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I got a quote through the NHS salary sacrifice scheme, so I wanted to get some opinions.
The quote is for a Ford Puma Gen-E (10,000 miles max), and it would cost me around £290 per month through salary sacrifice but no advance payment required.
From what I understand, that includes insurance, servicing, tyres etc., and the payments come directly out of my wages before tax.
I’m currently comparing this with going through Motability, where I’d be funding the advance payment myself.
I’m on a lower band (Band 2) job, so I’m just trying to figure out which option makes more financial sense and is safer long term.
Has anyone here gone through NHS salary sacrifice vs Motability?
Is £290/month actually a good deal, or are there things I should be careful about?Thanks in advance 🙂
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Salary Sacrifice will come out of your salary before tax and deductions are considered BUT the remaining income must be more than the equivalent of earning minimum wage.
As long as the deal offered includes everything Motability does and that the mileage is sufficient, it sounds like a much better deal. Remember, Motability takes 13 payments a year, so any payment around the same monthly rate saves you around £300 a year.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Don’t know about the deal but the Motability component of PIP will be worth almost £4200 a year or around £350 a month. If your deal includes insurance and tyres etc, you’ll be £60 a month better off in the first year and even more due to increases in PIP in years 2 and 3.
Enyaq EV
I know nothing about the NHS scheme, but as @MFillingham says you will save 20% tax (assuming you are a basic rate taxpayer) plus NI, so the £290 is actually costing you less than £230 a month. You will gain £330 every 4 weeks in PIP by not having a Motability car, so you have over £100 a month towards any other costs above the leasing cost (plus of course any AP that you would save), so it looks like it’s well worth investigating.
- You must be careful about the sacrifice – if the figure was produced by the likes of Octopus through their website then it is definitely incorrect – it is how much it will cost you netto, not brutto . If it was your HR guy at NHS that it is more plausible.
- By providing you with a vehicle, an employer saves on NI and some contribute it back to you via pension for example. If this is the case – you have a bob or two extra.
- BiK rates are rising – from April this year you will pay 3% tax, from April following year – 4% tax. Which is minus £15-£20 a month from your pocket.
- Do you plan to do over 10,000 miles per annum? If yes – calculate extra miles costs in.
- Do you plan to travel abroad with this car? We do with ours several times a year. If you go with MB until end of Q2 I understand your trips abroad are covered for the duration of the lease.
- EVs eat into tyres and yours won’t be an exception: powerful little beauty. Check how many tyres you’re entitled to. On MB it is still 8 tyres. I have 7 replaced since April 2024 (MB refused last weekend to replace the 8th – still has 2 mm).
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)It’s ironic isn’t it? A disabled working person unable to get the best deal through Motability because the government has turned on us but can get the car they need with a 20% treasury donation every month.
£290 a month still beats the Motability monthly amount plus you don’t need to go finding an AP every 3 years. Just make sure the deal includes everything that Motability provides. The RAC provision with Motability includes onward travel including a hire car, most just take out the required recovery insurance.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Thank you all with replies. I was going to add a screenshot of the deal but couldn’t figure how to. Anyway the deal is from NHS fleet. It says salary sacrifice £403 minus £134 savings on tax and NI. Total cost £269 plus £20 tax liability totalling £290. I’ve been watching YouTube videos for Puma. I think I’ll get it 😏
I’m not sure that I want to know the answer, given how far down the pan the Motability scheme is going, but what are the most expensive ICE cars that you can get through NHS salary sacrifice (not interested in EVs)? Presumably those who work in the NHS aren’t banned from having cars from the premium brands? 🤔
Would you then ditch the Enyak on Motability?
@kezo, if the question was to me, then yes – if I could knock 25% off that Lotus beauty as GlosGuy does with his BMW, I would definitely consider.Sent from a mobile device.
Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)I’m not sure that I want to know the answer, given how far down the pan the Motability scheme is going, but what are the most expensive ICE cars that you can get through NHS salary sacrifice (not interested in EVs)? Presumably those who work in the NHS aren’t banned from having cars from the premium brands?
