New job offer. more money but no company car???

[truman47]

Hello,

Ive been offered another job and Im not sure if i should take it or not. I am reasonably happy where I am and have been here for 18 months but some things about the job annoy me like any job I suppose.
Im a transport manager on $75k AU plus a fully maintained company car and iphone. hours are 7-4.45 Mon to Thurs and we finish at 3.30 on Fridays. I dont go into work on Saturdays but do get calls from drivers and customers and have to log in to check things out. I often have to work at home for an hour or two at night running routing software for the drivers runs the next day  and get phone calls from drivers when we are busy and they are working late. Last year at performance review time in June I  had only been there 3 months so missed out. This year they said we were moving and it was going to cost a lot so no wage increase. Then to add insult to injury they introduced a new routing software program that I have to run which can take up to 2 hrs. When we are busy I have to run it at around 6pm at night once all orders are in so I do this at home each night. 
Then to make it even worse were not moving now for at least another year.

This is what got me looking for a new job in the first place.

The new job is an Operations manager and they have offered me $100k but no company car. The  extra $25k will increase my chld support by $90 a week but i worked out after allowing $200 a week for all car costs I would be $47 a week better off in my hand. My dad says its not worth it, better the devil you know etc etc. He also says that im not disciplined enough to save the money for the car costs every week like rego and insurance. I tend to agree with him. i can see myself saying.."regos 6 months away i will save it by then" and spending the money.
Hours of the new job are 7am-5pm but I live closer so would get home at the same time and have no extra work to do at home. I also have to work every second Saturday 7-1pm. But Im getting phone calls every Saturday now so no big deal.

if i could keep my car costs to only $150 a week then its an extra $100 a week in my pocket. But i would need to borrow $15k to buy a decent car. so will be paying back around $70 a week on the loan. Then as someone pointed out if i blow a diff or gearbox or something major happens in 3 years time i have to pay the costs.  So i really dont know what to do.

My partner says the company car is worth staying and if i want to leave at least find another job that has a company car on offer.

What do you guys think i should do??

[ysette9]

There is a lot going on here but I'll take a stab. It sounds like the job might be worth it if you had car and if you had self-control. Unfortunately it sounds like you have neither, so I think taking a different job is premature. For the time being, I would focus on reining in your spending and practicing good habits to make saving automatic and a habit. Set up auto transfer as soon as your paycheck hits, for example, so you don't feel the money leaving. i would also set up a savings account for an eventual used car. I have a hard time believing that Australia (yes?) is that much different from the US, so I would be very surprised if you have to spend $15k to get a decent car. Once you have savings to buy a used car ($5k maybe), and have good habits of saving, then taking a job with more pay but no car could make sense.

[truman47]

Well a lot has happened since I posted that earlier today. The company Im at now has made a few people redundant over the past 6 months. This afternoon they told the storeman that his position is now only part time but in the mean time the MDs future son in law just got his forklift licence and although used to be a driver is now working in the factory so will be getting more hours as the store man when the other guy isn't around.

Then they call me in and say that they are happy with my work and know that i do a lot but feel that Im going to be burnt out with all the work I do. I think at first maybe a pay rise or perhaps they are going to give me an assistant. 
So they say that they are creating 2 roles. 1 is an admin role doing the routing software and all the computer related type work. The other is a driver and jockey training role and going out on site doing inspections etc. They said that they don't think Im experienced enough for this role (Even though Ive been doing it for 2 years now. (We install for sale real estate boards which isn't rocket science)
And when drivers don't get boards up because the agent has ordered a board way to big or because we need waiver signed and permission to dynabolt it to brick walls they say thats my lack of training. And said that they are going to employ someone for this role who has experience installing boards. He will got out and do the site surveys etc train the staff and do all of that. they said I could apply for this role but they don't think I would get it. But thats just because they want me to keep doing the routing software as no on else there knows how to do it.

But the new admin role is a pay cut back to $55k and no car or phone. The other role is $60-$70K with car and phone and the position description is exactly what mine was when I started but they are taking all the computer related tasks off this role as they know I am good at that sort thing.  I couldn't believe it. I worked my arse off all through Spring staying back until 9-10pm some nights, then running the routing software for another hour. i work at home almost every night answering emails and doing the routes etc and my thank you for all this is to give me a $35k pay cut.
My boss says if I want to take a redundancy instead they will look after me and gave me the weekend to think about it.

