Expatriate Compensation

Automobiles

When a Human Resources Director in Australia was asked about the most vexing problem, he replied immediately, "Automobiles!"

Automobiles are supplied to a limited number of employees in the United States (usually sales employees), but it's common practice to supply automobiles to a wide range of employees in some countries, such as Australia.

There are several reasons that lead many companies to provide expatriates (particularly at the executive level) with automobiles. These reasons include problems in the foreign locations associated with:

• buying and selling automobiles
• obtaining insurance
• obtaining credit

Car and driver. In some countries, the automobile benefit includes not only a car, but a driver as well. This typically occurs when the legal environment, customs, road conditions, and/or driving practices make driving dangerous for expatriates. For example, international assignees to India are often provided with a driver due to the difficult driving conditions.

Keep the possibility of providing both a car and driver in mind as you put together the international assignee's package.