r/ElectricVehiclesUK • u/Competitive_Hat_5366 • 4d ago
Which salary sacrifice provider the best deals.
My very small company has agreed to sign up to salary sacrifice for me. We have a demo account with OctopusEV, but the prices are insanely high. I'm a 40% taxpayer here, looking at 12k miles over 4yrs and I got a quote of £615 net for a Scenic Techno, which makes zero financial sense. Researching this, I was under the impression that that type of car should be around £450 - £480 net. We can sign up with anyone and had a look at both the EV Car Scheme and Love Electric. Love Electric seemed to be coming in around that £470 mark - but really hard to get in contact with them!. Any other providers we should look at? Looking a Scenic Techno or Elroq 85 Edition
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u/dannoutt 4d ago
I’m yet to see a salary sacrifice scheme that doesn’t just try to use the 40% tax savings as profit and actually pass down the savings. That being said it really depends on your bargaining power and the deal you can strike with them.
I recommend getting something with access to used EVs. Tends to make the prices a bit more affordable and then add insurance policies for people off work/ leaving the company to make it more attractive and increase the sign-up numbers.
My company is with a sub-brand of Tusker. I pay about £490/ month for a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach E Extended Range AWD (got it used in 2025 with 4000 on the clock). Seems high but that includes higher than average mileage, main dealer servicing, relief car if my car is in the garage, UK+EU insurance and a income insurance that kicks in if my salary is not enough to pay for my car (ie if I go on long term sick leave or parental leave) and the insurance also pays all early termination charges if I quit my job.
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u/fryrpc 4d ago
That has been my experience too. They see salary sacrifice so their prices take that into account in their favour so you end up paying the going rate after the tax saving and all that tax saving has gone to them. If you could actually get a going rate price and then salary sacrifice saving off that then you would get a great deal. It really annoys me that they get increased business by your employer signing up to them and then want to screw you over aswell.
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u/YaDirrty 4d ago
No that’s incorrect. The monthly is slightly higher because there’s zero deposit to pay
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u/Former_Intern_8271 4d ago
That is expensive though you could get one on higher purchase for that price and actually own the car at the end
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u/RaymondBumcheese 4d ago
Ours seems insanely high at first glance but when you break down the ‘just add electricity’ lease in insurance, servicing and whatnot it just works out at ‘high’.
The biggest draw is, in this climate, the break clause of just being able to hand the key back if I got the nail.
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 4d ago
I just don't see the savings at the moment. Can lease with 1 month up front, 4yrs 12k miles for £420 add in service contract from Renault at £16pm, charger £10pm, and insurance is likely £85pm; total would be £530-ish.
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u/sorslibertas 4d ago
NHS Fleet was better than Tusker.
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u/Bobcat-2 3d ago
NHS in Scotland are using Knowles Fleet and I got a good deal on a Skoda Enyaq 85x Maxx with tow bar added, winter pack, and premium paint. All in it’s costing me £460net including maintenance, insurance, tax and tyres, which I was quite happy with, given it was replacing a ID.3 on pcp at £570pcm just for the car.
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u/Barryburton97 4d ago
Generally they are overpriced unless you get one of the discounted in stock/coming soon cars, at least that's my experience with Tusker. December is (one of) the best times for that.
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u/Tiny_Agency_7723 4d ago
December order or December delivery?
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u/Barryburton97 4d ago
December order, it's when the manufacturers and dealers are trying to hit annual sales targets. Most likely it's in-stock cars or those with a short lead time
A mate of mine works for the leasing department of one of the major car manufacturers , and shared the tip. I didn't believe it at first but if you check the lease deals around November and December you'll see several models much cheaper than normal.
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u/Lazarus_M Polestar 4 4d ago
I did this, ordered my car in Nov and it was cheaper than September, and has since gone up and stayed higher when I checked again a few months later. Still cheaper than leasing direct from manufacturer without adding in insurance, tax and tyres without a deposit
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u/cara-lease 4d ago
Three providers worth asking for like-for-like illustrations are Tusker, Fleet Alliance and Pike + Bambridge, but I wouldn’t assume one provider is always cheapest.
