THE leasing industry is facing a massive shift towards dealing directly with employees as companies look at moving away from supplying company cars in favour of offering assisted car sourcing packages for staff, predicts Dial Contracts. Chief executive Ian Goswell said the industry was increasingly interested in ways of providing company car-style benefits without the tax stings and moves towards taxation based on private rather than business mileage would make such schemes even more attractive.

Dial believes that within the next five to eight years 30% of its customers will be individual drivers, dealing directly with Dial through company sponsored schemes. Early next year Dial will unveil a new package tailored to meet these needs. Dial backs the view that company car drivers should be taxed on personal mileage rather than the number of business miles they clock up and says the taxation system simply encourages drivers to travel further, albeit as part of their work.

Goswell said: 'The current scheme makes little sense in environmental terms as it incentivises the company car driver to bump up business mileage in order to reach tax breaks and qualify for lower charges. We should be incentivising the driver to get his miles down and to consider if he or she really should make that journey. In response to these changes in taxation, we anticipate a significant shift in the structure of our business, with more corporate companies looking to introduce tax beneficial company assisted purchase schemes. At Dial we are well advanced with developing such a scheme, so ensuring we have the best solution possible to service this change.'