Problems of uninsured and poorly maintained grey fleet vehicles, flagged up in a fleet survey this week as a major concern for fleet managers, can be easily overcome by the implementation of a salary sacrifice car scheme.

That’s the view from salary sacrifice market leader, Tusker, who says that uninsured or under-insured drivers are not an issue with salary sacrifice car schemes, like its own SS4C, as the schemes typically insist on business insurance for all users and build it into the monthly rental automatically.

The concerns came to light following a survey of grey fleet drivers by telematics provider, Trimble, which showed that more than half could be driving with inadequate insurance and leaving their employers exposed to liability if they were involved in a crash.

The study discovered that 72% or respondents used their own vehicles for work, but 57% did not realise they needed to carry extra insurance cover beyond the standard social, domestic and pleasure cover.

With Tusker’s SS4C scheme, employees who opt for a new car are automatically covered for business use for the named driver and their domestic partner and the premium is built into the monthly rental.

Companies can opt out of including insurance in the scheme should they so wish, if they are self-insured for example, but in practice very few do in Tusker’s experience.

“They prefer to know that their employees are fully covered for all eventualities, including full business use, so that there can be no come back on the company for the actions of their drivers,” said Tusker marketing manager, Vicky Anderson.

Tusker’s insurance offering applies to all permanent employees, provided they have been with the company for six months and have held for an EU driving licence for a year, and there are no additional costs based on area, locality, where the vehicle is parked, size of the no claims bonus or whether a tracking device is fitted to the vehicle.

As well as providing full business insurance, the SS4C scheme also provides full service, maintenance and repair work in line with the manufacturer’s warranty, along with other benefits including replacement tyres and breakdown cover.

Regular reminders are sent out to employees when their vehicles are due for servicing, along with driver licence checks and road fund licences.

“A salary sacrifice scheme, like SS4C, tackles grey fleet management issues by replacing older cars with newer, less polluting and better maintained models. It also meets duty of care and Corporate Manslaughter concerns and introduces mandatory licence checking. And by automatically providing business insurance, the scheme ensures that the company and its employees are fully covered,” added  Anderson.

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