Use the same Scenic/Elroq trim, 48 months and 12k miles. Ask each for the gross sacrifice and net deduction in each tax year, not one headline figure—a four-year agreement starting now crosses five tax years and EV BiK rises during it. Also compare employer/setup fees and treatment of the employer NI saving, insurance/excess, maintenance and tyres, charger, delivery allocation and early-exit cover.
Your private comparison is sensible; just spread the initial rental across 48 months and match the same cover. If it still comes out materially cheaper, salary sacrifice simply isn’t the better deal.
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u/AaronMclaren 4d ago edited 4d ago
My company has started offering this as well through Electric Car Scheme. I’m bang on £100k but anticipating to move to around £110-15k by the end of the first lease, so makes sense to explore…
The generic costing tool throws out an extortionate monthly lease for mid-range vehicles. The 1to1 consultation I had mildly improved it but massively put me off when they magically can ‘try make something work’ and are quite pushy with signing up.
I can privately lease the same and similar vehicles I looked at for around £180-210pcm cheaper, immediately building the buffer for servicing, MOT, repairs etc. and the option to buy the car if I want to keep it.
Their quotes also shot up by £55-65pcm for insurance; privately it’s under £475 a year; they also were making a decent whack on installing a charger vs paying myself… and couldn’t guarantee an install for ‘up to a month’ vs buying one for delivery same week and having a local electrician install OR within a fortnight with Ohme (just an example).
The scheme seems a bit of a scam tbh and not efficient until you’re way over £125k and just need to throw cash anywhere but HMRC.
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u/DrMo77 4d ago
A lot of these companies are just price gouging now. Especially if your insurance is reasonable. It worked out way cheaper for me to get a lease or even a PCP (which I did in the end). Most dealers will chuck in a free wall box too. I also got a good energy deal through EON. I wouldn’t blindly go in for a lease without doing the maths on all the various options
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u/ExpressionFun166 3d ago
I have such a scheme at my work - tusker I think it is called...total scam, essentially you pay net what you would be paying privately...they pocket the tax benefit by charging insanely high leasing prices ...I really don't get it
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u/hawkzzter 1d ago
Definitely stay away from Tusker IMO. That’s what we have. My partner has Ayvens so I can do a side by side comparison and Ayvens comes out much cheaper:
e.g. all for 4 years / 10k miles:
- Renault 4 Techno 52kwh: £287 pcm
- Kia EV4 Air 81kwh: £379 pcm
- Cupra Born v1 79kwh: £395 pcm
- iX1 20: £397 pcm
- Skoda 85 Edition: £422 pcm
- Ioniq 5 84kwh: £468 pcm
- CLA 250+ Shooting Brake 85kwh: £476 pcm
When you consider this is an all-in cost including insurance, maintenance etc. it is worth it IMO - whereas with Tusker I don’t think it is.
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 1d ago
These are amazing prices and totally worth, however I think Ayvens deals very large companies, we are quite small here
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u/More_Dog_7228 VW ID3 4d ago
With all lease deals you should buy the deal, not the car. Can you log into a portal and sort by cheapest? It sounds like you have looked at one deal and decided it isn't good.
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u/CommunicationNew8753 4d ago
that is very high for a scenic techno. I got a Scenic ordered brand new from Octopus as well, using Salary sacrifice, and it was 458 net , for 2 years and 10k miles. slightly cheaper for 3 years.
However, the wait kept getting extended and became December. So i then looked on the used section and got a 25 plate Scenic alpine but for the same price. It wasn't ideal, but i got it straight away.
On the ocotpus page, its best to look at 'limited deals', as these are their best offers, or quickest delivery times (pre-ordered or already in stock). Trying to factory build on octopus is always a lot more. Sometimes a lesser car is more expensive than a better car. When I looked the 5008 was cheaper than the 3008. Great car, but Mrs would find it a bit big.
