I used to work in a Retail Sales team in back-office support
Which meant that the account managers got company cars, and I didn't. They were also all on the senior management grade (albeit the lower levels of it) while I was stuck on the highest staff grade.

Weekly sales meetings would begin with a 30 minute whinge from them about how much tax they were having to pay on their use of their company car on their recent weekend mini-break to the Highlands, Provence (and so on). These were people who would be out on the road perhaps two or three days per week, while I was out and about maybe 1 or two days. Their car was less a necessary tool to meet their job description than a perk of their pay grade.

I found their grumbling especially annoying around the times of my Road Tax, MoT or Insurance renewals dates, which of course they never had to pay for themselves.

Doesn't happen so much these days, because company cars have almost disappeared completely. For every outside the boardroom, anyway - I bet board meeting up and down the country all start with a communal whingefest about how much the Beamer/Merc/Aston costs them in tax, while the PA who's there to take the minutes fumes because they have to fund their own vee-hickle.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 2 Mar 2012, 13:15, Reply)