FLEET Evolution has launched a new service, ReturnCheck, to assess any damage on a salary sacrifice car at the point that an employee leaves a company, enabling the employer to recharge any damage costs to their final salary payment.

Available via a new app, which is free to all customers, ReturnCheck is intended to remove the risk of the employee handing back a damaged car after their final salary payment has been made, leaving the employer no means of recovering the cost.

Andrew Leech, founder and Managing Director at the EV salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist which has just reported a record year, said that such a scenario was one of the few risks associated with salary sacrifice schemes.  “We’ve introduced ReturnCheck to maintain our position of offering the lowest risk salary sacrifice scheme for electric cars anywhere in the UK.

“Salary sacrifice is inherently low risk but there are one or two areas that need careful attention, such as ensuring the terms of the scheme do not breach the National Living Wage or providing redundancy and leaver insurance. Our scheme covers all these eventualities.”

However, said Leech, one area of concern arose when an employee gave notice of leaving their employment and the employee calculated and paid their final salary, after which point the employee handed back their vehicle – only for damage to be discovered, leaving the employer no means of recouping the cost as the employee would have left.

“This could mean that the employer is liable for a dame repair bill that could potentially run into hundreds or even thousands of pounds, and no means of recovering it.

“With ReturnCheck, the employer notifies us of an employee leaving 30 days in advance. We then download the app to the employee’s mobile phone and, through it, assess the condition of the vehicle and whether any remedial work is required.

“If work is needed to repair the vehicle, we can provide an estimate to the employer who can recharge this to the employee’s final salary payment before they leave the company, so that the employer is not liable for the cost. This service also speeds up the repair process, allowing us to repair the vehicle in good time before it can then be allocated to another colleague or customer,” he added.

Fleet Evolution recorded a 45%-plus increase in orders for electric cars through its salary sacrifice schemes in 2022 compared to the previous year, a record result.