EV - salary sacrifice (salsac)

My employer has given us the opportunity to buy EV cars at half price using salsac .

As I am in the early stages of buying a new (to me) car I threw myself at it with a gusto only to find that the savings seem to be illusory.

Am I missing something or is this all smoke an mirrors?

Comments

  • Jezyboy
    Jezyboy Posts: 3,550

    I think our scheme looked worthwhile if you were lucky enough to earn enough to pay lots of tax. However, I suspect many of the schemes are ripping people off/taking advantage of a new market.

    Our (not very worldly) graduate seemed shocked that it didn't really work for them.

  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,867

    Halving the monthly cost only puts it in line with shopping for the best EV lease deal.

    I am struggling to make it add up in comparison to buying a car 3 years old in cash.

  • Jezyboy
    Jezyboy Posts: 3,550

    The inclusion of insurance in ours made it reasonably attractive. As soon as you compare things with the second hand market it'll be quite off putting

  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,867

    But my insurance is only £500, so maybe it gets more attractive to people with penal insurance rates.

    I guess it would also work if you did very high mileage

  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,217

    I didn't think our scheme looked that appealing: the savings didn't seem massive and the monthly payments were too much for any of my immediate colleagues, although the way insurance is going it might be worth another look.

    Ours included the cost of a charging point but the small print said something along the lines of if it's anything other than the most simple installation you would have to pay extra and it would be far from straightforward at my house.

    I've never bought a brand new car, or on finance so don't have a great feel for these things.

  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,345

    Do you get maintenance included? Slightly different but I always liked having a company car for the hassle free motoring it gave me and could never understand the people who took the cash option to buy second-hand. One thing to note whether leasing through the company or privately is that the company leasing to you will almost certainly decide that 'fair wear and tear' damage at the end of the lease period means showroom condition. My brother-in-law had to get a set of brand new, premium brand tyres replaced when returning his car as they were the 'wrong' premium brand. He appealed a load of the supposed faults - luckily he delivers cars for a rental company and is meticulous and maintaining his own car. I've had similar when returning company cars, things like small stone dents and chips on cars with 100k miles on the clock.

  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 19,922


    I get the impression that most of these schemes are vehicles (pardon the pun) to get you hooked into various schemes (finance, maintenance, insurance etc.) that would make your eyes pop out if you priced them up separately.

    I might be entirely wrong, but the only motorised transport I bought new was a diesel Ford Escort van, on 0% finance, which I paid off entirely over 12 months I think, while the money sat in a savings account earning quote good interest (I think about 10% at the time).

    Other than that, I've not spent more than £2k on a car.

  • pep.fermi
    pep.fermi Posts: 383
    edited January 12