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Two people look at the same ute and see completely different numbers.
The employer sees a lease payment, fuel, insurance, maintenance and an FBT question. A cost line.
The tradesperson sees a car he no longer has to own, a commute he no longer pays for, and fuel he no longer buys. Income, in everything but name.
That gap is why offers get declined over a vehicle, and why employers who understand it win candidates they should have lost on salary.
The car he does not have to buy. If a fully maintained work vehicle goes home, the second household car may become unnecessary. That is a purchase avoided, plus registration, insurance and servicing every year.
The commute. Fuel and wear on a daily drive to a depot, versus driving straight from home to site in a vehicle someone else pays to run.
The unpaid hour. Depot-based work often means travelling to the depot on your own time, then travelling to site on the company's. A take-home vehicle can remove that entirely, and an hour a day is roughly a working month a year.
Which is why "does it go home?" is the question, not "is there a vehicle?". A pool vehicle collected from a depot at 6am is a different proposition to a take-home ute, and many job ads describe both as "vehicle provided".
This depends on your circumstances and the arrangement, so we are not going to publish a single figure and pretend it is universal. But the components are countable, and worth counting properly rather than treating the vehicle as a perk of unstated value.
For an employer, the useful exercise is: what would this person have to earn extra, after tax, to be indifferent between your offer with a vehicle and a competitor's without one? Run that honestly and the vehicle usually looks like a stronger lever than the equivalent spend on salary.
Brisbane refrigeration. The softest capital-city market in the country for the trade - $75,000-$95,000 against Melbourne's $100,000-$110,000 and Perth's $132,000 (SEEK, 1 September 2026). A Brisbane employer cannot close a $25,000 gap with money. A take-home vehicle is one of the few levers that moves the comparison meaningfully.
Melbourne electrical. The cheapest capital-city electrical market at $85,000-$100,000 against Brisbane's $100,000-$120,000. Same problem, same lever.
Regional and remote roles. JSA's data shows that in Very Remote areas over 80% of employers cited location as the reason for few applicants and more than 40% had candidates decline over location. Distance is the objection, and a vehicle addresses distance directly.
Not "vehicle provided". That is ambiguous and candidates assume the worse reading.
State it plainly:
Five lines. Most trades job ads contain none of them, which means an employer offering a genuinely good vehicle arrangement is competing on equal terms with one offering a shared depot van.
Price it before you compare two offers. A $95,000 role with a take-home vehicle, fuel and personal use is not straightforwardly worse than $105,000 with nothing, and plenty of people take the second and work out the arithmetic afterwards.
Count the car you no longer need, the fuel you no longer buy, and the hour a day you get back.
HJ Recruitment places permanent electrical, plumbing, HVAC and refrigeration, fire and solar tradespeople with Australian employers.
Sources- SEEK - AC & Refrigeration Technician salary, Brisbane- SEEK - Electrician salary, Melbourne- Jobs and Skills Australia - Current skills shortages
