That said, we do offer what we've described above commonly and confusingly referred to as "zero deposit car leasing". These are, in fact, leasing terms where your first payment is simply equal to the sum of 1 X the monthly rental, keeping your initial outlay to the absolute minimum.
While your monthly payments may be slightly higher, you won’t need to worry about a large upfront cost. It’s a very effective way of getting you into a brand-new, top of the range vehicle at minimal outlay, as long as you have disposable monthly income available to pay the monthly lease payments.
How do "zero deposit" initial rentals differ from other types of initial rental payments?
A car lease's initial payment is a non-refundable upfront sum that lowers your overall monthly payments. Instead of a refundable deposit, this payment is a down payment that is subtracted from the total cost of the lease, with the remaining balance spread across your fixed monthly installments. The more you pay upfront, the lower your monthly costs will be. Therefore, the difference between a "zero deposit" lease (where the initial rental is only the first month's payment) and other leases (where customers might pay several times that amount), is that with a zero deposit one, there will be a greater sum remaining that needs to be spread across the subsequent months.
Most customers pick between 3 and 6 months initial rental, which is subtracted from the remaining balance that is spread across the monthly payments, which will therefore be lower than the payments on a "zero deposit" lease. Some finance providers allow you to pay up to 12 months upfront, lowering the monthly payments still further.
The initial rental forms part of your lease contract. It doesn’t shorten your contract term but does help to bring down the monthly rental price down, the more you pay.
To find out more about how initial rentals work, read our article here.
What sort of car can I lease?
We've got great deals on "zero deposit" petrol, diesel, hybrid, and electric lease car options. Check out all our offers and you'll see the zero deposit option when you click the "View" button beside each model. You can then select the lowest initial payment option for that deal and most will show "1 month" as an option. This is the "zero deposit" option on a car lease deal.