Taking a business to the next level is hard work and will call for just as much preparation as your original business plan. There are many reasons to expand including providing services to a wider area, providing additional services, or rising to meet customer demand. It doesn’t matter why your business is growing, a company vehicle will go a long way. Throughout this article, we’ll let you in on the reasons why you should invest in a vehicle for your business.
Looking Professional
Professionalism is essential for all businesses, and it needs to be embodied inside and out. Having a branded company vehicle will help to look professional to clients and road users. Businesses with their own vehicles command more authority from customers and potential service users. If you provide a positive service that feels professional, your customers are much more likely to recommend you to their family and friends.
Excellent Marketing Opportunity
A vehicle may be a costly initial investment, but you will easily make a return by bringing in more customers. With your logo, business name, and contact details splashed across the vehicle, you’re marketing every time you go on a job or park your car.
You can do more than apply decals and paint to your vehicle to draw attention – you can pair your branding with personalised DVLA number plates. As long as your proposed number registration follows regulations, you can pay for anything that’s available on a number plate. However, you should keep in mind that the fewer characters you have on a number plate, the more expensive it will be. If you wish to learn how to buy your personalised reg plates, follow the link.
Fulfilling Customer Demand
When your business becomes more popular and you have more orders to fulfil, you may struggle if your team are using personal vehicles. After all, it’s an unnecessary amount of paperwork to reimburse people for fuel every week. Having your own fleet of vehicles allows you to deploy your team efficiently, and you can keep track of progress with vehicle management software, which will provide you with a location and other data. The faster you can fulfil customer demand, the more trade you can handle and the more profit you will make.
Making Deliveries
Transporting stock is at the heart of many businesses. Third-party couriers and postal services can be used during the start-up phase of a business to reduce costs. However, as you expand and have more demand to fulfil, you will need to consider leasing or buying vehicles for your business. If you choose to lease, there is less initial cost, but you will need to abide by regulations laid out by an external party and you’ll likely be paying much more than you need to. Whereas, buying a vehicle will grant you full ownership and will be a direct investment into your own company.
As well as owning the vehicle, you’ll be able to solve complaints much more effectively. For example, if you take a look at the takeaways, you will find that many of them rely on external delivery providers like Just Eat and Uber Eats. However, when deliveries are late or go missing, the restaurant needs to contact their delivery provider’s restaurant support line before attempting to resolve a customer complaint. When restaurants invest in their own vehicles, they can contact their team directly and let them know if items are missing or redelivery is required.
Providing Additional Services
A company vehicle is a great way to expand your services. For example, if your business provides advice on pest control methods and sells products through a website, a company vehicle will allow you to provide extermination services to your local area and beyond. As with any business growth, you will need to invest before you reap the rewards, this is definitely true when it comes to company vehicles.
Attract Employees
Appealing to the correct employees involves offering a healthy work environment and having competitive rates of pay and benefits. As well as this, a company car is a great way to entice talent into your business. If members of your field team don’t have to use personal cars to make journeys, they’re much more likely to join your team. Although this will be an expensive benefit to offer, there are plenty of ways to save money – as you will find in the following section.
Cost Efficiency
After you buy your company vehicles, there will be ongoing operating costs including insurance, fuel, and repairs. However, there are some strategies you can put in place to reduce the total costs. For example, you can handle most of the maintenance tasks internally, meaning you won’t need to pay a mechanic. Stocking up on spare tyres will mean you can always get back to business quickly in the event of a popped tyre.
Outside of handling your own maintenance, the best way to save money on your vehicle is through a tax deduction. As your vehicle is part of your business expenses, all you need to do is track all expenditures through receipts and invoices and you can claim them on your yearly tax return. In this regard, it will be more efficient to use a company vehicle over a personal car because there’s no real way to prove you were using your personal car for business.
Used or New?
After considering the benefits of investing in a car for your business, you may be wondering if you should be buying a new or used one. Your first thought will be to invest in a new car because of its aesthetics. However, a new vehicle will depreciate after a year by around 40%, according to the AA. Different vehicles depreciate at different rates, but it’s certainly not worth buying new because of this.
If you invest in an older model, it’s tried and tested, meaning you know it works. If you’re concerned about the exterior of the car, you can easily make it appear new with a fresh coat of paint and some flashy decals. Further, to avoid repair costs right out of the gate, you can have a mechanic service the car to highlight any defects.
What About Leasing?
Some companies lease cars instead of buying them outright. However, they often come with a mileage cap and need to be returned in good condition. Also, the business doesn’t own the car as an asset, meaning no capital allowances can be claimed. Further, if you take a lease out for two years and have to return the vehicle, you’ll only have to renew the lease all over again and may end up spending much more than the car’s value – without ever owning the vehicle. Whereas, if you buy the car, it may only last five years but it’ll likely cost much less in the long run.
Without expansion, businesses are doomed to fail or remain trailing along in the same space forever. Investing in a car for your business allows you to provide additional services, boost customer satisfaction, meet demand, and is a great tool for marketing. There will be operating costs to consider when buying a new vehicle, but this can be offset by managing maintenance and including it on your tax deductions.