You really don’t want an answer. If you’re far enough up the food chain to have a salary that can cover it, then your next car or higher value could be available. I’ve seen a top of the range Ariya (before the Nismo came out) and a Genesis sat in the doctors’ car park at our local hospital. Obviously, I can’t guarantee they’re SS cars but it’d make them much more affordable with all the tax savings.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
You really don’t want an answer. If you’re far enough up the food chain to have a salary that can cover it, then your next car or higher value could be available. I’ve seen a top of the range Ariya (before the Nismo came out) and a Genesis sat in the doctors’ car park at our local hospital. Obviously, I can’t guarantee they’re SS cars but it’d make them much more affordable with all the tax savings.
Thankfully, neither of those cars would remotely appeal to me. I don’t want an EV and the Genesis probably bings and bongs as much as our Hyundai, which drives me to distraction 😂
I’m just relieved that you didn’t say that the Drs car park was full of BMW X5s, as that would have really irritated me, especially as Motability customers aren’t even allowed the lowly X1 these days!
Thankfully, neither of those cars would remotely appeal to me. I don’t want an EV and the Genesis probably bings and bongs as much as our Hyundai, which drives me to distraction
I’m just relieved that you didn’t say that the Drs car park was full of BMW X5s, as that would have really irritated me, especially as Motability customers aren’t even allowed the lowly X1 these days!I think that’s as much to do with where I am as much as what’s available. I’d guess if you looked at a hospital where X5s and Land/Range Rovers are common, there’d be a fair few parked in the car park. I very much doubt the NHS Scheme disqualifies anything because of brand, just affordability or, more accurately, the amount of salary remaining after the reduction.
Back when I had nurses calling every day, we could tell when most arrived as there’d be a white Toyota Aygo turn up. It wasn’t until one wanted to talk about electric cars that I found out they were a special offer from the leasing company and was suitable economical for travelling around the county. So I’d say they can be guided by offers but there’s no overwhelming push towards electric or away from specific brands.
This is why the abject hypocrisy of our government bites really hard. Only because someone spread the bs around ‘free cars’ we’re not allowed certain brands while the only government spend is the absence of VAT and IPT. Meanwhile, working people get between 20 and 45% off the monthly payments on whatever car they want regardless of whether they need such a car. No need to view and apply and collect no sooner than 4 days later with every thing being in person, whilst SS you just order and don’t necessarily have to see the car in person.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
I agree @MFillingham
I don’t begrudge anyone taking advantage of the salary sacrifice scheme. I enjoyed the benefit of it when I was working – mostly for one of my pensions, but I would have used it had it been in place when I was running company cars.
Like you, it’s the hypocrisy of government policies that grates. The only group of people who are restricted in choice are those who arguably need the most options. I’ll say this quietly, as Rachel from accounts obviously hasn’t picked up on this yet, but disabled people who buy a new car privately and qualify for VAT exemption, have no restrictions. If someone wanted to buy a £400k Rolls Royce they would get £100k VAT knocked off, yet a Motability customer can’t even get a £40k BMW, even if they are willing and able to pay the required AP. The saddest part of it all is that it makes no financial sense whatsoever and is purely being done to pacify the uneducated haters 🤔
A family member of mine who was a nurse had a car through salary sacrifice before and always said it didn’t work out as well as expected, so that’s made me a bit cautious about going down that route. I can’t ask her because she got caught a nasty cancer mid SS contract and died before her lease term ended. Not sure how they returned the car tbh as well half way contract.
I’ve also just noticed the range on the Ford Puma Gen-E is around 230 miles, which I’m not sure would be enough for my daily driving as I do quite a lot most days. SS doesn’t give me much option really. Only puma and frontera but with frontera I can get 15000 miles a year allowance.
I’m trying to reduce how much driving I do where possible (hoping to share some school runs, and my eldest is learning to drive), but at the moment I do feel like a bit of a taxi 😅
So I’m just trying to weigh up whether salary sacrifice is the right option for me, or if I’d be better sticking with Motability and going for something with a bigger range like enyaq. As I said before I have a child with severe learning disability and already have a Motability car on my son’s name.