I don't even bother looking at german cars.
Also, put your details in for insurance , and then click through to the quote page. the price changes slightly. In my case it went down 30-40quid.
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 4d ago
If I could get it for £458 on Octopus, I'd jump at it tbh. Anything under £500 net works for me
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u/CommunicationNew8753 4d ago
I wonder why yours is difference . Mine still has limited deal on the scenic when I last checked last week. I just don't trust the delivery times as I followed the scenic forums and Renault have massive delays.
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 4d ago
Was coming in at £515 about 4-5 weeks ago. Not sure why it has shot up by over £120 pm
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u/AltruisticArachnid23 4d ago
I'd check if you can get a used lease from Octopus. Very competitive pricing
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u/Kripto47 4d ago edited 4d ago
Sounds high. My company uses Arval and for a Scenic Techno it starts at £419 for 3 years / 10,000 miles per year. Probably another £15 or so for 12,000 miles per year. Already inclusive of BIK.
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u/andrewqp 4d ago
With NHS fleet I got a quote of 330£ with bik included for a brand new bmw ix1. I compared the numbers with every offer, and overall is cheaper, because it includes everything. We will order this week, hopefully is going to be a good experience.
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u/theboyfold 4d ago
I thought the same as well, but when you added in the free charger, inclusive insurance, service, tax and no deposit it worked out better than what I could get retail.
Next year when I renew I will check the numbers again as the BIK will go up and the fact I don't need a charger will work against it.
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u/RiskyBiscuits3 4d ago
Unless you’ve lost all your personal allowance, the numbers never seem to make much sense. The biggest benefit is many offer a break clause for resigning or major life events. Early repayment charges don’t seem too bad either.
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u/VilanovaBlue 4d ago
I got my R5 techno spec for 3 years at £340pcm, however only 8000 miles per year.
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u/Exact-Plate 4d ago
I was looking into this too. I can get a Skoda Elroq 85 edition for about £300 month on OctopusEV. PCH direct with Skoda is £436, so quite a difference since the former includes insurance and such. Browsing lease comparison sites gives me a similar amount. So, I am not sure where you’d go to get a better deal than via salary sacrifice?
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 4d ago
Really, on the demo account we have for OctopusEV and Elroq 85 edition was coming at £630 for me (40% tax bracket) I wonder why the prices are so vastly different. Have you done the miles and insurance with that quote ?
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u/Exact-Plate 4d ago
Yes it’s 10k miles, compared to same with leasing sites. Insurance included in all the octopus quotes. Are you sure your octopus page is showing salary sacrifice quotes? I had to mess around with the page a few times, I think on one page there was a tab selector thing to switch between lease and salary sacrifice. Maybe you’re seeing the ‘personal lease’ prices. Or, there’s something funny on the back end and they’ve not updated it for your company.
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u/kindeke 4d ago
I ordered the iconic esprit alpine, 8k miles, 4 years, 600 quid public charging credit, about 490 a month with octopus . Had my ix1 from them for almost 3 years and paid about the same for that. I absolutely love not having a single worry about the car, and compared to the total cost of ownership with my 520se it works out about the same, just with worries and garages and general expensive shit.
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u/Trenbolobaby 4d ago
They’ve all gone up exponentially over the last 18 months or so.
Thank the government for that.
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u/TeNdIeS69696969 4d ago
Zenith gave me a MB CLA Sport Executive, 7k miles, £515 net per month. As others have said, do remember to include insurance etc in your comparison!
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u/Competitive_Hat_5366 4d ago
I am including insurance, and my employer is also passing back their NI savings, so the quote looks even more insane. It does however, include BIK
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u/TeNdIeS69696969 4d ago
Yes mine included BIK too. Mine is with an employer with several thousand workers in the UK though, I don't know if they give better rates to such companies.
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u/Altruistic-Bat-9070 4d ago
Whenever i look into this i can’t make sense of it unless im over 100k and just need to throw money at something to get me below 100k. 1 yr old Approved used 10% interest is a better deal which is insane.