Five years on: 84% of Epson employees are re-ordering vehicles through Tusker

The business has offset more than 150 tonnes of carbon since Tusker launch

Epson UK and Epson Europe, subsidiaries of the global technology brand, needed a new car benefit scheme which would be beneficial to both the business and its employees.

The organisations originally wanted to provide a range of benefits to their staff which included sought-after benefits such as company cars. From an employee perspective, the new scheme also had to support employee financial wellbeing – an issue that’s been high on employer’s agendas for some time – whilst being inclusive for as many employees as possible.

Early adopters of salary sacrifice schemes since 2014, Epson had already worked with other car benefit providers, but over time it became apparent that the service was failing to deliver due to clunky execution and poor service.

This meant they needed a viable alternative: something that would be easy-to-manage, genuinely beneficial to employees, and hassle-free.

Following considerable research, Epson’s experienced fleet manager Julie Fernandes chose Tusker as their next partner, and the Tusker car benefit scheme officially launched in July 2019 to 485 eligible employees.

The launch coincided with the introduction of the 0 per cent Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) rate (non-cash benefit provided for personal use), which led to a surge in orders for Tusker Electric Vehicles (EVs). 10% of employees now drive a Tusker vehicle.

Green car benefits play an increasingly important part in financial wellbeing programmes thanks to salary sacrifice schemes and generous BIKs rates. The salary sacrifice mechanism in particular helps employees’ salaries go further because it lowers the tax and NI contributions. And it lowers the NIC burden for employers too.

In addition, Tusker EVs are becoming increasingly inclusive, widening eligibility to employees across more pay bands than previously available.

The inclusivity, financial savings and overall convenience of having a Tusker EV has therefore been highly popular among eligible Epson employees. Five years on, with many agreements coming up for renewal, 84% of employees are now reordering.

In fact, the Tusker EV Driver Survey Report 2024 revealed that 93 per cent of respondents were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their EV Tusker car, with 97 per cent saying their EV was either ‘reliable’ or ‘very reliable’ – a testament to the scheme’s reliability.

As Julie Fernandes commented: “Tusker’s ordering portal is extremely user-friendly and the integration of Tusker into Epson’s existing employee benefits portal was seamless right from the start, so employees are able to easily access and understand various options available to them.”

Crucially, Tusker offer a lifestyle protections policy which provides additional added insurance to cover both employer and employee in event of redundancy or lifestyle changes.

This became a standout feature for Epson. Under personal lease arrangements, individuals are typically ‘locked in’, so if circumstances change, the individual remains responsible in meeting their monthly financial obligations. And if there’s a need to terminate the contract mid-term, there will often be a significant penalty.

However, Tusker’s built-in protections recognise that circumstances can and do change, so in the event of early cancellation there is no penalty fee for either employee or employer. This, says Julie, is essential to ensure the Tusker car benefit scheme remains a genuine benefit rather than a burden.

According to Julie, the Tusker service extends beyond the basics, not least offering great customer service. The team are always on hand to help, including stepping in to help with occasional third-party issues. “Customer service is a critical part of what Tusker does well,” Julie explains.

Tusker’s proactive and flexible approach such as the ability to easily extend leases and adjust mileage has also been a boost to the Epson team. Account managers provide regular updates to lease holders to ensure their current mileage provisions remains right for their lifestyle.

From a business perspective, the Tusker car scheme is easy to manage, even during the Covid-19 pandemic which caused significant disruption across the globe.

Overall, the partnership between Epson and Tusker has been a huge success – and not just because of its flexibility and great customer service. It’s helped Epson with its environmental objectives and its road to zero emission targets. Epson has offset more than 150 tonnes of carbon* since launching with Tusker.

*Tusker offsets the carbon for all its vehicles on behalf of customers in the form of tailpipe emissions for petrol and diesel cars, or charging emissions for electric vehicles.