Commercial Van- Constant Repairs crippling

Husband started on his own as a sole trader late 2006. He bought a VW Transporter in the October private sale for 8000 and in Dec the whole engine needed replacing costing 4200 since then its been to the garage a number of times clutch went last week 850 euro and now there is a problem with the steering so off to the garage again tmorrow.
He is dependant on his van and days it is at the garage he is also losing his days wage.
We are now wondering if this van was doomed from day 1 and the vat in relation to the repairs is claimed back in bi-monthly VAT return but at the end of year what type of costs can he recoop on his van have a loan of 12000 for it and seriously coonsidering trying to sell it after this repair and maybe get a new van on HP so confused can somebody give some advice.

Thanks
Taz

That's unfortunate and you have my sympathy. It does seem like your husband was sold a lemon. My recommendation would be to bring it to a garage and trade it in for something with a warranty and start fresh. He will lose heavily in the short-term but it sounds like he will suffer this cost should he keep the vehicle and pay for the regular repairs as they pop up.

Trying to sell it privately is another option, but you have to ask yourself would you be happy passing the vehicle and it's problems on to someone else.

He can claim the loan yearly from any profit before he pays tax on it. Also i think he can claim v.at. on any diesel he puts in it and if he keeps all his receipts he can claim the diesel as expenses before paying tax. payment for repairs is also deductible . He might be better off trading it in against a new van on a lease so he can just pay a fixed payment a month.try go for a van with a good warranty and research on car websites which vans are the most dependable. all above is assuming the van is used solely for business purposes 100% of the time. if there is social use too you will have to apportion it appropriately .ie 75% of costs for business 25% personal. if you don't have another family car or form of transport its hard to argue 100% business use. and if hes audited they will pull him up on it. if theres no profit ,losses on the business can be brought forward to ofset against future profits. An accountant would be money well spent too. although others would beg to differ ! but as a person who has been through the audit process it helps to have things in order. Best of luck.

GOBSTOPPER said:

...all above is assuming the van is used solely for business purposes 100% of the time. if there is social use too you will have to apportion it appropriately .ie 75% of costs for business 25% personal...

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Is Benefit-In-Kind on commercial vehicles not capped at 5%?

I think in a sole trader situation its the way i discribed afaik from my own accounts. am open to correction .