Car lease ending: what to do next

When a contract hire lease ends, the car goes back to the funder, the finance company that owns it. You can replace it, ask the funder to extend the agreement, or hand it back and stop. Start from the end date in your agreement. A car built to order takes longer to arrive than one in stock, so choose early.

• Find the end date
• Pick your option
• Line up collection and delivery

Key facts

1. A contract hire car goes back to the funder, the finance company that owns it, at the end of the agreement. There is no option to buy it and no balloon payment.
2. Charges can still apply at the end: excess mileage, damage beyond fair wear and tear, missing equipment and any end-of-contract fee in your agreement.
3. You have three choices: replace the car with a new lease, ask the funder to extend the current agreement, or hand the car back and stop.
4. An extension needs the funder's agreement. A late collection is not an extension, so get any change to the end date in writing.
5. The BVRLA, the vehicle rental and leasing trade body, recommends appraising the car 10 to 12 weeks before it is due back. That is guidance, not a notice period in your contract.
6. The next lease is a new agreement. It does not have to be with the same funder or arranged by the same broker, and the funder makes its own decision on a new application.
7. Collection of the old car and delivery of the new one are separate arrangements. A same-day changeover cannot be promised.
8. Tax has moved since most current leases began. The benefit-in-kind rate for a fully electric company car is 4% in 2026/27, against 2% from April 2022 to April 2025, and electric cars have paid vehicle tax since 1 April 2025.
9. Intelligent Vehicle Finance is a credit broker, not a lender. We place applications with a panel of funders and may receive a commission from the funder when an agreement completes.

Tax figures are from GOV.UK as read on 7 October 2026. Your own agreement and your funder decide what applies to the car you have now.

Three ways a lease can end

This guide is about contract hire, business or personal, where the car goes back at the end. If your agreement is a finance lease or a contract purchase, the end works differently, so check the product name on your paperwork first.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to read every column.

Work back from the end date

Everything hangs on one date: the end date in your agreement. Find it first. Then work backwards, because the step that takes longest, getting the next car built and delivered, is the one you control least.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to read every column.

In stock or built to order: what sets the timing

This guide gives no lead times, because they change by make, model and specification, and a figure that was right last month can be wrong today. What we do is check current stock and factory-order timescales, usually the same working day, and tell you the timing we are given before you commit.

• A car in stock can be arranged quickly, but you take the specification that exists.
• A factory order opens up the full options list and takes longer. Build times vary a great deal by make and model.
• A close match is the middle route. We can search dealer and funder stock for a car near your specification.

What we see on the phone: in three recent enquiries where the caller gave us an end date, the calls came between about two and seven months before the car was due back. Three calls are not a rule, and what can arrive in time depends on the car.

The earlier you start, the more of those three routes stay open. Starting early does not commit you to anything: an enquiry is not an application.

Already know the exact car? Send us the build

If you have built the car on the manufacturer's configurator, or agreed a specification at a showroom, send us that build. Where we can supply that car, we quote on that exact specification in writing. If we cannot, we say so and show the closest match.

• The build itself: the saved configuration code or link, or a list of model, engine, paint, wheels, interior and options.
• Who the agreement is for: you personally, or a company.
• The term, annual mileage and initial rental you have in mind.
• The end date of the current agreement, so the timing can be planned around it.

Call 01752 429950, or paste the code, link or list into the enquiry box on our contact form. If you have the summary as a PDF, tell us and we will explain how to send it. For a prestige car, start at prestige car leasing, or go straight to Porsche Macan leasing, Range Rover Sport leasing or Land Rover Defender leasing.

What has changed since you last signed

Most agreements run for two to four years, so a lease that is ending now probably began between 2022 and 2024. The tax position of the replacement is not the one you signed up to then. This matters most for company cars, and most of all for electric and plug-in hybrid ones.

Benefit in kind is the taxable value of a company car that is available for private use. The percentage in the table is applied to the car's list price to work it out.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to read every column.

What this means for a replacement: a fully electric company car still has a far lower benefit-in-kind rate than a petrol or diesel car, but the rate is no longer close to zero and it rises each year to 2029/30, the last year with published rates. A plug-in hybrid ordered now meets the April 2028 change part-way through a typical term. Look at each tax year of the agreement, not only the first.

Our company car BIK guide has the full table and the company car tax calculator works out a specific car. For running costs see electric company car running costs, and for the supplement see the Expensive Car Supplement explained. Intelligent Vehicle Finance does not give tax advice, so confirm your own position with your accountant.

The next lease is a new application

A replacement lease is a new agreement, so there is a new application. The funder carries out a credit check and makes its own decision at that point, on your circumstances as they are then. A lease that has run well does not make the next one automatic.

• It does not have to be with the funder that owns your current car, or arranged by the same company. The current car goes back to its funder under the existing agreement either way.
• For a business, a funder may ask for the latest filed accounts, recent business bank statements and details of the directors.
• For a personal lease, the funder assesses you: your identity, address history, income and outgoings.
• Moving from a personal lease to one in your company's name? That is a first application for the company, even if you have leased for years. See company car leasing for directors and new business car leasing.

An enquiry with us is not an application and does not involve a credit search. Nothing goes to a funder until you decide to proceed.

