Warning: Walk into any EV dealership, and they’ll push a lease that could cost you £3,000 extra annually!
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Dealers hide tax-smart options that save big. I helped three drivers switch last week, saving £230 monthly each. Get the complete EV leasing guide before you sign anything!
The Electric Oracle, the UK’s Money Saving Expert for EVs, reveals the four EV leasing types dealers don’t want you to know about.
**What We’re Covering:**
✅ The smart leasing hierarchy – from salary sacrifice to private deals
✅ How to save £3,000+ annually with the right leasing strategy
✅ London drivers: Claim ULEZ & congestion charge exemptions (ending Dec 25th, 2025)
✅ Real case studies: NHS manager saves £4,000/year, marketing manager makes £3,200 profit
✅ Advanced stacking strategies for maximum savings
✅ Common costly mistakes that drain thousands from your pocket
✅ Future market timing – why NOW is the perfect moment to lease
TIMESTAMPS
📧 **Get Weekly EV Money-Saving Tips: https://tinyurl.com/TheElectricOracleNewsletter
KEY DATA POINTS
**Government-Backed Savings Data:**
• **£3,000 annual savings** potential with salary sacrifice vs private lease
• **3% BIK tax on EVs** vs 15-37% on petrol/diesel (HMRC, 2025)
• **£3,750 London congestion charge exemption** – ending December 25th, 2025
• **381,970 new EVs registered** in the UK 2024 (Department for Transport)
• **45p per mile profit** on business mileage with EV (HMRC rates)
• **37p per mile pure profit** for EV drivers claiming mileage allowance
This comprehensive 30-minute guide exposes the complete EV leasing landscape that dealers hope you never discover. Based on HMRC data and real driver cases, I reveal four distinct leasing types with dramatically different savings potential.
The shocking truth: Most UK drivers are paying thousands more than necessary because dealerships steer you toward the most profitable options for them, not you. From salary sacrifice schemes saving £2,800+ annually to advanced stacking strategies worth £7,500+ for London drivers, this video covers every optimisation angle.
**Real results:** James from Leeds (NHS manager) saves £4,000 annually switching from diesel to Tesla via salary sacrifice. Emma from Bristol makes £3,200 profit on business mileage with her private lease. Sarah in London stacks multiple benefits for £7,500+ total savings. These aren’t theoretical – they’re happening right now.
Critical timing warning: Benefit-in-kind rates rise April 2026, London congestion exemption ends December 25th, 2025, and manufacturer incentives are reducing. The window for maximum EV leasing savings won’t stay open forever.
What’s your EV leasing situation?
Are you employed with potential salary sacrifice access?
Self-employed considering business lease?
Already in a private lease, wondering if you’re overpaying? Drop a comment with your situation and I’ll point you toward the best optimisation strategy. Let’s help each other save thousands!
#EVLeasingUK #SalarySacrificeUK #CompanyCarTax #UKEVSavings #ElectricCarLeasing #EVDealsUK #TeslaLeaseUK #ULEZSavings #BIKTaxUK #ElectricVehicles
So, walk into any EV dealership and they’ll push
a lease that sounds perfect. Low monthly payments and shiny new car, but here’s the secret they
won’t tell you. That deal could actually cost you an extra £3,000 a year. Why? It’s kind of like
a way of selling their prices dish for a bigger tip. Dealers basically earn more on standard
leases, hiding tax smart options that might save you big. Now, look, I helped three drivers
switch last week, and they were they’re saving £230 a month now, and that’s nearly about £3,000
a year. Now, the crazy thing is, back in the 80s, leasing was for fat cat executives with Jaguars,
skyhigh cost, brutal company car taxes. But today, it’s kind of flipped completely. So, what
I’ve done is analyze the HMRC data and real driver cases to uncover four EV leasing types that
would just slash your costs. And Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirms it. Company car tax rates for EVs
remain competitive, she says. So, if she says it, let’s compare those smart options that the dealers
avoid. So, here’s what’s really happening in the UK EV market. Walk into any dealership and they’ll
immediately steer you toward one or two lease options. But you know what? There’s an entire
world of EV leasing they hope you never discover. According to the Department for Transport data
released in July 2025, we just we had just over 380,000 new EVs registered just last year. And
that’s making the UK Europe’s largest EV market. It’s crazy. Here’s the shocking part. Most drivers
are paying thousands more than they need to. There are actually four completely different ways to
lease an EV in the UK. four different systems, four different tax treatments, and four different
saving potentials. The dealership will show you the first two, the ones that make them the
most money, but they’ll barely mention the third option. And the fourth, most dealers won’t
even tell you they exist. Now, look, here’s the exact hierarchy they just don’t want to see.
