Dream cars on salary sacrifice with SECCL

Many of us have a dream car in mind, whether it's a vintage Mini or a sleek, high-performance sports car. We know that the idea of cruising through the countryside in one on a warm summer's day crosses our minds from time to time. For most, their dream car will be unattainable whether that’s due to the initial price tag or ongoing maintenance costs. But, for Chris, Head of Propositions at SECCL, his dream became a reality when he discovered he could get a Porsche Taycan through our salary sacrifice scheme.

Not only does Chris get to drive in style but he also saved up to 40% on his brand-new Porsche and has all of his maintenance included!

Chris: I always knew I wanted a Porsche, so when I saw I could get one through the salary sacrifice scheme, it was meant to be. I ordered it in January 2023. And it arrived in December which is a pretty standard wait time for Porsche’s.

Elise: That must’ve felt like the longest year waiting for it! What pushed you to get a new car?

C: Like I said, I’d wanted a Porsche for a very long time. When I looked into this scheme and saw the tax savings I could make. Well, it was meant to be! The BiK rate was also incredibly low, so doing it through the company and the scheme was really attractive. I made some great savings and it brought me down a tax band, all whilst I’m able to drive around in the car of my dreams!

So from a financial standpoint, it’s great. Never, in a million years did I think I was going to be able to own a Porsche, but I can through this scheme. I looked at all the numbers and figured it’d work out well.

I couldn’t afford to buy one myself, especially with the deposit. The salary sacrifice scheme meant I was able to get my dream car at an affordable price.

E: That’s amazing! Is it your only car?

C: My wife's got her car, so for long journeys we'll probably use hers because it’s bigger and more practical.

But for what I need, doing relatively low amounts of mileage, the range is great. I get about 250 miles on a full charge, and that's perfect for me to get to the SECCL office in Bath from my house in Salisbury. It’s about 40 miles, so it's an 80-mile round trip.

That's easily done, no matter the weather. It’s ideal for me really as I don't do any long journeys. I do have a charger at home, which I got through the scheme and I'm on the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff so I get really cheap overnight charging. I charge up at around 7.5p, so a full charge costs around £15.

E: Wow that’s such good value for money. How does that compare to your previous petrol car?

C: I had a BMW before the Porsche and I reckon that cost me around £95 to fill up with petrol. So even though I’m paying more for the car each month, over the years it’s so much more efficient.

E: How would you compare your BMW and Porsche financially overall?

C: Well the Porsche will always be more expensive. But what you've got to compare it to is how much the Porsche would cost had I not got it through the scheme. I think my costs are probably half what they would’ve been if I'd bought the car myself.

I didn’t have to pay a deposit, whereas usually, you put down 10% for a Porsche. So that's £10K really, which you'd need to get. So I didn’t need that upfront cost. And that’s before you’ve thought about any of the running costs. Insurance is included in the scheme, as well as the charger and everything else you can think of! It does work out considerably more cost-effectively than buying one myself.

E: Was it the financial savings that drew you towards the scheme?

C: Yeah for sure, the BMW would cost £500-£600 a year in servicing costs.

With this scheme, everything is covered. So if I need my tyres changed there’s no sudden cost to me. When you look at the cost of everything including the deposit, servicing, insurance, cost of the car etc. over three years it’s so close to what I’d be paying for my BMW. It’s amazing how close it is considering the car is worth double.

E: Going back to the charging, what has your experience been like?

C: I thought there was going to be quite a long wait for a home charger. So I preemptively ordered the charger in October, but we got it fitted that same month. The car arrived at the end of December so I had the charger for ages before I even got the car!

E: Great, and how was your first experience charging?

C: Good. I’d done a fair bit of research on so I knew what I was expecting. You just plug it in, link it up to the app, put in how much charge you want and it does it all for you overnight. I think Intelligent Octopus Go has only just integrated with Porsche in the last few months so that makes charging really simple and easy.

E: Great. That's very good. Have you used public chargers much?

C: No, I don't, to be honest, I don't plan to as I have no need.

The biggest trip I've got to do is going to be next month. I’m going to a Porsche Experience day at Silverstone. So that's about a hundred miles there and back. it's going to be quite close to whether I can do it in one charge. Hopefully, they have chargers at the Porsche Centre in Silverstone.

Which I would think they do, surely. If they’re full though, I’ll need to figure out a plan B. So that'll be my first experience of public charging. I know when you go to the experience day, they give you a discount card for their chargers so fingers crossed I’ll be able to use that!

E: Well have a lovely time on your experience day! How are you finding your car now you’ve had it for a couple of months?

C: It’s an amazing car. Absolutely. It's very fast, way faster than you need on public roads! But it’s also so smooth and completely silent, all whilst being so comfortable. It also just looks amazing!

E: Were you tempted by any other EVs or was it always the Porsche?

C: I knew exactly what I wanted. It took me a long time on the configurator to figure out the exact specification, but that was one of the great things - I could personalise it to every final detail. From the exterior colour to the colour of the brake callipers to the colour of the interior, whether I had a sports pack or a chrome on something. I could fine-tune it to be exactly what I wanted.

That then produced my unique code which I gave to Octopus so they could order my car. Then Porsche regularly updated me with photos of the manufacturing process. I even got to see pictures of the paint and interior going in. It was a great experience.

Once it was built, it was shipped over from Germany and I could track it in the app, watching it on its journey over.

E: Amazing. And with that, this is my last question! How was your whole experience with us at Ocotpus Electric Vehicles?

C: It’s been great. I know Porsche orders can be a little more complicated than a standard order but the Octopus team were superb every step of the way. They kept me updated regularly and were patient with me when I kept asking for updates.

By offering our EV salary sacrifice scheme to their team, SECCL has helped Chris be able to get behind the wheel of his dream car for less. The team have access to loads of EVs currently on the market so can pick exactly what suits their needs.

Get chatting to a member of our team today to find out how easy it is to supercharge your benefits package. If you’re an employee, why not convince your company so you can get yourself behind the wheel of your dream EV.