Fleet Alliance has appointed Mark Roberts to the newly-created position of salary sacrifice product manager.

Roberts joins Glasgow-based vehicle funding and fleet management specialist from Zenith Intelligent Vehicle Solutions where he was, most recently, customer relationship director, responsible for both corporate and salary sacrifice sales.

“Salary sacrifice is a great way of helping customers transition to affordable electric vehicles, as over the next eight years the government will phase-out of ICE vehicles.

“At Fleet Alliance, we will help them make the change not only to a different type of vehicle but also a different way to fund their next car,” he said.

The company’s main focus will be the SME sector, where Roberts says many of the larger players “don’t want to play”. Fleet Alliance will provide SMEs with the tools to research and obtain quotes for EVs an all-inclusive package.

Roberts added: “Our USP will be the level of help and support we provide customers in the critical order to delivery phase to help them make the transition to an EV as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

“There is a huge level of demand out there currently as many companies realise the savings in tax and national insurance that can be made and recognise that salary sacrifice is a great incentive to aid recruitment and retention.”

Fleet Alliance launched its salary sacrifice product in late summer, this year. While the new scheme is available to fleets of all sizes, Fleet Alliance believes it offers particular value to SMEs who may not necessarily be aware of the benefits of this type of arrangement.

The scheme can provide employees who would not normally qualify for a company car – or those who have opted out in favour of a cash allowance - with ready, cost effective access to fully maintained, zero emission vehicles at no extra cost to the business.

Cost savings are achieved through Fleet Alliance’s multi-bid funding solution, which employs competitive tendering amongst a panel of funders to ensure the maximum value is delivered to employer and employee by selecting the lowest cost – a facility not normally available to smaller businesses.

Andy Bruce, CEO at Fleet Alliance, said: “We see Mark’s appointment as being pivotal in our development plans for our salary sacrifice solution, which we believe is perfectly positioned to capitalise on what is an extremely advantageous tax environment for electric cars. This currently offers considerable advantages for corporate buyers with Benefit-in-Kind tax rates as low as 1% currently, rising to 2% from April until April 2025.”