the expensive options they’ll love selling you, which are the moderate options they’ll mention if
they’re pushed, the better options they hope you don’t ask about, and the option that can save you
thousands, the one they actually avoid discussing. This is what I’m going to do. By the end of this
video, you’ll know exactly which category could save you £3,000 annually and how to access
it and why the industry desperately hopes you never figure this out. So, let me show you
the smart leasing hierarchy. Starting with the method that can save you the most money. So, at
the very top of the pyramid, we’ve got the salary sacrifice through work. This is where the biggest
savings are, and most people don’t even know it exists. So, let’s take the £40,000 Tesla Model
3. On the salary sacrifice for a 40% taxpayer, you’re looking at around £280 per month net cost.
Now, if you compare that to a personal lease on the same car, you’re paying about £450 per month
after tax. That’s £170 monthly difference or £2,000 a year. And and that’s before we even talk
about the benefit in kind tax advantages. Now, look, if you’re a company car driver, the numbers
get even better because EVs are taxed at just 3% benefit in kind versus 15 to 37% for petrol and
diesel. So on that £40,000 Tesla, you’re paying just £480 per year in tax versus £4,000 plus
for an equivalent petrol BMW. So do you see that right there? The salary sacrifice plus BK
advantages can save you over £35,000 annually versus buying petrol and financing privately.
So here’s the second tier. What you want to do is business lease. If you’re self-employed,
you can claim the lease payments against tax, plus avoid the depreciation risk. Then third,
you’ve got your personal contract higher with smart timing. Getting the right deal at the
right time can save you hundreds monthly. And then you’ve got the bottom tier, PCP deals that
lock you into expensive finance with poor residual value protection. Now, I’m going to be honest,
not everyone has access to the salary sacrifice. Let me show you how private leasing can still save
you thousands if you do it smart. Now, the key is understanding the EV leasing market. You see,
right now, because of government incentives and manufacturer targets, you’re finding that lease
deals are even better than they ever have been. What’s really matter is I found a few cases of
drivers saving over £200 per month just choosing the right lease over the PCP finance. And over 3
years, that’s about £7,200 in savings. And if you want a real example, let’s look at the Kia EV6
personal lease at just £299 per month versus the PCP at £489 per month for the for the same car.
That’s £190 monthly savings or £2,280 per year. But here’s where it gets really interesting for
private leases because you can stack additional savings. If you’re high rate tax player, you can
claim mileage allowance. So you’re getting about 45 p per mile for the first 10,000 miles. And on
an EV costing 8 p per mile to run, that’s £37 per mile profit. Do 10,000 business miles per year in
a leased EV and you’re making about £3,700 profit on mileage allowance while paying nothing to fuel.
