COMPANIES considering a cash for car option for their employees should pay as much attention to the emotional values of a company car as to the financial arguments at stake. Addressing the relative benefits of funding a cash option through either full expense relief claims or the Fixed Profit Car Scheme, David Rawlings, senior manager with Deloitte & Touche's automotive sector group, advised fleets not to lose sight of the value employees place on a company car.

He also signalled the potential pitfalls of cash for car calculations, including circumstances where an employee's business mileage - and therefore mileage reimbursement - may alter dramatically over a three- or four-year period, and where the current benefit in kind tax regime is also likely to change. 'You must give staff as much assistance as possible and make them aware of the dangers,' said Rawlings. 'Everyone is different, driving different private and business miles.'

The challenge facing fleet decision-makers is to devise a cash for car offering which either recognises the specific needs of every individual, likely to be too unwieldy for most large companies, or to let the driver decide, or to set wide cash for car bands which will create winners and losers.