 4500 - 5000 private miles per year (which I guess is just about everyone here that drives) then it's best to pay the tax and get the company to buy all your fuel.
Sorry for the boring post! Any views/recommendations?

Quote from al heeley :

So if diesel is at 90p/l and the car averages 35mpg

35MPG? Christ on a bike, do you drive everywhere with your foot welded to the floor?

I get at least 55+ out of my 2.0L D 307

On a long motorway run the fuel will average 55 mpg, but most of my miles are short hops into town along stop-start congested roads, so over a year, my car stats return about 36-38mpg in total.
The AA has a good site which helps this calculation. I get £3312 taxable benefit, so at 40% tax rate have to pat £1325 for the privelage of getting the company to buy my private fuel. That is about 10,000 miles worth or just over, I reckon I do about 8000 - 9000 private miles per year so contrary to my table above, opting out of the fuel scheme and saving the tax would be the best option.

Not been there myself, but my Dad was getting taxed a couple of grand a year for 'the priveledge' of having a company car. Due to low mileage he left the company car scheme and can now drive his V8 beast to work and be no worse off.