So I phoned the other job as soon as I left and Im going to see them on Monday.

I just cant believe they would do that when Ive been loyal and hardworking from day one.

[MayDay]

I don't know anything about Australian costs, but why would a car cost 200$ a week?

[NoStacheOhio]

I just cant believe they would do that when Ive been loyal and hardworking from day one.

Your employer doesn't care about you or your loyalty. It sucks.

Just take the other job and work on improving your budgeting skills.

[brute]

I just cant believe they would do that when Ive been loyal and hardworking from day one.

Your employer doesn't care about you or your loyalty. It sucks.

Just take the other job and work on improving your budgeting skills.

Yep. With the new scenario, at worst, you're getting $30k gross over you current pay. You can do cell service cheaply. A decent car will cost less than half your pay increase. Get out of a toxic work environment while you can.

[truman47]

Yeah well I think it must be fate. The other job was actually re advertised on the 28th as they didn't find anyone the first time around. My current employer could have dragged me in for this chat in two weeks time or just before christmas break up and then the other job might have gone by then.

So Im rather lucky I guess.

The $200 a week car cost was what the RACV says a new VE Commodore would cost per week. But thats a brand new car. If I buy  cheap car thats good on fuel (And Im only 10 mins away from this new job) of course my car costs might only be $100 a week so theres an extra $150 a week in my hand.

[truman47]

I thought I should update this thread more so for my own reference.  So I was given the weekend to think about their poxy offer. Although I knew all along I was going to take the redundancy anyway. I took Mon, Tues and Wed off sick and went for an interview on Monday with the new company. He asked me to come back Wednesday to meet with the GM who was coming from interstate so I met with him on Wednesday.
On Thursday I returned to work and realised that if I took the redundancy and left then there was no way for the new company to call me as the phone was a company phone. So I asked if I could stay until the end of the pay week (Next Tuesday) so I could use the company car to go car hunting over the weekend. They said that was fine as they knew I wasn't going to "drop the ball" so to speak.
I got the call with the job offer from the new company a few hours later. Thursday and Friday I turned up at work but did stuff all. Went out for lunch Friday with my 2 brothers to the pub and text my boss saying I wasn't coming back for the rest of the day and he was fine with that. LOL

I went in Monday and said I was going to finish up. Had my exit interview where they showed me my redundancy package which included 4 weeks extra pay as they felt really bad about what they were doing and especially so close to xmas. When the taxi arrived the ops manager came put to pay with her credit card and gave me a hug and said good bye I hope you find a job soon. It was then that I told her I already had and I start tomorrow. I said I just kept quiet so I would get the extra 4 weeks pay.  She was genuinely happy for me.

So with the redundancy I brought a Toyota Aurion 2011 model (A V6 Camry) only had 46500kms and still had $3k eft over from the redundancy. 

I consider myself to be very lucky as I was made redundant 2 years ago and got this last job I was in only two weeks later. very lucky indeed.

[mxt0133]

Talk about fortuitous timing!  My take away from this is there is very little loyalty left in the employer\employee relationship and to always be prepared to interview or get a new job as if you were going to loose your job in a week or two.

[truman47]

Talk about fortuitous timing!  My take away from this is there is very little loyalty left in the employer\employee relationship and to always be prepared to interview or get a new job as if you were going to loose your job in a week or two.

Im still in shock at the timing of all of this. I could have taken the new job the first time around and just given notice and had to get a loan for a car. (Which was the main reason I didn't take it in the first place) I made sure I told enough people when I left that this new job was already mine and I was just negotiatiing salary when the redundancy was offered, and had planned on giving notice on Monday. (So the MD would find out about it which he did) 

Or my employer could have offered me the whole redundancy thing a week or two later and the new job may have been filled.

Or the new company could have found someone the first time around and not re advertised.  I don't know what it was, the planets were all lined up or some other force at work but I was very very lucky. The timing was impeccable.
The fact that I was looking and intervieweing in the first place tells me I must have had a sixth sense about it all.   

[Mgmny]

I just cant believe they would do that when Ive been loyal and hardworking from day one.

Your employer doesn't care about you or your loyalty. It sucks.

Just take the other job and work on improving your budgeting skills.

+1. Soooooo true. I'm in the contracting world, because I know a company can let anyone go at the drop of a hat, so this way my assignments are relatively short and on-demand - mitigating the need for the delusion of "loyalty" that will ultimately be betrayed when it suits the company's needs.