Introduction: I'm the youngest employe in my company (of 8 persons) and only employed 1 year. But you could say I'm at least the most important employee for my company future (according to my boss). I'm a carrier of know-how, threaded some representative research deals with a known university and with our federal state. Our company is very familiar: you could consider us as a group of friends, even our boss.
Because of this my boss offered me a pricey company car (70k€), which happens to be my (realistic) dream car. Here in Germany we have to pay taxes for company cars and for every KM we have to drive to our workplace; I'm able to pay them because I don't live far away of my workplace. So I would love to take it since it may be the first and the last option to get a car like this.
However I'm afraid of envy around my coworkers who also received company cars, but for around half of that what my car is listed as. The two coworkers in question selected their car by themselves. They could have got a pricy car like me, but couldn't afford it because of the high taxes they would have to pay because they live relatively far away.
The question that come up in my head is how to address my coworkers in a way they will most likely understand and how to prevent envy. I've already talked with one coworker in a hypothetical way how he would react and he told me he's fine, but somehow I do not believe him. I'm certain that at least one will develop envy, since a car is a very emotional subject (at least here).
Is there any advice on how to address them to prevent envy, and if not possible, how to deal with it?
A little more background to the company-car policity in germany:
- A company-car is owned, insured, fueled and maintained by the company.
- If a employee is allowed to use the company-car for private tours, the employee has to pay tax on 1% of the listed price per month and has to pay taxes on 0.03% of the listed price per kilometer per month, as like these % are payed out in salary.
- A employee is allowed to buy the company-car after 3 years (like in leasing).
E.g. my car is listed as 70.000€. I have to pay salary taxes (~45%) on 1% of the listed price per month. If I live 10km away from my workplace, I have to pay 10*0.03%=0.3% more per month. In this situation, I have to pay a salary tax on 1.3% of the listed price. So 1.3% are 910€, now I have to pay a tax on that 910€ as like my boss would pay an additional 910€ per month. Therefore the car costs me around 400€ per month in real cash. A colleague that lives 40km away would have to pay ~700€ per month.