The Santander UK Essential Business User Car Scheme is available to 750 eligible UK employees throughout the Santander group.  All eligible drivers cover more than 8,000 miles a year on business and are based in Santander offices nationwide.  Employees within certain grades are permitted to opt out of the scheme and into a new Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme, also run by Zenith.

The new scheme is designed to improve the reward package and provide a consolidated car benefit to eligible drivers across the group. The contract was awarded to Zenith following a rigorous and competitive process. 

Under the new Santander UK Essential Business User Car Scheme, the fleet consists of models from BMW, Mini, Audi, VW and Vauxhall and all are restricted to a maximum of 140g/km or 160g/km CO2 emissions, depending on the grade.

Tom Manahan, Fleet manager for Santander, said:  'We wanted to bring all our company car policies together under one single scheme and sought the services of our procurement function to ensure that the best provider was appointed.  As a result of that competitive process, we appointed Zenith to run the entire company car scheme, including a new Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme called the Santander All Employee Car Scheme. Zenith demonstrated that they had the expertise to provide the highest quality, innovation and cost effective solution.'

Tim Buchan, chief executive for Zenith, commented: 'It is fantastic that we are able to deliver a new company car scheme to such a major force in the banking world. We have worked closely with the Santander team to implement an integrated solution, which is tailored to their needs. We look forward to continuing to work with Santander and to seeing the scheme go from strength to strength.'