But look, here’s something that most leases just don’t know about, and this can save you even more
money than I’ve just told you. There’s a little known rule about a workplace charging that applies
even if you lease privately. So check this out. If your employer installs EV chargers, you can use
them taxfree regardless of how you got your EV. So if you think about it, for a driver doing
about 12,000 mi per year, workplace charging could actually save you around £1,000 versus home
rates. During my research, I found a Bristol tech firm that installed chargers and their employees,
whether they had accompany cars or whether they had private leases, they were saving about £800
each annually. But look, here’s the really curious bit. Some employers would install chargers
specifically to attract EV drivers, even if they don’t offer the salary sacrifice scheme. In
essence, I suppose it’s just cheaper than giving away payrises. And I’ve made sure that I double
checked with the HMRC guidance from March 2025 and I found that the workplace charging benefit
is completely taxfree and there’s no limit on that value. Now the I’ve got a very very big warning
about the timing because this window for maximum EV leasing savings. It won’t stay open forever.
It won’t stay open all year. Now for company car drivers, the benefit in kind rates are rising from
3% now to 4% in 2026. then 5% in 2027, 7% in 2028, and a whopping 9% in 2030. Still better than
petrol and diesel, but your savings are reducing each year, unfortunately. Now, for private leases,
manufacturing centers are scheduled to reduce as EV adoption increases in the UK. So, the deals
available now are better than what’s coming. Plus, if you’re in London, the congestion charge
exemption for EVs, unfortunately, ends on December the 25th. That’s £3,750 annual savings that will
disappear in about four months time. So my biggest message to you right now is don’t wait. Whether
you’re looking at the salary sacrifice, business lease, or even private hire, I actually think the
best deals are available right now. And if you lock in a lease agreement today, you typically
get the current rates for the actual full term that you have your lease. So, let me give you some
real examples of people who have actually cracked the EV leasing code because the numbers I’ve been
showing you aren’t theoretical. They’re happening right now across different situations. So, the
first case is a company car winner, James from Leeds. He’s an NHS manager. He’s a 40% taxpayer
and he switched from diesel Audi A4 costing about £500 monthly after tax to a Tesla Model 3 via the
salary sacrifice at 200 at £280 net monthly. James saves about £220 a month on the car itself and
that’s about £25,000 annually. Plus his running cost dropped from £1,800 in diesel to 300 in
electric. It’s amazing. So, the second case is a private leases, smart timer. Uh, her name’s
Emma from Bristol and she’s a marketing manager. She couldn’t get the um the salary sacrifice at a
small company, but timed her lease perfectly. She found a Kia EV6 deal at £299 per month versus £489
for PCP on the same car. That’s £190 a monthly savings or £2280 per year. Plus, she claims the
£45 per mileage allowance for client visits. That’s making it about £3,200 annual profit on
just business travel. So, the third case was a guy called David. He runs a plumbing business. He took
a business lease on the Ford Etransit van. Now, I believe it was about £420 a month in lease
payments, all claimable against tax at 20% rate, but saving him £84 or about £1,000 annually just
on the tax relief loan. Plus, I didn’t know if you know this, but commercial EVs actually get
enhanced capital allowances. So, he can actually write off the full lease value in year one for
additional tax savings. It’s cool. Fourth was a lady called Sarah, and she’s a finance director,
45% taxpayer. Um, she bought a Polestar 2 via the salary sacrifice, and she used the workplace
uh charging plus stacking London exemptions. Her total savings were £2,800 salary sacrifice
and the £3,750 congestion charge exemption, £1,000 workplace charging plus fuel savings. So
the So the total can’t get my words out today. The total was £7,500 per year compared to our
old petrol Audi. So now your location makes a massive difference to your potential savings and
most people just don’t factor this in properly. You see, London drivers have the biggest
opportunities. Even with a private lease, you’re saving about £12.50 per day on ULZ charges
versus non-compliant vehicles. So, that’s about £3,000 annually for regular commuters. Plus,
the congestion charge exemption that I mentioned is £15 a day, worth £3,750 annually for
central London commuters. But remember, this ends this year, December the 25th, 2025. Now,
combined, London EV leases can save over £6,000 annually just on charges. And before we even talk
about fuel and maintenance savings, Scotland also has additional benefits. If you’re in a certain
local authority area, you can get grants on top of your workplace charging. You see, Glasgow offers
free workplace charging installation grants for businesses. And again, that’s super cool. Wales
is also introducing enhanced EV infrastructure support. So, some Welsh councils are offering
free parking for EVs, and that’s worth up to about £1,500 annually in some city centers.
