Can you lease a car short term?

Yes, it is possible to take a short term car lease or a flexible car lease as they are better known in the United Kingdom.

There are many companies in the UK that offer Short Term Car Leases which can be taken on a fixed contract, such as a 6 month car lease or a 12 month term. Or on a flexible basis such as 90 days and extendable upto 12 months.

Although, unlike traditional leasing you may not be able to specifiy the options on the car as dealers, specialist brokers and short term car lease providers may get their vehicles by unconventional methods.

Yes, it is possible to lease a car for one month, although technically this is classed as a long term car hire. There are specialist brokers in the uk offering flexible car leases and short term car leases where you can “rent/hire” a car for one month.

It will generally work out cheaper than using a daily rental company such as Hertz, Avis or Europcar.

Different companies have different approaches to applications, although almost all reputable short term car lease firms will carry out credit and affordability checks.

Usually you will complete a proposal form or an online application form, this is then sent to underwriters who will run a credit check to find out what your credit score is.

A credit line will then be granted should you hit the required criteria.

Usually, short term car lease companies will require you to be over 18 and hold a full driving licence. Some of the companies expect you to be over 22 and have held a licence for 3 years or more.

You will have to go through a credit check should the short term car lease firm be reputable and you may have to provide a driving licence and a utility bill. Some firms may ask you for bank statements.

If you are an overseas visitor or Expat, specialist firms may ask you for employment and residential status when coming back or to work in the UK.

Yes it is possible to get a 1 year car lease from many of the short term car lease providers. Some of the companies will offer you a fixed short term car lease over 12 months.

Other companies may offer you a flexible car lease solution where you can keep the vehicle for up to 12 months without swapping.

It is possible to take a month to month car agreement, although this may be called something like a Flexible Car Lease, Car Subscription or a Long Term Car Hire.

Most short term car lease companies may offer you a vehicle, however, unlike the fixed short term contracts, the car may not be brand new but you will get lease periods of 28 days plus.

Many firms offer this sort of arrangement including Cocoon Vehicles, Apex and Flexigo Cars Ltd.

Yes, there are many short term car lease companies in the UK that offer short term car leasing to Non-status customers which include those wth adverse credit, bad credit, CCJ’s and discharged bankrupts.

You may have to pay a larger refundable deposit or higher initial rental. Be careful of the companies who say that they do not carry out credit checks and ensure the firm you are dealing with are registered with the FCA and Data Protection.

Its typical that a short term car lease is more expensive than traditional 24/36 month agreements. As there is less time for the car’s residual value to steady.

Typically, when a car leaves a dealership, the residual value can drop dramatically the longer the car is kept, the easier it is to predict and manage the drop in its value over the time.

Many short term car leases rely on the firm to take manufacturer buy-backs. This means that the short term car lease company will take the car for a set period of time, afterwhich the manufacturer has agreed to buy the vehicle back so long as its returned in the correct condition and mileage parameters. Its then the leasing companies responsibility to ensure that they rent or lease the car for the correct amount of money.

Yes, there are many reputable short term car lease companies in the UK that offer 6 month fixed car leases, these are ideal for new start employees, projects or for those who like to swap their car every 6-12 months.

You won’t be able to specify the car like you cn on traditional leases, but usually depending on the initial rental, these 6 month leases can work out more cost effective then leasing or PCP’ing a car.

Yes you can, as an Expat there are a number of specialist firms in the UK who help get Expat’s and overseas workers a car.

These include Cocoon Vehicles, Short Term Car Leasing Ltd and Equalease. Just give Google a search for Expat Car Leasing.

They will have to look at things such as your employment and residential status and their maybe higher fee’s and refundable deposits.

Many short term car lease companies offer short term car leases with no depsit, however, this will be down to your personal or business credit status.

Many companies offering the shorter term leases may also give you the option of higher initial rentals which help bring down your monthly rental, or lower initial rentals that will increase your monthly price.

Many different short term car lease firms have different ways of calculating their monthly rentals.

Companies such as Cars on Demand offer a higher initial rental but a lower monthly rental. Cocoon Vehicles usually offers a lower initial rental but a higher monthly rental.

When looking at two examples from these companies when we worked out the figures on a 6 month contract, Cocoon Vehicles worked out slightly cheaper.

To calculate the true cost add together the number of rentals and the initial rental and if applicable, documentation fee’s. Then divide this by the term to give you the true monthly cost.

Example.
6 month contract: 5x Monthly rentals of £400 = £2,000. Add the initial rental of £800 and a documentation fee of £100. Total is £2900 and divide this by the number of months, which in this case is 6 months. True cost is £483.33 per month.

