Car Allowance?

[Freefaller]

I'm guessing it's common in companies with large employer pension contributions so they don't have to pay even more in. Its better than nothing I suppose!

Mine was maxed (i.e. their contribution) so actually didn't mind so much. But yes it's a nice dodge for the company. Hey I didn't mind, money is money.

 

[EvilRob]

I'm guessing it's common in companies with large employer pension contributions so they don't have to pay even more in. Its better than nothing I suppose!

Exactly, and not just pension contributions but anything else that's usually calculated as a percentage of base salary. The other big ones are typically bonuses and annual pay increases.
My current company offers very little in the way of benefits, but when negotiating salary was happy for me to come up with a benefit figure based on package at previous company and add that to their base salary offer. That was a good deal.