Commenting on the implications of the BiK announcements, Donnelly said: ‘While we welcome yet another freeze in fuel duty, and the additional £200m fund for councils to tackle the issue of the terrible state of repair of Britain’s roads, the Chancellor seems to be determined to penalize drivers who qualify for company cars with 2% tax rises in three and four years time. That’s on top of the 2% increases already announced for 2015/16 and 2016/17.

‘For a vehicle with a P11D value of £25,000, that level of increase equates to an extra £200 a year in tax for a 40% tax payer, every year.

‘For many companies, company-owned cars are vital tools of the trade not perks of the job, so further rises of this kind are punitive and disproportionate,’ he said.

‘We are advising our customers to plan carefully ahead in their vehicle selection with the tax increases in mind, and to consult closely with us as to the suitable choice of models for their fleet policy lists going forward. This increases the need for companies to carefully consider the whole life costs of their vehicles and not just rely on incentivized front end prices,’ he said.