A car subscription is effectively a month-to-month car lease dressed up to show one monthly cost that covers rental, maintenance, breakdown assistance and road tax, although this is effectively a flexible car lease or a long term car hire.

Some Car Subscription companies also offer insurance, although it can work out cheaper to provide your own insurance. For example Drover charge £92 per month which can work extremely expensive if you are an experience driver after a Supermini.

Becarefule with some of the larger Car Subscription companies, as although they say they offer month-to-month car leases, many advertise them based on you taking them for 24 months. It would then work out cheaper taking a contract hire over a car subscription.

A flexi lease or a flexi rental service, is a short term product that allows you to take a car for 28 days or more with some of the best prices when you agree to 89 days or more.

Flexi rentals are extremely effective for businesses with new start employees or short term projects, where they need the cr but they don’t want to commit to 24/36 month contracts.

It also stops early terminations and paying out for a vehicle where an employee has left.

Many companies in the UK offer Flexi-rental services such as Flexigo Cars, Cocoon Vehicles, Evogo and Flexed.

Yes, a number of reputable short term car lease companies are now offering electric vehicles on their fleet.

This includes both plugin hybrids such as the BMW 530e, Toyota Prius and the VW Golf GTE.

Electric cars we have seen recently on a short term car lease include the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model S and the BMW i3.

Be extremely careful, there are a lot of back street car hire firms who offer cars on short term car leases with no credit check.

Its always best to see how long the company has been trading for, see a copy of their agreements and have a look on the FCA register to see if they are listed.

There are many horror stories of customers handing over money for cars and either not receiving their vehicles or being tied into contracts that are not suitable for their affordability or lifestyle.

Credit checks and ID checks must be undertaken by the company to comply with FAC regulations and anti-money laundering.

Yes, there are a number of reputable short term car lease firms in London including London Short Term Cars, Signature Car Hire and Drover.

Be careful of the short term car lease offers advertising no deposits or credit checks.

Many of the other companies such as Cocoon Vehicles, Flexigo, Evogo will deliver to London for a charge and the turnaround can be quick.

There are very few short term car lease companies that offer unlimited mileage on their vehicles as most of the cars these companies use are on restricted mileage buybacks.

There are companies such as Equalease and Cocoon Vehicles that allow up to 6,000 miles per month in their flexible vehicles, although this can work out expensive.

Many other firms offer an unlimited milege van lease, although most are for 24 months plus.

This is quite an exclusive car, although companies such as Cocoon Vehicles, Drover and AMT have offered (or are offering) many of the Tesla Models including the Tesla Model 3, the Tesla Model S and the Tesla Model X.

At the moment as nobody knows how these Tesla cars will stack up in the future, the rates are generally quite high.

Yes, there are many reputable short term car lease companies in the UK that offer their vehicles for those with poor credit.

These are generally classed as Non-Status car leases and companies such as Cocoon Vehicles, Northern Vehicles and Short Term Car Leasing Ltd.

Terms may differ from those advertised and many of these companies will ask for a higher initial rental, higher document fee’s or even a refundable deposit.

Yes, many short term car leases are available to businesses of all sizes, although you will usually have to go through the traditional credit application.

If you have no shareholder funds or you are a new start business, you will need to a specialist short term car lease company such as Cocoon Vehicles, Equalease or Northern Vehicles.

VAT invoices should be issued so that you can put them through your business and you can usually claim back 50% of the VAT on the rental and 100% on the maintenance element.

Yes, although we would suggest that you check them out before handing over any money. There are many companies out their who offer guaranteed car leasing however, many of these are not registered with the FCA or on the Data Protection register.

If you don’t mind going through affordability checks then a company such as Equalease, Northern Vehicles or Cocoon Vehicles maybe able to help.

Mercedes is an extremely popular manufacturer on short term car lease, Daimler make these available to many of the short term car lease companies in the UK, although with restrictions.

Many of the Mercedes models on short term include the Mercedes C Class, Mercedes E Class, Mercedes GLC, Mercedes A Class and the Mercedes GLA.

Usually Mercedes must be taken through a specialist short term car lease provider and not Mercedes themselves.

With a short term car lease you can change your car every 6-12 months depending on the contract you enter into.

The most popular contract lengths for a short term contract hire include 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 9 months and 12 months.

You can also take advantage of flexible car leases and car subscriptions that offer the same sort of short term solution.

There are many short term car leasing companies offering deals up and down the UK, these include Short Term Leasing Ltd, Cocoon Vehicles and Flexigo Cars.

Short term car lease offers do change on a regular basis and its always best to contact the company to check availability before ordering the car online.

There are also a couple of short term car leasing portals in the UK, that pull in offers from various short term leasing providers to one main website.