The 12p per mile allowance for business mileage is, indeed, stingy, and this is covered by HMRC rules.
HMRC allows the employers to pay 45 pence per mile for the first 10,000 miles per annum of business use tax free and, judging by the OP's total annual mileage, this would be the deemed cost to them of all business mileage.
The OP can claim tax relief for 33 pence per mile of business mileage (45 minus 12 re-imbursed) which would equate to 6,6 pence per mile as a 20% tax payer, or 13.2 pence per mile if they are in a higher (40%) tax band. This greatly enhances their budget for computing a sensible purchase/ lease for his/her/their (notice how gender sensitive I can be!) requirement.
From what I remember, the 'low' 12p/mile mileage rate is normally if you have a company car, whereas the 45p figure is for when you either have a car allowance or just use your own car you've already got.
Many firms dress 'car allowances' up as a 'perk', but is in reality just salary, but is rarely 'pensionable' [from their side] and often does not go up with inflation or by the same percentage as your general salary. At least that was my personal experience.
Comapny cars (assuming you can choose one you like) are more useful for people doing high mileages and whose existing car is in need of replacement, but car allowances can be useful if you aren't sure of your long term future (you don't have to buy a car with it) and especially if your mileage is not high, and thus maintenance, depreciation and insurance is not too high.
Some firms can be particularly stingy on mileage rates, which can be especially bad if you do big mileages and where the mpg drops to lower-than-average figures, e.g. if they are mostly urban journeys in heavy traffic, and can sometimes not cover the actual fuel cost. Fuel cards are occasionally an option, but I haven't had any experience with those.
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