Tips For Long-Distance Driving
Australia has well over half a million kilometres of road, so we’re lucky enough to be able to answer the call of the road and just head out to drive and drive and drive. It’s a road trip paradise, where you can drive through 35 degrees of longitude (or three time zones) without any hassles with passports and visas and all the rest of the palaver involved with driving long distances in places like Europe, where 35 degrees of longitude will take you through a minimum of five countries (the route that covers this many lines on the map crossing the least borders will take you through France, Germany, Poland, Belarus or Ukraine and Russia).
Some people go on long road trips for fun – for them, the trip there is part of the holiday or even the holiday itself. For others, it’s more of a necessity, as their job requires it, or the family is so big that it’s cheaper to shove everyone in the Honda Odyssey and drive from A to B rather than flying. But no matter what your situation is, it pays to be prepared and possibly even to change your driving style.
FBT: Post election
Now the Federal election is over and the Coalition have taken pole position, Tony Abbott’s declaration that the mooted changes to the Fringe Benefit Tax will not go ahead is now ready to be checked. And, seemingly, this is the case, according to a communique dated 3 September, four days before the election.
A letter sent to the Australian car industry, its employers and employees associated with it, appears to confirm the Coalition’s determination to not go ahead with any modifications to the Fringe Benefit Tax, as it stands; part of the letter states: “…we encourage all stakeholders, including employers and employees engaged in salary sacrifice programs, to urgently and immediately return to normal trading activity in order to repair the damage done….” and: “…we want to acknowledge the role the leasing and salary packaging industry plays in assisting with new car sales, generating demand and, therefore, generating jobs.”
The Logic of Logbooks
There’s been a lot of furore about the changes to the Fringe Benefit Tax rules – what’s it going to do to the car sales industry, what it’s going to mean for companies who want to retain their employees, what it’s going to mean for the economy in general and so forth. My fellow-blogger Dave has posted quite a few very informative articles on the topic ().
However, let’s have a wee think about the small implications. Not the big ones that discuss whether or not the changes in the rules will affect what’s left of the Australian car manufacturing industry but the ones that affect what you and I will have to do if our company is going to provide us with a novated lease under the new system.
Fringe Benefits Tax proposed changes: an update.
Writing this one day before the election and with the expectation the Coalition will win doesn’t change the past; much like the words from the immortal “Dragnet”, these are “just the facts”. Since the changes were announced by Kevin Rudd, this is what’s happened: approximately $160 million dollars worth of business for the Australian car industry has been wiped in August. Sales had been growing at around 5% for the six months until June 30, it’s now down by 0.2% in August compared to the same time last year. 
At around 4600 vehicles at an average cost of $35000, it’s a significant hit. Yards are holding far more ordered but unsold stock due to so many cancelled orders. Jobs have been lost in attached industries and sales are down by 3.5% in Queensland and up to 8% in Western Australia. Business purchases are down 10 percent compared to this time last year impacting further on Ford Australia’s already tattered figures, with the venerable Falcon finding just 573 new homes in August, the lowest in the nameplates 53 year history. The changes mooted were intended to help raise $1.8 billion as an offset of scrapping the carbon tax yet there’s been no formal analysis of the changes and with many buyers in business purchasing vehicles via means that don’t attract the FBT or defer purchases then that figure is seeming more unlikely.
Holden’s new Commodore, selling under internal expectations still, though, managed just 400 more in August than July, delivering 2809 vehicles. Only Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Mazda saw sales increase. Also, with fuel prices in no danger of retreating, it’s unsurprising that the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla were the highest sellers in August (4188 and 3861), followed by the Toyota HiLux, Holden’s VF Commodore, the Hyundai i30 and Holden Cruze variants.
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