End of Lease Options Explained

At the end of a car lease, the finance company will usually arrange collection of the vehicle and inspect it for mileage and condition. As long as the car is within the agreed mileage and meets fair wear and tear standards, the handback process is usually straightforward.

Sometimes, yes. Some finance companies may allow a short lease extension if your next vehicle is delayed, but this is never guaranteed and is subject to approval. If you need a replacement quickly, it is worth checking our in stock lease deals.

If you exceed the mileage allowance in your agreement, the finance company will usually apply an excess mileage charge when the vehicle is returned. The amount is normally charged per extra mile, so it is worth reviewing your contract well before the end date.

Fair wear and tear means reasonable deterioration from normal day to day use. Small marks and light wear are usually acceptable, but larger dents, deep scratches, damaged wheels or missing items may lead to additional charges.

Yes, and in many cases it is a good idea to start early. This gives you more time to compare car leasing deals, secure the right vehicle and avoid any gap between contracts.

With standard contract hire agreements, you do not normally have the automatic option to buy the car at the end. The vehicle is usually returned to the finance company, and many drivers then move into a new personal lease or business lease.

Not for light scratches consistent with normal use, but yes for anything beyond that. The test is whether the damage falls inside the fair wear and tear standard, which allows small marks and surface scratches while charging for deeper ones that have gone through the paint.

Kerbed alloy wheels are the single most common item people are charged for, and the standard sets specific limits on the size of scuffing it will accept. If you find something borderline, having it repaired yourself before collection is very often cheaper than being charged for it afterwards, which is exactly why it pays to look at the car early rather than the week before it goes.

You are responsible for putting it right, because keeping the car roadworthy and legally taxed and tested during the agreement sits with you, not the finance company. The car has to be returned in a roadworthy condition, and with a valid MOT if it is old enough to need one.

This only arises on agreements running beyond three years, since a new car needs no MOT until its third anniversary. On a four or five year lease the test falls due while you have the car, and it is a step people forget is theirs. A maintenance package may cover the work, so check whether yours does.

Yes. Someone needs to be present to hand the car over, go through the condition report with the collection agent and sign it. Collections are usually booked for a day rather than a time slot, so allow for that.

Use the time properly rather than treating it as a formality. Read what is written on the report before you sign, raise anything you disagree with there and then, keep your copy, and take your own photographs of the car before it is driven away. Once it has gone you have no way of showing what condition it left you in.

Only if a service is actually due, but the car does need a complete service history in line with the manufacturer's schedule when it goes back. A missed or late service can be treated as a failure to maintain the vehicle and charged accordingly.

Check the schedule and the service record well before collection, and make sure the evidence is with the car, whether that is a stamped book or a digital record the funder can verify. Skipping a service that falls due shortly before the end is a false economy.

There is no automatic right to. Contract hire is a fixed term agreement, and the voluntary termination right that applies to PCP and hire purchase under the Consumer Credit Act does not apply to it in the same way.

Where a funder does allow an early exit, they quote a settlement figure, typically a large proportion of the rentals left on the agreement, and some funders will not offer it at all. If you are in this position, speak to your funder directly to find out where you stand, as the answer depends entirely on their terms rather than on any general rule.

Several months before, and earlier if you want a factory order rather than something already built. Starting early is what keeps the choice yours instead of leaving you taking whatever can be arranged in the time left.

It also gives you the window to appraise your current car properly against the fair wear and tear standard, which the BVRLA suggests doing 10 to 12 weeks before it goes back, so there is still time to have anything put right at your own choice of repairer.

It still has to be put right before the car goes back, and the responsibility for that sits with you rather than the finance company. Whether the damage was your fault makes no difference to the condition the vehicle has to be returned in.

Deal with it through the appropriate insurance route, whether that is a claim against the other driver, their insurer or your own policy, and get it resolved before collection rather than after. Repairs need to be done to the manufacturer's standard, and your funder will usually want a say in where the work is carried out, since the car is theirs.