Ralph Morton
editor

Living with business cars - what's good, brilliant, or downright irritating. You'll find it all here, plus a bit more. There's commentary on company cars, company car tax, contract hire, car leases, the car industry - in fact, anything to do with running a business car or a small business! And you can add to the debate, too, with your own comments.

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PERHAPS you've taken advantage of the fuel-efficiency and low CO2 emissions of a diesel car. I've been running an Audi A4 2.0 TDI and have recently just switched to the bigger Audi A6 2.0 TDIe.

The fuel economy is really brilliant. And I particularly love the easy-driving low-down response of the A6. But some drivers aren't always having a stress-free relationship with their diesel cars.

Take Tim, a friend of mine who runs a small business called Turning Circle Solutions. I helped Tim, as I have before, with his choice of car. With two Audi A3s under his belt, Tim wanted a change and I helped him draw up a short list.

I then put Tim in touch with our local BVRLA-approved car leasing broker Concept Vehicle Leasing – the director, Paul Bulloch, contributes occasional articles to www.BusinessCarManager.co.uk. And eventually Tim settled on a rather plush Jaguar X-Type estate diesel.

So far so good. Until Tim’s Jaguar went into limp home mode one day. It’s the classic issue of the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) clogging up.

DPFs are useful because they remove most of that horrendous black tailpipe soot produced by diesel engines. However, as the soot collects, it also needs to burn off at a high temperature. This has to be done on the motorway where a consistently high speed generates the necessary heat for burn off to take place.

But, unless you mix your town driving with motorway work, then you could experience exactly the same issue as Tim. And a replacement DPF can cost up to £1000.

We've featured the issue before: Diesel cars choke to an expensive halt. My advice is to consider what you need the car for before you place your order. Small businesses shouldn’t automatically consider a diesel is the best solution just because it has become almost the de facto choice for company car drivers in large enterprises running hundreds of cars.

If your driving is mainly town or urban based then you may be much better off with an economical petrol car. If you do have mixed driving requirements, make sure you regularly combine longer journeys with the shorter ones. Otherwise you could come unstuck. Like Tim. It was a surprise to Tim, and could be a surprise to you. Inevitably, there is some words of warning in the handbook. But…

So, forewarned is forearmed. Check if your diesel has a DPF. If it does, make sure you follow the process for keeping it clean. And then you can really enjoy the savings of a diesel.

TAGS: Turning Circle Solutions, Tim Rosser, Audi, Concept Vehicle Leasing, Paul Bulloch, Audi A6 2.0 TDIe, Jaguar, DPFs, Diesel Particulate Filters