FLEET managers could help staff reduce their tax bills and provide them 'two vehicles for the price of one' by opting for two-wheeled motoring.

Company car drivers could downsize from their current vehicles and use the savings in lease rates to fund a cheaper car and a motorbike, claims Motorcycle Management. For example, for a fleet to fund a BMW 525i Sport Auto over three years/60,000 miles with maintenance would cost £690.39 a month, according to Days Contract Hire online quotation system.

If a driver downsized to a Honda Accord 2.0i VTEC SE auto, it would cost £346.43 over three years/45,000 miles. The reduced mileage is to cover the use of a motorcycle and would leave £343.96 a month available to spend.

Quotes from Motorcycle Management offer a Honda CB600 F Sport Hornet with full maintenance and unlimited tyres for £129.54 a month over 5,000 miles a year, leaving the company £214.42 spare to cover insurance and any extra costs. From a benefit-in-kind tax perspective, the driver of the BMW, worth £30,700, would pay tax on 31% of the price because its CO2 emissions are 247g/km. This equates to £9,517, equivalent to £3,806 for a 40% taxpayer.

Shifting to the Honda, valued at £15,965, with emissions of 219g/km, a driver would pay tax on 25% of its value, or £3,991. For a 40% taxpayer, this equates to £1,956, leaving them £1,850 better off.

The Honda motorcycle is valued at £5,049, with a standard 20% tax charge, of £1,009, which means a 40% taxpayer would pay £403 per year in tax, leaving enough money spare from the £1,850 saving for a set of leathers.