Dependant on car, you more than likely will still pay company car tax.
When i moved jobs 12mths ago, the package was offered as a tax free company car, thought great but not as good as it sounded.
I had two options one choose a company car or take an allowance.
By taking the car option i forgo the allowance of £250p/m and this is used to pay for the car, certain cars there were no further monies to pay, ie basic spec budget brand cars, some even gave you some money back, as they did not use the full allowance.
Approx figures under the lex autolease scheme we use at work
Octavia VRS pd = £60 p/m extra
Golf GTD = £90 p/m extra
A3 sportback s-line 170 s-tronic = £110 p/m extra
Golf GTI DSG = £195 p/m extra
I chose the car allowance still, first time round, the extra money came in handy to pay for the Kitchen
. Choosing a compnay car is a 3 year commitment, if iwas to leave there were charges involved due to my package. The way i looked at it was, end of 3 years i get to buy the car at a discount rate prior to auction, if i chose not to i still had a car to buy. By taking my allowance i can change car as and when, use the money to pay for the car at the end of which i would own outright. It gave me a little more flexibility that i wanted, also you can mod your own car, but cant really change the company car, even down to changing for winter tyres they would not let me do.
Any additional payments under my scheme came off my net pay, not gross under a salary sacrifice scheme.
Each to there own, look at the numbers see if it works, for example..
Golf GTI ED30 may cost £250 p/m finance payment after down payment, + £115 p/m (tax insurance, service costs), after 3 years the car is paid for and can do as you want, even sell after 12-18mths.
Golf GTI DSG (maybe new) however, £190 p/m extra off net pay over 3 year agreement, end of period but car or get another etc... Car in 3 years maybe worth £14-15k, still have this to find.
Figures worked better for me, with allowance..
