TUPE and Company Car / Car Allowance

Grumpy_chap

This is a specific question about company cars / car allowances and TUPE - one of the areas where the rules allow a lot of flexibility. That could include a change of car, or a change of everyone from car to allowance, or vice-versa.

I would be surprised if the new company can take over the leases from the old company but the old company may be able to sub-lease (if that is the correct term) the cars to the new company.

I think the only thing the OP can do is to ask for specific details from the new employer.  I doubt the OP is the only one with the same concern.  Does the new employer have a "Q&A" portal and updating FAQs?

For comparison, I was once involved with a company where a number (circa 200-odd) of employees were TUPE'd and had company cars.  The old employer had a graded car structure so you got anything from a Focus LX through to a Mondeo Ghia depending on seniority.  All replaced every 42 months.  Straight forward business lease.

The new employer had no company car policy and no car allowance scheme.  The affected employees were asked to state their preference for a saloon car or an estate car.  The new employer simply went out and bought the requisite number of top-spec Toyota Avensis cars and had them delivered to the employees on the TUPE date.  This worked, as everyone had a brand new car and the majority had a higher spec of car than previously - none wanted to make noise about the BIK impact.  Grumbles started to emerge when the new employer didn't swap the cars out after the expected 3.5 years.  In fact, it was 8 years before the new employer swapped the cars out.