The right benefits can play a big role in attracting and retaining your team, and one that has been growing in popularity lately is the car salary sacrifice. This sees employees being given access to a leased car in exchange for a portion of their salary, which also reduces their taxable income and can see them being better off in the end. However, there are different providers out there that carry out these benefits a little differently, so how do you see which best suits your needs?
Understand The Full Costs
As you’re going to be paying the cost of any vehicles leased to your employees, you should take a closer look at the total costs. This includes looking beyond the monthly lease rate and looking into additional charges, such as administration fees, excess mileage penalties, and damage charges. Clear pricing models help you forecast deductions much more accurately, ensuring the benefit isn’t much more expensive than expected.
Take A Look At The Range Of Vehicles
Good providers offer a strong and diverse range of vehicles for you and your employees to choose from, including compact city cars, family vehicles, and the increasingly popular electric vehicles that can also help you meet business sustainability goals. Look at the variety of vehicles available, as well as how long it takes for the provider to get access to newer models in their roster.
How Flexible Is Your Contract?
Although you might, in a perfect world, be able to stick to the terms of the contract without any issue, that doesn’t always affect reality. When comparing providers like The Electric Car Scheme vs Octopus EV, look at factors like lease lengths and variability they offer, protection against costs if the contract has to be cut short, and when those protections kick in. For instance, some companies may charge an early termination fee if, for instance, the employee benefiting from the scheme resigns within three months.
Running Cost Coverage
On average, vehicle salary sacrifice providers will provide leased vehicles, but you can improve your employees’ benefits even more with those that include ongoing costs as part of the deal. This can include servicing, maintenance, and breakdown coverage, as well as the more day-to-day costs of fuel or using charging stations. Some EV salary sacrifice providers will even allow your employees to increase the sacrificed portion of their salary for charging point installation at their home.
Compare Customer Service And Support
As your situation with your employee evolves, you may find yourself needing support from your provider. As such, you want to make sure that you choose a company that provides responsive assistance not just when trying to get you into a contract, but throughout the lifecycle of the whole vehicle, as well. For instance, some will provide digital portals that make it a lot easier to track and alter your orders.
It might seem like any car salary sacrifice scheme is a good deal, but when you take a closer look, the differences between providers can really start to become clear.
