NHS Fleetsolutions - anyone got one?

Ultrasonic

He is rather hard on cars and does more than 20k a year getting to work as he works for YAS not NEAS.

Out of interest, what are YAS and NEAS?

The girl I know who has a car on what I think is the same scheme thinks she has got a good deal too. But then she also thinks that a diesel car for her one mile 'commute' is a good idea... (She does drive longer distance some weekends fortunately.)

[Deleted User]

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Out of interest, what are YAS and NEAS?

Yorkshire Ambulance Service and North East Ambulance Service at a guess.

[Deleted User]

I know someone who works at an NHS trust and was thinking about leasing a car on the NHS Fleet scheme. You don't have to need a car to do your job to be eligible. Other people in the same department are on the scheme and they are in the same office day in day out.

moohound

Anyone who works for the trust with a permanent contract can have one, you don't need to use it on trust business, the costs are really weird though, cheaper cars to buy outright sometimes are more expensive, an Audi A3 sportback with mid range spec was cheaper than a bottom of the range Vauxhall Mokka, even though the list price for the Audi was quite a bit more.

As for me I have no intention of leaving the trust, and I have been in nursing for 25 years. I am going to wait a few months and work out the quotes again with new tax codes.

A colleague who was an undischarged bankrupt got one so I don't think the defaults will matter.

Anniehen_2

moohound wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies, I do very few miles a year, under 5000, so would be in the cheapest bracket. I will have to have a good look at the costs, I can afford the lease, but can't afford a big repair bill, and my credit rate is non existent so a loan or finance is not an option, and I never want another loan again anyway. I am just concerned my car is getting a bit old and it has let me down a few times.

I have had an NHS lease car since 1994. I am retiring this year and it will be the first time since then I will need my own car. I love the system. Remember, the cost includes everything except fuel (vehicle, tax, insurance, servicing, maintenance, RAC, curtesy car if its stolen or off the road for any time - if you pay the extra £2 a month). They are very easy to work with and will give you quotes on any vehicle you are considering. The 'base cars' (usually the smallest from each manufacturer, excluding the trendy city cars) are very cheap and give unlimited personal miles! Just don't use salary sacrifice if you are within 3 years of retiring on a final salary pension.

Hope that helps.

br3nnan

moohound wrote: »

Anyone who works for the trust with a permanent contract can have one, you don't need to use it on trust business, the costs are really weird though, cheaper cars to buy outright sometimes are more expensive, an Audi A3 sportback with mid range spec was cheaper than a bottom of the range Vauxhall Mokka, even though the list price for the Audi was quite a bit more.

As for me I have no intention of leaving the trust, and I have been in nursing for 25 years. I am going to wait a few months and work out the quotes again with new tax codes.

A colleague who was an undischarged bankrupt got one so I don't think the defaults will matter.

Our scheme at work is similar from the sounds of it. A ford Mondeo titanium, BMW 320ED, Audi A3 etc are all cheaper per month than a Fiesta, Corsa type vehicle.

Ours is based on the whole life cost of the vehicle I.e. it takes depreciation and residual values in to count

msauk

I am currently leasing a VW Golf bluemotion TDI 5dr diesel manual through NHS fleet solutions. This was an 'in stock' vehicle, ie. available more quickly and had become available as the previous 'leaseholder' had terminated their contract early. It had done 17k miles by the time it was delivered to me. I had no choice in the allowable mileage.

I was not a car owner beforehand, and needed the car to carry out domiciliary visits, though, as people have said above, you don't need to use the car for work-related business to qualify.

My experience of NHS Fleet Solutions staff attempting to liaise with my NHS trust left much to be desired. It took 2 months of to-ing and fro-ing and my having to chase my the salary sacrifice dept. in my trust after they supplied NHS fleet soltutions with incorrect (out of date) salary figures.

Your quote will depend on the model of car you want, your salary and the mileage you anticipate doing. As said above, service, parts, tax, insurance is included. Your excess is dependent on how many points you have on your license. You have the flexibility of adding additional drivers to the contract (even if they do not work for NHS). They delivered the car to my workplace (I was using public transport up till that day) and they will pick up without charge too. I think you have to valet and keep the car clean yourself and maintain screen-wash, check oil, etc). I started this contract last October and will terminate it in August this year.

In my case, the salary sacrifice is £374 pcm and the car benefit (based on list price of the vehicle, how many days in the financial year you will have use of it, and its emissions rating) is £1445. If you are completing a self-assessment tax return, your trust supplies you with a form P11D to indicate how they have calculated the car benefit. As far as my self-assessment is concerned, my professional subs and allowances more-or-less balance the extra 'income' I have to be taxed on through the additional car benefit.

I get no car fuel benefit from my employing trust, by the way, but I am able to re-imburse mileage costs of the domiciliary visits.

As for 'need for a permanent job contract' - I think there is some considerable flexibility in this. My job contract is not strictly 'permanent' (i.e. not a contract for 'life' as I knew I'd be climbing the career ladder and moving jobs later this year), yet my line manager was happy to sign me off as 'permanent' for NHS fleet solutions.

One final note, the 'fine' for early termination is steep in year one of your contract (5 x your monthly salary sacrifice), 3x in year 2 and, then just 1 extra month's payment if you terminate in year 3. I knew that I would be handing the car back sometime this summer, and so I opted for an 'in stock car' in the final year of its leasehold availability.

I don't really see the point of car ownership, particularly when you factor in depreciation costs. Since 2007, I have been a member of a car club, generally cycle or use public transport for work and rent cars for holidays. This has given me plenty of experience with different cars over the years.

Thanks for the comments above related to retiring. They've certainly made me think about my relying on my NHS job to lease a car.

Happy to answer other queries about leasing, and apologies in advance if there are any ambiguities in this post.

bigdirtyjames

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Ah. You may of course also find that you can't get a car via the NHS scheme for the same reason - I have no idea either way.

The NHS scheme doesn't rely on credit rating, probably because they take it out of your pay.

Rambosmum

A friend has one and loves it- she's with the local authority so it's a slightly different scheme but very similar. However it doesn't make financial sense over a second car, just a cheap way to get a new car. My friend would lease a car from a HP scheme if this wasn't available to her and so the work scheme is cheaper for her.

KB348

Hello everyone
I found this thread v useful.
This is first time I am thinking to lease the car. So need advise please. Let me explain my calculations:
Present situation: Merc E220 57 reg. Annual cost which I will save if I will choose Lease: 1600 (insurance 900 + road tax 275 + service/ MOT/ maintenance = 300, tyres = 125)
Salary=37000, intending to choose salary sacrifice for around 5000 to bring down my salary to 32K. I have 3 kids and can qualify for 3k child tax credit plus 1600 saving as explained above. What do you think about this? I am not sure if employer contribute towards some lump sum as well? I am not sure about 'tax on benefits' amount? I can also get 5k+ for selling my current car. I am only interested in leasing BMW 5 series or preferably Merc E220. 10K miles / year would be enough for me (both business & personal). Many thanks for your advice in advance. Cheers.