When your lease is due to end, you have several options, including:
- Extending your existing lease
- Returning the vehicle
- Taking out a new lease on another vehicle
Extending a lease
If you want to keep the vehicle beyond your contract length, there are two options. Either a formal or informal extension.
Formal Extension
This is a new and agreed extension of your lease contract. It is made between you and the finance company or funder that your lease was originally arranged with. It allows you to keep the vehicle slightly longer for a fixed period (usually 6 or 12 months). A formal extension can only be arranged once and the vehicle must be handed back at the end of this new agreement.
Informal Extension
This is where you keep the vehicle past the original contract date without a new financial agreement put in place. Some funders or finance companies will allow Informal Extensions, others will not. Check your contract to see if yours will.
Returning the vehicle
Make sure you do the following:
- Review the lender's ‘Fair Wear and Tear' guidelines and check your vehicle is in a good condition.
- Find all the keys for the vehicle
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Find all the documents and supporting paperwork for the vehicle. Most of the important documents are digital nowadays. But, the vehicle’s manual is usually still a printed book. This is usually found in the glovebox.
- Check if your vehicle needs an MOT certificate before its return/collection
It's important to get in touch with us to check all this before the end of your lease. We can make sure everything is sorted for you before you hand the car back to the funder.