Under the hood with loveelectric
Who we are
loveelectric is a trading name of Love Electric Financial Services Limited, a company registered in Scotland (Company Number SC374952, ICO reference number ZB075747). Our registered office and trading address is 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN.
Love Electric Financial Services Limited is a member of the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA) (member number 10549), and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 743264.
Love Electric Financial Services is a credit broker, and not a lender, finance provider or insurer, and we offer a ‘non-advised’ level of service.
What we do
loveelectric provides services as a salary sacrifice administrator, credit broker and introducer. We work with companies across the UK to provide our Electric Vehicle (EV) salary sacrifice scheme and associated home and public charging solutions including the loveelectric Charge app.
We support companies to run and manage their salary sacrifice scheme and arrange funding from our panel of lenders for their employees’ EV leases.
We work with those companies’ employees to find the best priced EV for them and are able to organise additional EV essentials such as chargers and energy add-ons through our established partnerships with like minded businesses
While we will provide support and highlight key information relating to our salary sacrifice schemes for the duration of both the company’s and employee’s relationship with us, we cannot provide specific tax or financial advice and you should consider all of your options before entering into an agreement with loveelectric.
We encourage you to read all important information as it becomes available throughout the process and if you are unsure of how the salary sacrifice scheme works in relation to your individual tax implications please seek professional advice.
What we offer
In the UK, there are various ways to finance a new vehicle, and the best option for you will depend on your specific needs so it important that you consider all of the options that are available to you before making your decision
loveelectric specialise in arranging EV salary sacrifice which is ideal if you prefer to pay a pre-agreed monthly amount (the Rental) to use a new or used vehicle over a set period.
We work with a panel of selected lenders who offer products that are tailored for the Salary Sacrifice market. We believe that having access to a number of specialist lenders allows us to deliver the best value to our customers. As we only offer Salary Sacrifice we do not have access to the entire lending market.
Our salary sacrifice scheme is managed by companies, therefore it will only be available to you if your employer has agreed to work with loveelectric. If they haven’t yet signed up with loveelectric, you can recommend our services via our website.
Once a company has signed up with loveelectric, we will act as a credit broker to introduce the company to our panel of lenders who will provide a credit line for the company’s eligible employees’ EVs, subject to the employers status.
We also offer our Charge Card - a pre-paid Visa card - via our loveelectric Charge app. You can use the Charge Card to pay for public and home charging by choosing a monthly amount to be credited to your card which will be dedcuted from your salary via salary sacrifice.
How we charge for our services
If a company chooses to partner with us for their EV salary sacrifice scheme and/or Charge Card,, they will need to sign our Supplier Agreement. The Supplier Agreement is an agreement between the company and loveelectric. It describes the relationship between, and the responsibilities of both loveelectric and the company.
Similarly, if an employee decides to order a vehicle or Charge Card through us, they will complete an Order Form. For vehicle orders, this form comes along with our Driver Handbook which together forms the Employee Agreement.
The Employee Agreement is signed by the company, employee and loveelectric. It ensures the employee understands their legal obligations and contains guidance on how to maintain the vehicle.
Both our Supplier Agreement and Employee Agreement clearly outline the fees and commissions based on the services we provide, as detailed below.
Salary sacrifice fees
We manage the administration of your company's EV salary sacrifice scheme through Love Electric Financial Services Limited. Setting up our EV salary sacrifice scheme is completely free for companies and we only charge the company our fee once the vehicle has been delivered.
We earn our fees in two main ways:
- A service fee. This is paid by the company to loveelectric for each employee lease and is paid on a monthly basis whilst each employee lease is live. This fee is covered by the employers NIC savings for each employee lease, ensuring that the scheme remains cost neutral for employers. If an employee chooses to add a Charge Card to their scheme, fees will be calculated and collected on the same basis.
- A commission from the leasing company - the ‘Broker Fee’. This is paid to loveelectric by the leasing company and is included within the total rentals payable by the employer over the term of each lease and factored into the employees monthly salary deductions. We will notify the employee of the amount of this fee and obtain their consent to receive this fee before each employee lease is entered into. The Broker Fee charged to the leasing company is based on a fixed rate commission for introducing the employer to the leasing company and an additional amount, where necessary, to allow us to provide our early termination protections.
We may also earn commissions through other commercial partnerships such as our insurance and home charging partners.
These commissions will not impact the monthly deduction taken from an employee's monthly salary nor the service fee that is paid by employers.
For more information about the finance companies we collaborate with and other partners, please contact us at hello@loveelectric.cars.
Other useful information
Credit reference agencies
As our services require drawing down credit, all Company applications to loveelectric are subject to credit status. This means that a credit check will likely be required to check your Company’s credit status and your Directors’ identities.
By submitting an application, you consent to our finance partners conducting a credit check on the Company and a soft credit check on the directors of the business that are listed in the application.
Please be reassured that the soft credit check will have no impact on the directors’ credit score or any future credit applications that they may make.
If our finance partners approve the funding application, we can continue with signing up your Company. If they decline the credit application, loveelectric can appeal the decision on your Company’s behalf. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that all companies will be approved for funding.
Cancellation fees for Employees
We understand that an Employee may change their mind after ordering an EV. loveelectric will never charge you for cancelling; however, our financial partners may charge a fee.
If our financial partner does decide to charge a fee, they will calculate the fee based on the car ordered, the monthly lease price agreed and the stock availability. While we cannot give estimates on this fee due to the variability, it could be substantial.
If an Employee decides for any reason to cancel their order for a new EV after it has been accepted by the dealership, loveelectric would in the first instance reach out to the dealership to see whether they charge a cancellation fee and, if so, what the cost would be. The Employee would then be liable to pay that cancellation fee if they do decide to proceed with cancelling their order.
If an Employee has ordered a used EV and decides to cancel for any reason, the cancellation fees will be reviewed by our finance partner on an individual basis. At present, our finance partner does not charge a cancellation fee for used EVs, but the Driver
Handbook does give our partner the right to do so if they choose.
In any case, a cancellation fee will only become chargeable if:
- The Company’s credit application has been received and accepted by the leasing company; and
- The Employee has ordered a vehicle and signed the Order Form and Driver Handbook.
Early Termination
When an employee lease is terminated during the lease term, the leasing company may charge an early termination fee to the employer. This is dependent upon the reason for the early termination, the number of months which have passed in the lease term. In some cases, for example the employee loses their licence, there will be no charge to the employer. Our Zero Risk
Guarantee is designed to reduce the likelihood and financial impact of such fees through the operation of our EV ReHire Service which supports the early terminations due to redundancy, resignation or dismissal from day one of the lease and parental leave from month 3. We guarantee to find a new home for vehicles returned before the end of a lease, and if we can’t, we will support employers with early termination fees. To allow us to offer this service, we charge an Employee Commitment Fee which for terminations after month 3 of the lease will only ever equal one month's Rental.
Employers reserve the right to charge this fee to employees so it is important that employees choose a lease term that reflects their circumstances.
Making a complaint
We are committed to providing the best possible service for our customers. While we operate a continuous improvement culture, we are conscious that things do go wrong from time to time. Please see our complaints handling process for more information.