Plan the changeover as two dates

Collection of the old car and delivery of the new one are separate arrangements, often with different companies. Neither waits for the other unless you plan it that way.

• Get the delivery date for the new car in writing, and ask what happens if it moves.
• Confirm the collection date for the old car with its funder. Check the end date in the contract separately from the day of collection.
• If the new car arrives first, you may have two cars and two rentals for a short time. If it arrives late, you may have none. Decide which risk you would rather carry, and plan for it.
• Keep insurance in place on each car until you have written confirmation that your responsibility for it has ended.
• For a company car, give payroll the actual dates each car was available, so the benefit is reported for the right car in each period.

Before the old car goes back

Five checks help the return go smoothly.

• Mileage: compare the odometer with the allowance for the whole agreement. See excess mileage on a lease.
• Condition: appraise the car against the funder's return standard 10 to 12 weeks before return, as the BVRLA recommends. See end of lease return and fair wear and tear, which also explains how to query a charge you disagree with.
• Equipment and records: all keys, charging cables, removable equipment and the service history. See maintenance on a leased car.
• Private number plate: if the car carries your personalised registration, arrange to take it off before the car goes back. The registration document is normally in the funder's name, so ask the funder how to do it. GOV.UK says that if the vehicle is not in your name you have to apply by post.
• Personal data: remove paired phones, saved addresses and app connections before collection.

If you want to leave before the end date instead, that is a different process with its own costs. See ending a lease early.

Costs to check on the next agreement

A lease is a fixed commitment for the whole term, so read the written quotation line by line. The end of one lease is a good time to set the next one up properly.

• Annual mileage: set it from what you actually drove this time, not from the figure on the old agreement.
• Initial rental: how many rentals are paid at the start, and when.
• Term: a longer term changes which tax years the agreement runs through. Check the table above against the dates.
• Maintenance: check whether servicing and tyres are included. If they are not, they are yours to arrange and pay for.
• Vehicle tax: electric cars now pay Vehicle Excise Duty, and a car over the Expensive Car Supplement threshold pays the supplement as well. Ask how the quotation treats vehicle tax across the term and what happens if the rates change.
• eVED: the proposed pay-per-mile duty is not in force. If your term runs past 1 April 2028, keep it separate from the confirmed costs. See pay-per-mile eVED explained.
• Insurance: you arrange cover for the new car from the day of delivery. See insuring a leased car.
• Charges at the end: check what can apply when the new agreement ends, such as excess mileage, damage beyond fair wear and tear, missing equipment and any end-of-contract fee.
• Fees and commission: we charge an administration fee, shown on your written quotation before you apply. A documentation fee and an end-of-contract fee may also apply, so ask us what applies to your agreement. We may receive a commission from the funder when an agreement completes, and you have the right to ask us how much.

More than one vehicle? Line the dates up

Vehicles arranged at different times, through different suppliers, end on scattered dates. That is how renewals turn into last-minute decisions.

For a business with several vehicles we review what you run now, with each end date, mileage and driver need, and plan the replacements together. One named account manager handles the quotes, orders and renewals. Start at business car leasing.

What to have ready when you call

• The end date of the current agreement, and the name of the funder.
• The current mileage and the agreed allowance.
• The car you want next, or the kind of car. If you have a saved build, send it.
• Who the next agreement is for: you personally, or a company (name and number).
• The term, annual mileage and initial rental you have in mind.
• Whether you want maintenance included.

You do not send documents through this website. Once we know which funder suits, we explain how to supply what is needed securely.

Useful next steps

• Prestige car leasing
• Electric car leasing
• Business car leasing
• Business contract hire explained
• Personal contract hire explained
• End of lease return and fair wear and tear
• Excess mileage on a lease
• Company car BIK rates

Your questions answered

Sources and scope

Tax, vehicle tax, MOT, registration and accounting statements were read at source on 7 October 2026 on GOV.UK and the Financial Reporting Council's website. The BVRLA's 10 to 12 week appraisal guidance was read on its website the same day. Rates and proposals change, so check the source before relying on a figure.

The steps on our side describe how Intelligent Vehicle Finance handles these enquiries. This guide contains no rental figures or finance rates and quotes no lead times. Nothing in it is tax, legal or accounting advice.

• GOV.UK: company car benefit, the appropriate percentage
• GOV.UK: future company car tax rates
• GOV.UK: company car tax rates for 2028 to 2029 and 2029 to 2030
• GOV.UK: benefit-in-kind easement for plug-in hybrid vehicles
• HMRC manual EIM23151: double cab pick-ups from 6 April 2025
• GOV.UK: vehicle tax rate tables
• GOV.UK: vehicle tax for electric, zero and low emission vehicles
• GOV.UK: Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED)
• GOV.UK: getting an MOT
• GOV.UK: take a private number off a vehicle
• Financial Reporting Council: FRS 102

Intelligent Vehicle Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender or funder when an agreement completes. A trading style of XLCR Vehicle Management Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 315268). Subject to status and availability.

All leasing is subject to status and to each funder's criteria. Nothing in this guide is a promise that an application will be accepted, that a car is available or that it will arrive by a particular date.

Editorial responsibility: Stacey Smith, Brand Director, Intelligent Vehicle Finance.

Last updated: October 2026