Two company SUVs sit outside the Vanpraet home in Aalst, costing Tom and Sofie just 339 euros a month combined. That’s less than many Belgians pay to keep one private car on the road. Insurance and fuel alone could quickly reach that sum.
Tom is 42 and Sofie is 50. They shared their finances with Het Laatste Nieuws. Their figures lay bare a system that gives employees access to new, well-equipped cars for a fraction of what private owners pay. Official figures from SPF Mobilité and ONSS show the scale: by early 2026, Belgian employers provided 629,156 company cars for work and personal use, up from 271,949 in 2007. About 15% of salaried workers in Belgium now lead a company car. Growth has slowed to 0.2% a year after years of 5% jumps.
Tom pays 195 euros a month for his electric SUV; Sofie pays 144 euros for her hybrid. Their employers cover fuel and charging, so the couple pays nothing for either. “For those amounts, it’s impossible to finance, fuel, insure, and maintain a car yourself,” Tom says. The numbers are blunt: owning two similar cars privately would cost them around 20,000 euros a year. That estimate includes financing and maintenance, along with insurance, tires and taxes. The employer’s real cost is higher. For a fully electric car ordered after July 2023, the minimum employer social contribution in 2026 is 42.34 euros per month, information from sector analysts. In 2025, only about 0.57% of Belgian employees received a mobility budget without a company car, SPF Mobilité figures show. Few are choosing alternatives to corporate vehicles.
Tom and Sofie are candid: if they had to pay out of pocket, they’d pick something else. “If we had to pay ourselves, we’d choose a good second-hand car that feels safe. It wouldn’t necessarily be the latest electric model,” Sofie says. Companies, though, have to choose the newest, least polluting cars. Most families can’t afford them. Tax rules lead the difference: deductibility for combustion engine cars is being phased out, while electric vehicles bought in 2026 remain 100% deductible for companies, as recent government rules confirm. That’s why company fleets fill up with new electric cars while private buyers stick to cheaper used models.
The Vanpraets use their cars differently. Tom commutes almost every day, covering 30,000 kilometers a year on trips linking Antwerp with Brussels and Ghent with Mechelen. He usually drives, especially to Antwerp, leaving at six in the morning to beat traffic. If his office is near a train station, he takes the train. Sofie barely uses her car. She works from home two days a week and takes the train to Brussels; her employer pays for that too. She drives only to regional offices or training sites that are hard to reach by train. By 2027, her hybrid will be replaced by a fully electric car. The benefit-in-kind for employees depends on the car’s catalog value and age, with its carbon coefficient also factored in. For a new electric car, the rate is about 3.43% of the catalog value, with a minimum taxable amount of 1,690 euros per year in 2026, information from NextMobility.
The Vanpraets can’t charge at home because they live in a terraced house. Tom uses public charging points in Aalst and plugs in at larger offices during the day. The family avoids taking two cars on the same trip: when they go to the coast for a weekend, one of them uses public transport. Their daughter Pien walks to school. Sam and Nell, who already work, use electric bikes. From 2027, Belgian employers with more than 50 staff and a company car policy will have to offer eligible employees a mobility budget option, according to the Forum for the Future. Employees can use the budget for public transport or cycling. It also covers renting housing near work and an eco-friendly car, while cash payouts face a 38% social contribution.
One trip sticks in their minds: the family holiday to Spain. Flights and a rental car for five cost them 3,000 euros. They say they wouldn’t spend that much again on a trip like that.
The company car debate remains lively in Belgium, where proposals to cut or scrap the benefit often surface. Tom would still choose a company car “for his job.” Sofie is more interested in the mobility budget her employer offers, but finds it impractical right now. “If it were properly compensated through salary, I’d look for other solutions and use a shared car when needed.”
Belgium’s company car system faces questions about the environmental and financial impact of these perks. The Vanpraets’ story shows the gap between what families can afford and what companies provide. As the push for greener fleets accelerates, the question is who pays for the change. New electric vehicle safety features sharpen the contrast further, including battery ejection systems for emergencies covered in an earlier breakdown.
The real cost of driving often hides behind payroll deductions and company policies. For most families, choosing between a company car and private ownership comes down to money and access to technology, alongside what employers are willing to cover. As Belgium moves toward stricter environmental rules and new mobility models, the gap between corporate perks and everyday budgets will grow unless policy keeps pace with families like the Vanpraets.