But here’s something most people miss. You see, rural areas can be EV leasing golden mines for
the right drivers. You see, if you’re doing high business mileage in rural Scotland or Wales,
the mileage allowance profit can be enormous. We’re talking 45 p per mile for the first
10,000 business miles. And that costs you 8 p per mile just to run your EV. That’s 37 per
mile pure profit. And if you do 15,000 business miles annually, you’re making £5,550 profit
while saving on fuel at the same time. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. This sounds
great, but I’m a high earnner or my situation is a little bit different to what Desa just has just
talked about. So, let me tell you about Mark from Stockpool. He’s a warehouse supervisor. He’s on
about £28,000 and he’s a 20% taxpayer. His company doesn’t do salary sacrifice, unfortunately, but he
found a way to save £2,000 plus annually. You see, what Mark did is he got himself a Nissan Leaf
personal lease, £189 per month. His old petrol Corser was costing him £280 monthly on finance
plus £120 in fuel. The Leaf cost £25 monthly in electricity. And the cool thing is Mark went
from £400 monthly total cost to just £214 monthly, saving £186 per month or £2,232 annually. And
that’s without any workplace schemes. I suppose the point is smart EV leasing isn’t just for
high earners or company car drivers. Like I said, Mark’s a 20% taxpayer who found a way to drive
a newer, better car for less money than his old petrol runabout. And as your EV money advocate,
I’ve seen this pattern hundreds of times. The biggest barrier isn’t income or job type.
It’s just knowing how to work the system. Now, before I show you the exact optimization
strategies for each leasing type, I will give you the specific steps. If you want to stay
ahead of the lease deal timing, grant deadlines, and manufacturer incentive changes, I break down
every EV money-saving opportunity in my Thursday newsletter. It’s called the Electric Oracle
Weekly, and it’s specifically for UK drivers who want to save money on their EVs without the sales
nonsense. I track lease deals, policy changes, and optimization tricks across all leasing types that
I’ve just mentioned. It’s completely free and it only takes you about three or four minutes to read
each week. If you’re interested in that, the link is in the description. Right, let’s talk about the
hidden savings that most EV leases miss. Insurance optimization and running cost management.
Insurance first. Here’s the counterintuitive bit. EVs can be cheaper to ensure if you know
what you’re doing. And again, I verified this with several insurance brokers. The trick, the trick is
shopping around specifically for EV specialists. Okay, your Admiral, you got LV, you got direct
line, all have specific EV policies that can be, I don’t know, between 10 and 20% cheaper than
standard policies. And for lease drivers, you want comprehensive that covers lease gap insurance
automatically. You see, some insurers will include this for free for EVs, and that’s saving you about
2 to300 annually. And running costs are where the real optimization happens. You see, most EV
leases just plug in at home and don’t think about it. But smart charging can save you another
£500 annually. And the Octopus Go tariff is about 7 12 per kilowatt hour overnight versus 24 on a
standard rate. So for 12,000 mi annually, that’s £500 saved just by charging at the right time.
And you’ve also got apps like Zap Map and you got Plug Share that show you the cheapest charges.
And believe it or not, some Tesco locations charge 28 per kilowatt hour versus 85 p at motorway
services. So a quick tip for you is just plan your routes and you can save £1,000 annually on your
long journeys. Now maintenance is virtually zero for the first few years, but keep service history
perfect for lease return. This protects you from the end of lease charges and maintains your credit
rating for future deals. So, here’s your your action plan based in your specific situation. I’m
going to give you the exact steps for each leasing type. So, write this down. If you’re employed,
check if your company offers salary sacrifice. In fact, email HR this week. I’ll put a template
in the description for you if you’re interested in doing that. And if that’s yes, get quotes
from Octopus EV, Tusca, and Lex Auto Lease. Now, if you don’t have salary sacrifice, focus on
personal lease timing. Use what car leasing, nationwide vehicle contracts, and lease loco to
compare deals. And you want to look for sub300 monthly payments on a 35 to 40k EV. If you’re
self-employed, business lease through Arnold Clark or Alphabet or even your local dealer.
