In message , NY
writes
These days, perk company cars aren't much of a benefit, now that they
don't have the tax advantages they once had.

The problem with company cars was that you were often told what car you
would get - you had no choice in the matter.

That's typical of companies with large fleets.

The company that my dad worked for was apparently unusual in that you
could have any car with a list price up to that of a specified grade of
Cortina.

A very common policy for smaller fleets (from one to a few dozen). One
of the drawbacks is that if an employee leaves, it's much harder to
recycle that vehicle to another user, unless there's a scheme for them
to take it with them (in effect transferring it to another employer with
a similar policy).

Some such small fleets nevertheless still have rules, for example that
the car must have at least 4 doors (in effect, a ban on 3-door
hatchbacks).

Some companies only allowed you to use the car for business use, which
meant you still had to buy a car of your own to use for shopping,
holidays and other private use, so it was no perk at all: the sole
benefit of it was that you didn't put as much mileage on your own car.

I've never encountered that, either personally or amongst
friends/acquaintances. Not even when the vehicle was a signwritten van.

Many firms have rules about cars being kept tidy - which could exclude
paraphernalia like car seats and shopping in the car when being used on
business. It's also not uncommon for there to be rules about
washing/vacuuming the car regularly (I haven't washed my current car,
ever, and I've had it 18 months now).

Meanwhile, some firms pay a monthly car allowance rather than provide a
car, which reduces the firm's exposure to the capital expense and
administrative overhead. This will normally allow the employee a wider
choice of vehicle, but there can still be rules, such as "the car must
be less than 5 years old" - because they don't want employees turning up
at client sites and taking customers out to lunch in old bangers.
Assuming that salesmen still do take customers out to lunch...
--
Roland Perry