Dude my(US) husband(BE) literally just started working and he gets a company car and we were trying to figure out like why not just pay people more?
So basically if you tally everything up that they include it would be insanely expensive for an employee to manage, and often you are supposed to use your car for any work travel you have to do. So they maintain it, pay for the gas(within reason), pay for the car itself, the insurance,the yearly inspection, and you don’t get bumped up in a tax bracket.
While I personally agree with you I think it’s partially because we view cars as an investment and also as an extension of ourselves In the US. I personally. Was estatic when my first car here was a 2007 opel combo cdti because I love a good value van that I can haul stuff and has good mileage, but the hoops of car ownership are much less necessary and more annoying here. We’re considering selling our van for better bikes and having the company car as our main car.
The perception here is that American wages are so high compared to Belgium, but I added up all of the benefits that came with an “okay” wage with “good” benefits and it’s over 1000$ worth of items if I were to get the bare minimum value of comparable items(car, gas, phone, computer, health insurance(and hospitalization also which would be even more expensive in the US).
My initial instinct was also like “why would you want this, they’re just making money off of you when you lease” but honestly, it has started to make sense. Sorry for the long rant it was just so specific I had to say something lol
They aren’t a customer but they absolutely totally get a group deal I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also more economical for us as well, only paying the ~1k per year to have a brand new car that is fully upkept and always gassed is a hell of a deal as a customer. As long as the company doesn’t cheap out and give you a less efficient vehicle and then you have to pay higher fees, I think it’s worth it