Aaron Wallis launches Company Car or Car Allowance Calculator as Budget confirms 55p mileage rate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aaron Wallis launches Company Car or Car Allowance Calculator as Budget confirms 55p mileage rate

- Free tool shows employees and employers the true cost of each option under 2026/27 HMRC rates

MILTON KEYNES, 3 November 2026. Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment has today launched a free Company Car or Car Allowance Calculator. The tool is designed to support anyone offered a choice between a company car and a car allowance in deciding which option suits them best, by showing what each one costs after tax.

The calculator uses the latest HMRC rates for the 2026/27 tax year, including company car tax (benefit-in-kind) bands, National Insurance and the new 55p mileage rate. Users enter their salary, the allowance on offer and the company car's list price, fuel type and CO2 emissions. The calculator then produces one figure: the monthly budget their own car needs to come in under for the allowance to be the better deal. It also shows the employer National Insurance due on each option, to help businesses put a package together.

The launch follows the Autumn Budget on 28 October, which confirmed that the 55p approved mileage rate for the first 10,000 business miles, the first increase since 2011, will remain in place. The Budget also confirmed that from 6 April 2027 company car benefits will be taxed through payroll rather than reported annually on form P11D, and set company car tax rates for 2030/31.

In the calculator's worked example, an employee earning £45,000 is offered either a £40,000 petrol company car with emissions of 120g/km or a £6,000 car allowance. The petrol car is taxed on 30% of its list price, a taxable value of £12,000, which costs the employee £312 a month in company car tax. The allowance is worth £351 a month after income tax and National Insurance. On these figures, the allowance is only the better option if the employee's own car costs less than £664 a month, including finance or lease payments, insurance, servicing, road tax and fuel for personal trips.

Electric company cars, by contrast, are taxed on just 4% of their list price in 2026/27. On the same salary, a £40,000 electric company car would cost the employee around £27 a month in tax, lowering the point at which the allowance becomes the better deal to around £378 a month.

Alongside the calculator, Aaron Wallis has published guidance on the other factors that affect the decision. These include annual business mileage, whether the employee can take on a lease or loan while still on probation, and how much choice of car matters to them. The guidance also explains how tax works when an employee can choose between the two. If the company car emits more than 75g/km, the employee is taxed on whichever is higher: the taxable value of the car or the allowance they give up. It also sets out car allowance benchmarks drawn from Aaron Wallis recruitment projects, ranging from £3,900 to £4,550 for field sales representatives up to £9,100 to £14,300 for sales directors of larger companies.

Rob Scott, Managing Director of Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment, said: "Whether to take a company car or a car allowance is one of the questions we are asked most often by candidates considering a field sales role, and the answer is rarely straightforward. The headline allowance does not tell you what you will take home, or what running your own car will cost each month. Our consultants place salespeople across the UK every week, and we built this calculator to give candidates and employers a clear answer."

The calculator is free to use at: https://www.aaronwallis.co.uk/candidates/advice/sales-traini...

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Calculator figures are estimates, not tax advice. They use 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and assume the car is available all year. Scottish income tax rates differ.

2. The electric car figures use the same inputs as the calculator's worked example (£45,000 salary, £6,000 allowance, £40,000 list price) at the 4% electric rate.

3. Rob Scott is available for interview and comment on sales pay, car packages and recruitment.

About Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment
Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment is a national agency specialising in sales and marketing recruitment. Founded in 2007 by Managing Director Rob Scott, the company has offices in Milton Keynes (head office), Birmingham (Cannock), Leeds and Bristol and is a member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). Rob has led some of the most extensive surveys of UK sales professionals, and his advice has been quoted in publications including the FT, The Independent, Forbes and Business Insider.

Media contact
Lili Dewrance, PR Manager, Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment.

Email: [email protected]