I’ve seen how these discussions can go elsewhere as well and I found this forum much more friendly. So thank you all for making these decisions easier 🙏
@Fartoostrong For those who want an EV, especially the more expensive ones, Motability remains an attractive option. It’s less compelling for the cheaper cars, even cheaper EVs, as you still sacrifice the same £12k benefits. Some people have posted private leasing deals for lower end EVs that are more competitive, even without the benefit of salary sacrifice.
I don’t know if you are in a rush, but it might be easier to make a comparison when the changes to the Motability scheme that will be effective from July are announced. In addition to APs likely to go up (even more) due to VAT and IPT being added, the mileage limit is likely to be reduced. Knowing that these adverse changes are coming, but not knowing the details, means it’s quite difficult to be able to compare the schemes.
A family member of mine who was a nurse had a car through salary sacrifice before and always said it didn’t work out as well as expected, so that’s made me a bit cautious about going down that route. I can’t ask her because she got caught a nasty cancer mid SS contract and died before her lease term ended. Not sure how they returned the car tbh as well half way contract. I’ve also just noticed the range on the Ford Puma Gen-E is around 230 miles, which I’m not sure would be enough for my daily driving as I do quite a lot most days. SS doesn’t give me much option really. Only puma and frontera but with frontera I can get 15000 miles a year allowance. I’m trying to reduce how much driving I do where possible (hoping to share some school runs, and my eldest is learning to drive), but at the moment I do feel like a bit of a taxi
So I’m just trying to weigh up whether salary sacrifice is the right option for me, or if I’d be better sticking with Motability and going for something with a bigger range like enyaq. As I said before I have a child with severe learning disability and already have a Motability car on my son’s name. I’ve seen how these discussions can go elsewhere as well and I found this forum much more friendly. So thank you all for making these decisions easier [/quoteOh well, you’re just getting older like all of us… School runs, after-school runs, then they grow up and want license of their own and you paying for it all… 🙂
From what you have described, by definition you will be doing overtime 10,000 miles per annum. As I advised above, I would definitely check your extra mileage.
With regards to Frontera – is it Ultimate trim with an extended range? I liked this car for the PCH price they offered. Note that it’s sister on Motability, C3-Aircross Max is zero deposit, although with small 44kwh battery.
Sent from a mobile device.
Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)It’s vauxhall frontera electric estate 83kw GS 44kwh. Doesn’t say more than that really. This one is for £298 a month.
I wouldn’t go anywhere near a 44kWh battery, in winter you’ll barely get 100 miles. Then there’s the quality of a Vauxhall, I’d be very sceptical about that one.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Make sure you do your homework on the Fleet solutions scheme. With some of the more expensive cars money is taken from your salary and money is taken from your pension to pay for the car.
The charges if you have any damage at the end of the lease are quite expensive.
In the last budget Mrs Reeves announced something about £60,000 being reduced to £2,000 for salary sacrifice and pensions. You need to see exactly what that was.
Do you have a 3 year contract with what ever job you do in the NHS?
Is the Puma on special offer at the minute they have special offers all the time.
Just make sure you do a lot of research into it.
Our trust actually going through a restructure at the moment and they did offer voluntary redundancies because of it. My position is permanent. They do say our jobs are safe, but nevertheless we are all a bit worried.
Puma was on special offer and that’s why I was considering it, as most of the other cars seem quite expensive.
Having looked into it more (especially the pension side and being tied in for 3 years), I think it’s probably not the right option for me at the moment.
I’ve decided I’ll stick with Motability and go for the Enyaq instead, just for a bit more stability and range.
Really appreciate your advice belfast, it helped me think it through properly.
I’m just relieved that you didn’t say that the Drs car park was full of BMW X5s, as that would have really irritated me, especially as Motability customers aren’t even allowed the lowly X1 these days!
So I’m just trying to weigh up whether salary sacrifice is the right option for me, or if I’d be better sticking with Motability and going for something with a bigger range like enyaq. As I said before I have a child with severe learning disability and already have a Motability car on my son’s name. I’ve seen how these discussions can go elsewhere as well and I found this forum much more friendly. So thank you all for making these decisions easier 
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