A car for six months, with no purchase contract, no leasing commitment and no argument about residual values: that is the idea behind the car subscription. SIXT offers this model under the name SIXT+. For a fixed monthly rate you get a nearly new vehicle, with insurance, servicing, vehicle tax and tyres included. The only thing you pay for yourself is fuel or electricity.
For companies, this is interesting from two directions. First as a gap-filler in the fleet, when a leased vehicle is slow to arrive or someone needs a car only for one project. Second as a benefit: employees finance the subscription out of their gross salary and therefore drive noticeably cheaper than they would privately. This guide shows how the model works, what it costs and what matters in each of the two cases.
The process resembles a very long rental booking. Online or in the SIXT app you choose a vehicle category, set the term and the mileage package, pick a protection package and collect the car from a SIXT branch. After that you drive it like your own, except that workshop appointments, tyre changes and paperwork sit with the provider.
Three things set SIXT+ apart from purely online subscription providers. The first concerns the vehicle itself: as a rule you book a category, not a specific model. If an offer says „VW Golf or similar", a comparable car may be waiting at the branch. Only offers with a model guarantee confirm which car you get. According to the provider, the vehicles are no more than twelve months old.
The second is the branch network. SIXT operates more than 200 locations across Germany, so vehicles are often available at short notice and both collection and return happen locally. Home delivery is possible at some locations, but costs extra and needs lead time.
The third concerns insurance. SIXT owns the vehicles and works with a liability waiver rather than a policy from a third-party insurer. Third-party liability and fully comprehensive cover are included, the excess can be reduced for a surcharge, and SIXT handles damage itself. Anyone who regularly parks in tight multi-storey car parks should not cut corners on the protection package.
The range runs from small cars to the executive class. At the entry level sit models such as the Seat Ibiza or Opel Frontera, in the compact class long-running favourites such as the VW Golf and T-Cross, above that estates and SUVs, and at the top end vehicles such as the Audi A6 or BMW X5. Because the subscription fleet comes from the rental fleet, the offering shifts continuously; the configurator shows which categories are currently bookable.
Particularly relevant for companies: electric and hybrid vehicles are available on subscription. That makes it possible to test whether an electric car works in the day-to-day reality of a given role, without anyone committing for three years. Range, charging behaviour and everyday practicality show up far more reliably over six months than on a test drive. And because private use of electric cars is taxed at only 0.25 per cent, this is exactly where salary conversion delivers the biggest advantage.
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The monthly rate depends on the vehicle group, the term and the mileage package. Small cars start in the range of around €370 to €400, compacts sit somewhat above that, and premium vehicles can reach four-figure rates. The following terms apply to the consumer offering:
What matters is not the advertised entry rate but what actually leaves the account each month. Four items shift the calculation the most.
The most important is the mileage package. Nobody who commutes daily gets by on 500 included kilometres; packages of up to around 5,000 kilometres a month can be booked. Next comes the excess: it can be reduced from €2,000 through €1,000 down to zero, which raises the monthly rate accordingly. Additional drivers have to be registered, otherwise the cover does not apply. And driving abroad requires a separate package.
Two features make a closer look worthwhile. Unused kilometres do not expire immediately at SIXT but can be carried into later months. And the subscription can be paused temporarily, for 14 to 90 days when used through the NAVIT platform, with no rate charged during that time. For seasonal roles or longer absences, that is a real lever.
Anyone using the subscription through an employer may have different terms. This applies above all to the start fee and the mileage packages, which are set in the corporate contract.
The principle is familiar from company bike schemes, only with a car: the employer takes out the subscription and provides the vehicle to the employee, who in return gives up part of their gross salary equal to the subscription rate. What is then taxed is not the rate but the benefit in kind from private use. That is exactly where the difference to a privately arranged subscription comes from.
The basis of assessment is the same as for a company car, namely the vehicle's gross list price:
On top of this comes 0.03 per cent of the gross list price per kilometre of distance to the first place of work. Our guide on taxing company cars correctly explains how the benefit in kind is calculated.
Because the rate comes out of gross salary and only a small benefit in kind is taxed, the effective cost is lower than the rate of a privately arranged subscription. A worked example for an electric vehicle:
In this example around €183 more net income stays each month, and the effective rate falls from €629 to roughly €446. How large the advantage turns out to be depends on the tax rate, the gross list price and the vehicle. For combustion engines at 1 per cent it is considerably smaller than for electric cars.
For employers no vehicle costs arise, because employees finance the subscription themselves. As gross salary falls, so do the employer's social security contributions. Conversely, salary conversion can affect entitlements tied to gross salary, such as an occupational pension with an employer contribution. Companies should check this in advance and communicate it openly.
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Get infoEach vehicle needs a vehicle use agreement between employer and employee. It sets out the salary conversion, the scope of private use, liability for damage and what happens if the employment ends. Our guide on car policy and the company car agreement explains how the two documents relate to each other.
One advantage of short terms: in cases of parental leave, long-term illness or departure, the risk is smaller than with a three-year leasing contract. Even so, the agreement should set out what happens then. Four routes are common: continuing the subscription privately, transferring it to another employee, taking the vehicle over as a company or pool car, or taking out cover for such cases.
Not every vehicle in the fleet has to stay the same for three years. That is exactly where car subscriptions come in, and five situations keep coming up in practice:
There is also a balance sheet angle. Leasing contracts are capitalised as a right-of-use asset under IFRS 16 and increase the balance sheet total. For short-term contracts of up to twelve months, the standard provides an exemption, so the rates can be booked as a running expense. Whether the exemption applies depends on the individual case and belongs in a conversation with accounting.
Our comparison of car subscription and leasing covers the other differences that matter.
Companies can contract directly with SIXT or integrate the offering through a mobility platform. Going direct gives one contract and one point of contact, with billing data provided monthly as an export or through the corporate portal. Through a platform, ordering and approval run digitally and the tax-relevant data flows automatically into payroll. A provider such as NAVIT handles the car subscription in the same administration as the Deutschlandticket, company bikes and the mobility budget.
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