Tuskerdirect Limited


Tusker is a car benefit company based in the United Kingdom offering salary sacrifice car schemes, personal car leasing, company cars and fleet management services. The business was founded in 2000 with the aim of developing the corporate fleet lease industry by taking it online. In 2008, Tusker extended its services to include a salary sacrifice car scheme andin 2018 added a personal car leasing product to their product portfolio.
The company ranks 12th in the FN50 Top 50 Contract Hire and Leasing Companies in the UK.
The business has over 450 corporate customers with a corporate base covers over 700,000 employees across the UK and the company currently operates a fleet of over 18,000 vehicles.

History

Tusker was founded to supply contract hire and leasing cars through an online platform with lead investor Smedvig Capital, a London-based venture capital firm. In 2005, Smedvig almost doubled their investment in Tusker, increasing their shares from 49-93%. When the recession hit in 2008, the business changed focus and now concentrates on providing a salary sacrifice car scheme, the first of which was launched in 2008 with multinational law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
By offering salary sacrifice schemes, corporate customers can provide their employees with a car benefit scheme. Employees offset part of their salary each month before it gets taxed in exchange for a new car complete with road tax, car insurance, breakdown cover, MOT and car servicing, employees continue to pay for fuel.
In 2012, Tusker secured funding from Barclays to finance the expansion of their fleet. In the same year, the company established links with the Teenage Cancer Trust who they continue to support regularly through various fundraising events, such as Tough Mudder and donations of Easter eggs to young patients.
In October 2013, Tusker introduced a Carbon Offsetting Project with the aim of having a fleet composed solely of carbon neutral cars by 2017. In partnership with Carbon Footprint Ltd, all of Tusker's customers' drivers choose a Verified Carbon Standard carbon offsetting project to compensate for their CO2 emissions through funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. Drivers have a choice of three projects, a Landfill Gas Project in Indonesia, a Wind Power Project in India and a Hydroelectric Project in Chile. These initiatives not only counteract carbon emissions, but also help to support the local communities and all meet the Quality Assurance Standard for Carbon Offsetting. During 2014, Tusker offset 30,000 tons of tailpipe carbon emissions.
2014 saw Tusker renew their government framework agreement with North Yorkshire County Council, originally secured in 2010, allowing them to provide salary sacrifice car schemes to the local authorities. Also in 2014, Tusker's CEO David Hosking began a campaign for the amendment of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document. Teachers in state maintained schools in the UK are not eligible for company cars through the salary sacrifice scheme, despite being allowed involvement in similar schemes for childcare benefits and cycle equipment. The company continued their campaign into 2015, but is yet to see a revision of the document permitting teachers access to the scheme, even though they have accrued support from 22 MPs and more than 1,200 teachers who have signed an online petition.
In 2015, following the exit of Smedvig Capital, the company formed a new partnership with ECI Partners who continue to back the firm.

Awards