Smart Service by Octopus EV: making your driving experience smoother
Oct 21, 2026
4 min read
Booking your car in for a service usually means remembering when it’s due, ringing a garage, waiting on hold, and playing tetris with your diary. We’re doing away with all of that with a brand new service that’s rolling out over the coming months.
Here’s what you need to know:
- We’re taking the admin off your plate. Smart Service tells us when your car actually needs servicing. We’ll send you a booking at a local garage. You just accept, or pick another time.
- We’re looking at your car’s health, not spying on your driving. Mileage, tyres, brakes, battery and warning alerts. Not your speed, your braking, or who’s behind the wheel.
- We’re not tracking where you go. Some cars share location automatically. We don’t use it (there’s more details below).
- There’s nothing to set up. No apps, no forms, no extra kit. If your car needs a quick settings change, we’ll let you know.
- It’s not a replacement for Roadside Assistance. If you need help or a warning light comes on, call our Driverline on 020 3322 2601, just as you would now.
Looking after a car shouldn’t feel like a second job.
Today it often does. But your car already knows most of what’s needed to sort this out. It tracks mileage, knows when a service is due, and flags faults. Smart Service listens out for those notifications, so you don’t have to constantly keep an eye out for them.
Here’s what Smart Service sees.
Smart Service hooks into the automated readings your car already sends to its manufacturer. We’ve partnered with Volteras, a specialist software company, to pass those readings on to us.
| What we use | What we don’t |
|---|---|
Mileage and service dates | Where your car is |
Tyre pressure, brake wear and brake fluid | How fast you drive |
Warning alerts and fault codes | Accelerate or brake |
Battery health, charge level and range | Who’s driving |
Your name or personal details |
Good to know:
Some manufacturers include location data in their feed. We don’t use it, and Smart Service doesn’t store it. We can potentially access it if you or the police report your vehicle as stolen, but otherwise, we’re not using that data.
Here’s what’s changing for you.
Whether you lease with us personally or through salary sacrifice, here’s what Smart Service will do for you over the coming months.
- A head’s up before your service is due.
- Appointments booked for you. This will be rolling out gradually, so we can book your service or repair at a local garage. You just accept it or change, that’s it.
- No surprise mileage bill. If you’re getting close to your contracted limit, we’ll tell you early so you have time to adjust your contract or how much you plan to drive.
- Fixing problems under warranty. Smart Service will keep an eye on your mileage to help us get issues sorted before your warranty runs out.
What we need from you: nothing. We’ll connect using your car’s Vehicle Identification Number, so there’s no app, form or kit. Some cars may need a one-off settings change. If yours is one of them, we’ll drop you an email with straightforward instructions.
Keeping you in control.
Smart Service is part of how we look after the cars we lease, so you can’t opt out of the service. That said, your connected car and your data stays in your control.
- You own your diary. Every appointment we book can be either accepted or changed.
- You can see the data. Most manufacturers share the same data in their app.
- You can ask for a copy, or for it to be deleted. Just drop us an email to data-protection@octopusev.com
- We’re always here to help. If you’re unsure about something, reach out – we’re happy to walk you through exactly how Smart Service works and why.
If you run a salary sacrifice scheme.
Smart Service will mean fewer “my car needs a service, who do I call?” questions landing on your desk. We’ll book services and repairs for your drivers at their local garage, at a time that suits them.
There’s nothing for your drivers to set up – but if your drivers want to know what data we get, the simple answer is: we see your car’s health, not where you go or how you drive. Feel free to share this page with them.
