Buying a motorbike through a Ltd Company...

[Scruff]

I have a secondhand bike, owned by MyCo. All expenses paid by MyCo. All safety equipment paid by MyCo. All repairs paid by MyCo. All insurance paid by MyCo. I happily pay 20% BIK.

[Freud]

I have a secondhand bike, owned by MyCo. All expenses paid by MyCo. All safety equipment paid by MyCo. All repairs paid by MyCo. All insurance paid by MyCo. I happily pay 20% BIK.

Thanks. Great to hear.

With respect to the insurance, are you the registered keeper with the legal owner being your company ?

Did you specify this on insurance quotes.

Out of 33 companies, I only found one that would quote where the owner was the company even though I am the registered keeper.

[FMCG]

Many buying the machine new and reclaiming VAT.

The safety gear (£1.5-2K), insurance, servicing, etc all being paid by the company.

Insurance interesting, as most seem to buy and register in their own name whilst insure for SD&P inc Business.

Some have dropped the bike and so sold for scrap value.


Above gleaned from various forums and at bike meets


Almost bought (S100RR) at the end of summer but "chickened out" as the resale value of the damn things is high - my plan was to use it minimally for a year and buy it off of the company for myself BUT this plan fraught with danger, so "wimped out".

[northernladuk]

Almost bought (S100RR) at the end of summer but "chickened out" as the resale value of the damn things is high - my plan was to use it minimally for a year and buy it off of the company for myself BUT this plan fraught with danger, so "wimped out".

Sounds very wise.

[Lost It]

Thanks.


The sole purpose of the bike is for commuting only. As such, back and forth from home (where my normal place of work is) and the client is the sole purpose. The insurance options I have seen are either SDP Inc commuting or Business only.

.

You only need "Business" if during your working day you will be using the bike to get to another job, ie. not to and from your normal place of work. Or use it for delivering Pizza's in your spare time.

TBH I ran my VFR 800 two years using it for Business, 50,000 miles per year cover (they do ask for that) and it cost a whole £104 more than SDP&C so for that amount it wasn't worth worrying about. I only did about 33,000 miles on it though. Had to stop to have some Cancer cut out.

I'm not sure if you get NCD with Business use only though, which is why I had both on my bike.

Of more importance is that unless you have a full car licence that's old enough that you don't need to display L plates on a 50cc bike, you can only hold a provisional licence for a bike for two years anyway. Then you have to go through the "CBT" bit again. Or one of those very expensive trikes I guess. But as a true motorcyclist I don't see any point in getting a "bike" so wide you can't filter with it.

If you go the "Car Licence holder route" you can have an unrestricted 50cc bike. Back in the day these were good for around 55mph if they were tuned right, that's up to you though.

[northernladuk]

You only need "Business" if during your working day you will be using the bike to get to another job, ie. not to and from your normal place of work. Or use it for delivering Pizza's in your spare time.
.

Erm.. You are using the bike to get to a job. Your normal place of work is your home office. The journey to your client is business which is how you can claim the mileage. If it's a commute then you won't be able to claim from the company.

[Lost It]

Erm.. You are using the bike to get to a job. Your normal place of work is your home office. The journey to your client is business which is how you can claim the mileage. If it's a commute then you won't be able to claim from the company.

Er. Yes. That's what I thought I'd written.

Another issue I ran into was where they ask you for the address where the bike will be kept over night. Not much of an issue if your home is where your business is registered, but may be a big one if you have an "office" somewhere else. If it's "Business" insurance it's not a question they can ask as I might be using it to travel to clients and stay at hotels over night. Which I did on occasion.

I can only advise, I guess, on what my solution to the issue was, that kept me legal regarding use of the vehicle, and didn't tie me down to chaining the wife to the bike at night to stop it being stolen.

[northernladuk]

Er. Yes. That's what I thought I'd written.

Not even close.

[Lost It]

Not even close.

As far as I'm aware:

As far as the law is concerned (and your vehicle insurance company as well) if you use your vehicle, whatever kind, to go from one place of work to another during your normal work period you need business use on your vehicle policy. Specifically if you are ever asked what you are using your vehicle for and you mention honestly that you are going from job to job the nice Police officer only has to call your insurance company and you might have a nice 6 points dent on your licence, a fine and a vehicle seizure to deal with as well as vast increases in your future premiums.

SDP&C doesn't cover you for that. At all. If that isn't clear from what I wrote originally, I'm sorry but as Contractors we should all know the difference between commuting and work related mileage. I made the mistake of presuming this being a contractor forum that the readers would know that.
Ignorance is not an excuse, an increase in premium to add "Business use" is easily cheaper than what driving without the proper cover in place might cost you.

[Scruff]

SDP&C covers you driving to a "single place of work". It's designed for permies who drive to their office.