The only thing I will say is just ensure you can claim against tax and check enhanced capital
allowance eligibility. And for all situations, use the HMRC mileage calculator at gov.uk. And if you
do business miles, this could turn your EV into a massive profit center. And look, finally, what
I will say is timing matters massive here. Um, end of quarter, end of tax year, and manufacturer
registration targets create the best deals. So, we’re looking at March, June, September, and
December. These are what we call the deal months. Now, I want to cover the biggest mistakes I see
EV leasers making because avoiding these can save you thousands over the lease term. So, the first
one is not checking your employer schemes before going private. I can’t I can’t tell you how many
times people I’ve met who took private leases, then discovered their company offered this salary
sacrifice 6 months later. Crazy. Even small companies can set up these schemes, by the way.
And the minimum is usually 10 to 20 cars over the scheme lifetime, not all at once. So if you work
for a 50 person company and three people want EVs, that’s actually quite viable. The next is choosing
the lease length based on monthly payment only. Yes, look, a 5-year lease has lower monthly
payments. Of course it does, but you’re locked into older technology, potentially worse for
residual values. I’ll be honest, the sweet spot for EVs right now is about 2 to 3 years because
in essence, what’s happening is the technology is moving so fast and the charging infrastructure
is improving, you really want the flexibility to upgrade later. Next mistake is ignoring
mileage optimization. You see, most people either massively overestimate or underestimate the
annual mileage, and both will cost you money. Now, if you overestimate by 5,000 mi annually, you’re
paying in essence an extra 20 to30 extra per month for mileage you you just never use. And if
you underestimate by 5,000 mi, you’re paying an excess mileage charge at 8 to 15 per mile. So, be
careful. You want to track your current mileage for 3 months and then multiply it by four and then
just add an extra 10% for the buffer, but don’t guess. So, the next mistake is not factoring in
charging infrastructure at your actual locations. I’ve seen people lease long range EVs they didn’t
need because they panicked about range. Then they realize that they’ll never drive more than
100 miles from their home. And you know what? Conversely, people lease short-range EVs, then
discover their regular destinations don’t have charging. Do the infrastructure homework first.
Next mistake is signing up for the first deal you see without shopping around. That’s That’s
a crime. The EV lease market changes weekly, and what looks like a great deal on Monday might
be beaten by a new offer this coming Friday. So, for this, you want to use comparison sites, but
also check manufacturer direct deals and dealer promotions. And do you know what? I’ve seen £100
plus monthly differences on identical cars between providers. It It’s nuts. So now let me show you
the advanced stacking strategies that can push your savings to the maximum level for each leasing
situation. You see for salary sacrifice drivers the ultimate stack. So you got company EV lease,
workplace charging exemption, cycle to work ebike, season ticket loan replacement, and optimized
business mileage claims. I actually know someone who actually stacked all of these and the total
benefit was about £8,000. It’s crazy. That’s the salary sacrifice savings, the free workplace
charging worth about £1,000, ebike saving, £150 monthly on commuting, and then the business
mileage profit. It It was pretty cool. Now, for private leases, your stack options, timing
deals with manufacturer targets, claiming maximum business mileage allowance and optimized charging
tariffs, and also EV specific insurance discounts. So, here’s an example. There was a March lease
deal when manufacturers need registrations. So you got Octopus Go charging saving about £500
annually. 10,000 business miles at 37 per mile profit. That’s 3,700 annual profit plus the
March deal savings. Now for self-employed, the business optimization stack, you got enhanced
capital allowances, business lease tax relief, and commercial EV grants, and business energy tariffs
for charging. And the enhanced capital allowances let you write off 100% of the lease value in
just year 1. So on a £40,000 business lease, that’s £8,000 tax relief for a 20% taxpayer.
