A QUARTER of companies which have introduced a cash for car scheme have experienced problems with it, according to a survey of 167 fleets. Salary and benefits specialist Alan Jones & Associates' 1998 'Company Car Survey Report' found the number of firms offering a cash option had increased dramatically in recent years, but not without problems.

Over half of fleets (52%) now offer a cash option, compared to just 16% in 1993, and take-up of the schemes has reached 19%, significantly up on last year (11%).But just as take-up has increased, so have the problems, with 24% of companies reporting difficulties of one sort or another with the cash option, compared to 21% last year.

Problems typically concerned the lack of flexibility with cash options, with drivers unable to opt out of their company car, or opt back from the cash allowance into a car at their own convenience. Respondents to the survey also conceded that the cash allowance was sometimes regarded as inadequate, and that it was not always index-linked to match the rise in car prices.