Get a company bike on Gordon

The Chancellor’s not exactly know for his generosity. But thanks to the Prudent One hundreds of company car drivers are taking advantage of a change in the tax laws to grab themselves a great bike.

For the full story on the new tax laws and company cars, don’t miss the new MCN, out April 24.

The new system, introduced by Gordon Brown on April 6, taxes cars based on their exhaust emissions. This means that tens of thousands of drivers are paying loads less every month for their vehicle.

The best off are executives running expensive motors, who are saving up to £100 a month on their personal tax bills. In many cases they are using the money to lease a bike as well as the car.

For instance, the driver of a BMW 530i, who paid tax at the higher rate of 40 per cent and covered less than 2500 business miles a year, would have paid £340 a month in personal tax on the car last year. But this year his bill will drop to £263, saving £77.

Motorcycle Management Limited (01672-811880), a specialist motorcycle leasing company, says it’s already had nearly 200 enquiries from drivers.

MML’s Tony Draycot told MCN: ” We saw a lot of people playing with the idea last year, but now they are focussing in on their tax allowances in earnest and we have got 150 firms that are mixing and matching cars and bikes for their employees. The most popular are BMW tourers and Harleys, and there are good deals available on Japanese machines, too. ”