Or you could say £16,000 for a 40% taxpayer. Now look, London drivers get the premium stack,
any of the above, plus the ulz exemption. You als you’ve also got the congestion charge exemption
until December 2025. And don’t forget this is burough specific EV parking benefits and access
to bus lanes in some areas in London. Look, the congestion charge exemption alone is £15 daily for
5 days weekly. That’s about £3,000 nearly £4,000 annually. Stack that with the salary sacrifice
and you’re looking at about 6K of savings. Now, let me give you the market intelligence on
timing because the EV leasing landscape is changing fast and you need to position yourself
correctly. Let’s look at the short-term outlook next 6 to 12 months. This is pig EV lease deal
territory and manufacturers are hitting government targets. Residual values are stabilizing and
competition is fierce. You see, March 2026 is when benefit incline rates rise from 3 to 4%. So,
if you’re considering salary sacrifice, locking a three-year deal now keeps you at 3% until 2028.
And December 2025 is when London congestion charge exemption ends. So, if you’re a London driver,
the savings clock is absolutely ticking. So, you’ve only got a few months left. Now, the
medium-term outlook 2026 2027, the lease deals will still be competitive actually, but not as
not as aggressive. BK rates rising to 5% by 2027 reduces the salary sacrifice savings, but they’re
still much better than ICE alternatives. Now, the new model launches in 2026 2027 will create
excellent lease deals on current models. With the next generation Tesla Model 3, current model
deals will be fantastic for that. Now, here’s the long-term outlook. We’re looking at 2028 to
2030. This is where it gets interesting because government grants will actually be phased out.
You got BIK rates will hit 7 to 9%, but EV running costs continue falling as charging infrastructure
actually matures over time. And by 2030, the savings shift from tax incentives to operational
efficiency. So you got early adopters who lock in good lease deals now will be positioned perfectly.
So what’s my prediction? I think the absolute best time for EV leasing. I actually think it’s right
now through to early 2026. And after that, I think deals will still be good, but just not as good.
And here’s something that even most lease brokers don’t understand about EV lease residual values.
You see, the traditional car lease model assumes heavy depreciation in years 1 to three, but but
EVs are breaking this pattern because of software updates and battery improvements. You see, a 2022
Tesla Model 3 today is actually more capable than it was new thanks to overthe-air updates and range
improvements, new features, enhanced autopilot. The car gets better over time. So, what does this
mean? This means EV lease residual values are stronger than predicted, which which translates
to better deals for you. And leasing companies are adjusting their models and we’re seeing
the benefit in lower monthly payments. Well, here’s the really curious bit. You’ve got some
EVs that are appreciating in specific markets. So, you got the clean air zone compliance in multiple
cities, and that means a 3-year-old EV might be worth more than actually predicted. I actually
found this data in the BVRLA data from Q2 2025. So the EV lease returns are achieving about 105 to
about 110% of predicted residual values versus 85 to 90% for ICE vehicles. So what does this mean?
It means EV lease deals are artificially cheap right now because the industry it’s still trying
to learn the true depreciation curves. So what you want to do is you want to lock in right now. Look,
if you’ve watched this far, you’re clearly serious about optimizing your EV leasing strategy. But
this market changes constantly. So, you got new deals, policy updates, manufacturing incentives,
timing opportunities, and that’s exactly why I created the Electric Oracle weekly newsletter.
It comes out every Thursday, and I send you the week’s best lease deals, policy changes, things
that affect your wallet, basically, and also the timing opportunities across all leasing types I’ve
just covered. It’s free and if you’re interested, the link is in the description. Look guys, my
name is Dez. Thank you so much for watching.
2 Comments
Excellent , thank you !
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