Car Leasing and Contract Hire

Car leasing is quickly becoming the best and most affordable way to get your hands on a brand-new vehicle and while many years ago this concept was thought of as a business only product, it very much is a product available for both private individuals and businesses.

So, let’s look at the most popular form of vehicle lease agreement – Personal Contract Hire.

Personal Contract Hire Explained

Personal Contract Hire, also referred to as Personal Leasing or abbreviated to simply ‘PCH’, is a form of leasing agreement designed for individual consumers. Contract Hire works like a long-term rental agreement. You simply rent a vehicle over a set number of years (measured in months – i.e. 24, 36, 48) and then the vehicle is collected at the end, freeing you from having to sell the vehicle at a heavily reduced rate compared to what you spent on it brand new (depreciated value).

The concept is simple enough:

  • You choose a brand new car that you want.
  • You can add some fun and functional options to it.
  • We order that car through a franchised dealership.
  • A Finance Company (a.k.a. Funder) then buys that car.
  • You are then in agreement with the Funder, paying them a pre-agreed fixed payment each month.
  • The Funder then collects the vehicle at the end of your contract hire term.

What are the Benefits of Personal Contract Hire?

That is a great question and we're glad you’ve asked it. You will always have to consider if a financial product is a good match for your needs and circumstances. Some of the key benefits and features of a PCH include:

  • You get to drive a brand new factory fresh car… regularly!
  • Fixed monthly payments
  • Road Tax included for the duration of the contract
  • Optional Maintenance package to cover the cost of servicing and general maintenance
  • No risk of losing £1,000s on vehicle depreciation
  • Full manufacturer’s warranty
  • Free delivery to any mainland UK address

Top Personal Leasing Deals

The team at Xcite Car Leasing work hard to find you the very best and cheapest car leasing deals available in the UK, these are just some of the deals available but you can see all our very best leasing deals right now too.

If you can't find what you're looking for then make sure you get in contact with our team on 0330 221 0000 as we can supply any vehicle available in the UK on a lease deal that suits you, and our team would be more than willing to help.

What Do I Need to Know About Personal Contract Hire?

You should always think about whether a financial product is right for you, by looking at its drawbacks.

With a Personal Contract Hire agreement, some points to consider would be:

  • You will not own the car - The legal owner of the car will be the Funder
  • You must have fully comprehensive insurance - You are responsible for this and must have appropriate insurance
  • Terminating the contract early can be expensive - An 'Early Termination' will incur a fee from the Funder
  • You are limited on your mileage - You will agree to a contract mileage allowance, over miles will incur a cost

If you have more questions about personal leasing and contract hire, take a look at our FAQ page for more information in relation to the most common questions we get asked.

Popular Questions About Personal Car Leasing

What Happens at the End of a PCH Deal?

We will contact you around 6 months before the end of your contract to discuss what you would like to do. You can then either choose to extend your current vehicle for a small amount of time (subject to eligibility and the Funder’s Terms & Conditions) or to look at your next brand new car.

Regardless, at the end of the contract, the car will be collected by a collection agency working on behalf of the Funder. The driver will analyse and record any damage to the vehicle, in line with the BVRLA’s Fair Wear & Tear Guidelines. Any damage that falls outside of these guidelines will be deemed chargeable to you.

The car will then be taken away and your contract will expire, releasing you to receive your next beautiful brand new vehicle.

What is Residual Value?

Some of you will have been looking at that last point and thinking, what is a residual value?

Residual value refers to how much an item is worth after a period of time has elapsed. Cars are well known for being depreciating assets – this means that their value will only decrease. This usually happens at what I can only describe as an inversely-exponential rate. Similar to going on a diet – you start off losing lots of weight very quickly, this rate of loss eventually slows down and you begin to plateau and only lose small amounts of weight.

Cars will lose a lot of their value very quickly. Some cars turn their noses up at fad diets and hold on to their value very well… particularly high-end limited edition vehicles – but all of the more mainstream vehicles will hit the salad bar and shed their value quickly.

With Contract Hire, the total cost of your monthly rentals is roughly calculated like this:

(Vehicle Purchase Price) – (Residual Value) = Total Rental Cost with the total rental cost being divided up by your chosen ‘payment profile’.

Why Use You When I Could Go Straight to the Dealership?

Xcite Car Leasing is not tied to one funder, like a dealership is, so we can compare the best and cheapest personal lease deals across the market for you.

We work with the biggest funders in the UK and as authorised partners we are also able to take advantage of their discounts, which means we can offer even better terms for you, in most cases better than a dealership.

Is the Price Online Your Best Offer?

We update our website regularly to make sure the prices on our leasing deals that we offer online are the very best deals we can offer at that particular moment in time.

If you wanted to reduce your monthly payments you could reduce the initial rental payment and vice versa if you wanted to pay less upfront.

What Else Do I Need to Pay For?

When you place your order with Xcite Car Leasing there will be an admin fee for our services. We will let you know how much this will be before you place the order.

If you decide you want to add a private number plate to your vehicle then your funder may charge a small fee for this process. To find out more about this visit our Private Number Plate Guide.

Otherwise, the only other costs you will have to worry about are insuring your vehicle and fuel.

Do I Need to Pay Road Tax?

No, you will not need to pay road tax on your lease vehicle.  This will be covered for the duration of the lease by your funder.

Helpful Links and Guides

 

See All our Top Personal Leasing Brands

  • ABARTH
  • ALFA ROMEO
  • AUDI
  • BMW
  • CITROEN
  • CUPRA
  • DACIA
  • DS
  • FIAT
  • FORD
  • GENESIS
  • HONDA
  • HYUNDAI
  • JAGUAR
  • JEEP
  • KIA
  • LAND ROVER
  • LEXUS
  • MAZDA
  • MG MOTOR UK
  • MINI
  • NISSAN
  • GWM ORA
  • PEUGEOT
  • PEUGEOT
  • PORSCHE
  • RENAULT
  • SEAT
  • SKODA
  • SUZUKI
  • TESLA
  • TOYOTA
  • VAUXHALL
  • VOLKSWAGEN
  • VOLVO

Peace of Mind

Check out one of our helpful guides or our explaination of leasing to get all your questions answered.

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